Leviathan, David

Born in 1890 in Odessa to parents who died while he was a child, he was gifted with artistic talent and a Russian priest took him under his tutelage and sent him to the city’s art school, where he excelled in general studies and became an artist. He joined the Zionist activists, including Max Nordau, who noticed his artistic talent, and when he immigrated to Palestine he received a recommendation from Professor Schatz, director of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, but this recommendation was not used because after his arrival, he joined the Hashomer organization and was a guard for everything and lived most of his time in Sukkoth. During the harvest and harvesting season, he was sent to guard in the vineyards and orchards near Rehovot, and on 1 Av, August 4, 1913, he guarded the almond orchard near Rehovot, when thieves entered the orchard. David, who used to be without weapons, was shot and died of his wounds. He was laid to rest in the Rehovot cemetery. The story of his life and fall was presented in the file Hashomer; In the book “History of the Haganah”; In the book “Yizkor” (Yiddish) edited by Y. Son of Zvi and Zerubavel and in the book “Rehovot” by Moshe Smilansky.