Lieberman, Manish

He was born in 1897 in the town of Sulzi in southern Russia. As a member of a peasant family, Manish devoted his life to the work of the land and decided to devote his life to it. In order to specialize in his work, he traveled to the United States before the outbreak of the First World War, studied natural sciences and was ordained as an agronomist. In the United States he also approached the Zionist movement and aspired to immigrate to Eretz Israel to work and preserve it. At the end of the war he returned to Russia and on the first occasion he thought he immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1922. At first he worked in paving the roads in the Carmel forests and later in Hulda and Rehovot where he would guard the vineyards of the moshava. Despite his family crisis – his wife and two children died – he continued to aspire to establish an independent farm for him. On 1 Elul, 21.8.1925, while standing on guard duty in one of the vineyards, he surprised a group of Arabs who came to steal grapes, and the thieves shot him and seriously wounded him. The doctor gave him first aid but before he arrived at the hospital he died of his wounds. A memorial article describing his life story and death appeared in the weekly HaPoel HaTza’ir, and it is mentioned in the book “Rehovot”.