Klein, Shalom

Son of Ephraim and Hannah. He was born in Tel Aviv on March 20, 1931. After graduating from elementary school, he studied mechanical frameworks at the Max Payne vocational school, and at the outbreak of the War of Independence he was only 16 years old and wanted to enlist The defense systems denied his age. His father refused to give his consent, and after his entreaties and tears, Shalom said, “Father, do not think I will sit idly by … There is much to do outside the borders of the house, in the neighborhood of Hatikvah and in its places. When the father saw that his son’s decision was vigorous, he agreed. At that time Shalom was a member of the Palmach, and for Palyam, after the Arabs attacked the Jewish workers in the Gulf, he was sent to the port of Haifa under the guise of an employee of Solel Boneh. In fact he and some other young men were guarding the security situation in the harbor. This was during the time of the Englishmen’s stay at Haifa Port. On his way home on vacation, the bus was attacked by armed Arabs and Shalom was wounded in the leg. Before he recovered from his wound, he hurried back to the port of Haifa, because he had always dreamed of a Hebrew fleet and of Hebrew seamen on Israeli ships. He was a mechanic sailor on the ship HaTikva, which led immigrants and refugees from Cyprus, and after the ship became unsuitable for use, he moved to Galila. It was then that he realized that the Jewish sailor must be different in his way from all the nations, and the way to this was the establishment of a maritime cooperative. He did invest a great deal of effort and effort in establishing this plant, which was called the Ophir cooperative. In October 1949 he went on a mission to Dania together with other members of the cooperative to get the ship “Massada” they had purchased. Where they faced a dangerous voyage to Iceland in the midst of sea storms and some who hesitated. But he said firmly: “Hebrew seamen do not hesitate.” After endless agitation and torment, they came to Italy from experience-learners; Shalom was then a third officer in mechanics. On March 28, 1950, the ship Masada sailed from the shores of Italy on its way to Portugal with a load of trees, and a short distance from the shore the ship began sinking, (23.5.1950), the coffin was brought on an Israeli warship and transported to the eternal rest of the military cemetery at Nahalat Yitzhak.