Halevy, Mordechai
Mordechai, son of Sarah and Yosef Halevy, was born in 1915 to an affluent family in Kherson, Russia. When he was nine, he immigrated with his family to Eretz Yisrael. His family and friends remember him as a sentimental young man, honest and righteous. He went to live in Kibbutz Na’an, where he spent one year and at the end of 1934 joined the group at Kibbutz Ma’ayan Harod. Despite the harsh living conditions of the group at the time, he never complained, only sought ways to overcome these difficulties. He worked in a tractor and for a training course at the Technion, a course for mechanics. Afterward, together with his group, he moved to settle in Beit Hashita, where he worked in Falah. He also worked, among other things, in purchasing and assembling agricultural machinery. Mordechai, a member of the Haganah, was recognized and respected by the Arabs of the area. Since it was impossible to obtain a tractor of the desired type in Israel, and it was known that an Arab in Transjordan was ready to sell the D-4 D, it was decided that Mordechai would take care of the tractor. Mordechai had to appear before the Arab sheikh as a man of equal importance, to flaunt his dress and speech. He even wore a fancy Abaya and called himself Abu Alon, the name he gave his son. In 1940 he began to prepare for the future air force. A year later, he was invited to a pilot flight in the plane, but it ended in disaster. The plane crashed on 15 Av, 29.7.1942 and Mordechai was killed. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of Beit Hashita, leaving a wife, a baby, parents, brothers and sisters.
