Kliger, Yaakov

Son of Rivka and Isaac. He was born in 1902 in the town of Bab, Ukraine. In 1921 he immigrated to Eretz Israel in the third wave of immigration and was sent to Kibbutz Hulda. He spent three years in the kibbutz and then moved to Tel Aviv, where he worked for a while in the building and in 1924 joined the ranks of the police. In the the police he played an investigative role and did his work impeccably, with dedication and loyalty. During the 1936 riots he excelled in his activities in protecting the lives of the residents of Tel Aviv and did much to save hundreds of Jewish refugees who fled from Jaffa. Among all those who came into contact he was known as a modest, happy man with a sense of humor. On the 3rd of Shevat (5.1.1938) he volunteered to replace a friend, and on his way from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, near Sha’ar Hagai, the bus he was traveling in was ambushed by Arab rioters. He was rushed to the hospital but died on the operating table and was laid to rest in a mass grave in the old cemetery on Trumpeldor Street in Tel Aviv.