Lai, Gabriel (Edward)

Son of Hedwig and Levi, was born on February 26, 1913 in Berlin, the capital of Germany, and graduated from high school. Gabriel immigrated to Israel in 1936 and immediately joined Kibbutz Hazorea. At first he worked in various fields of agriculture until he specialized in the dairy industry and over time he established a regional association for artificial insemination, and this association was active until his last day. Before the outbreak of the War of Independence he was a member of the Hagana and in 1941 he belonged to the Palmach’s first company. But even in the course of his duties, he was not distracted from his work in the cowsheds of the Gush and in his superiors he would handle this work twice a week. On March 1, 1948, on one of his journeys from one settlement to another, near the village of Abu Zurik, halfway between the Zorea and Mishmar HaEmek, he and his escort came upon the roadblock that the enemy had set up on the road. A year and a half later, their bodies were found in a nearby wadi, covered with a heap of stones, both brought to rest in a grave in the cemetery on Kibbutz Hazorea.