Meckler, Aryeh

He was born in 1903. His parents had a farm in the settlement of Beit Gan and was therefore sent to the agricultural school in Mikve Israel to learn how to develop and expand the family’s farm. He was an outstanding student and won prizes and certificates for his academic achievements. When he completed his studies, he was a teacher and counselor for the “Third Aliyah” youth who came to Eretz Israel as “pioneers” to work and build. He taught them how to control a pair of raging mules, how to plow and open straight furrows, how to load a cart full of beams and how to lead a cart loaded with the slopes without turning over. Together with his students, he was involved in clearing huge basalt stones from the fields of the valley with a plow that was harnessed to 12 pairs of separations. Aryeh was also active in the defense and guarding operations in the fields of Beit Gan and the first of the young people of the colony went out to chase robbers who used to rob work animals. When he grew up and established a family, he left the moshava and joined the cooperative moshav in Nahalal. He devoted himself to the building of his farm, and not long afterward his farm was one of the most beautiful and arranged in the moshav. When the bloody riots broke out in 1936-1939, Aryeh escaped to the Haganah. He enlisted in the Guard Corps and was given responsibility for the security of life and property in the area. He fulfilled his difficult task with dedication and responsibility. On the 11th of Adar 1, 3.14.1938, he died. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Nahalal. He left a wife and two children. His life history and deeds are commemorated in the book “Nahalal, Its Formation, Its Way and Its Work”.