Grossberg, Eliyahu

Eliyahu, son of Yaffe and Levi Grossberg, was born in Jerusalem on July 2, 1925. He attended a public school and at the same time went daily to receive Talmudic lessons from his mother’s father, who was a learned educator in the Old City. The second grandfather, one of the first immigrants and settlers in the Upper Galilee, was a member of the Haganah from the early days. On February 1, 1948, he enlisted in full service and was appointed as a quartermaster in the “Moriah” battalion and rose to the rank of sergeant. On the 11th of Iyar 5708 (May 20, 1948), when the battalion came to call for urgent help from defenders of the Beit Yisrael neighborhood against the Legion forces that attacked from Sheikh Jarrah, he jumped to the car that carried the reinforcements. His commanders and friends tried to stop him, “It is not your job, we need you here!” But he did not listen to them and went to battle, and there he fell. He was buried in Sheikh Bader Aleph. On the 28th of Elul 5710 (10.9.1950) he was put to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.