Marcus, Yehuda

Son of Chana and Shlomo, a scion of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. He was born on February 29, 1212 in Hamburg, Germany. He studied at an elementary school and at the Reali Gymnasium, and after graduating from high school he applied for medical studies. He was a member of the youth movements Habonim and Hechalutz and was determined to immigrate to Eretz Israel and become a doctor on the kibbutz. After five years of study, however, he excelled at his Jewishness. For the same reason, he was not allowed to complete his training in mechanics. The days of Hitler’s rise to power and in Hamburg, the city of his residence, began to harass the Jews. Yehuda successfully passed a judo course and imparted his knowledge to Jewish youth. As a member of the “Hechalutz” leadership, he brought a group of “Youth Aliyah” in 1936. He also initiated maritime training with a ship company, and this training later helped the Hagana in Palestine. During his activity he spent a short time in Israel and when he returned to Germany he was appointed as a member of the Habonim youth movement to the center of the Galilee in the northwestern part of the country. In 1938 he immigrated to Israel to settle there with the last of the “Habonim” counselors. He underwent a training period at Kibbutz Givat Haim – together with his friends who later founded Kibbutz Gilad – and later joined the Notrim army. As a judo expert, he served as a national instructor and invested considerable effort in formulating a uniform and useful method for the profession that stood for combat soldiers in conditions of weapons shortage. He also took part in the publication of a reference book, “Practical Judo,” which in the course of time served the IDF as well. When part of the department was drafted into the Jewish Brigade, Judah was disqualified for health reasons. He continued to teach in Israel in dozens of courses, including courses for Gadna instructors.In one of these courses, which took place at Kibbutz Ruhama, he fell in a stray bullet on the 22nd of Tammuz 5765 (June 22, 1945) In secret in Kibbutz Ruhama, and in February 1947 he was transferred to Kibbutz Nir David (Tel Amal) and placed a wife and a two-week-old infant on his gravestone under the symbol of the Palmach. On the tenth anniversary of his death, Kibbutz Nir-David published a booklet in his memory