Meir, Rafael (Rafi)

Son of-Rachel (Rina) and Yehuda (Rudolf), born in the city of Timisoara, Transylvania, studied in an elementary school in Timisoara, later in a Hebrew Gymnasium, and was educated in a Zionist spirit. He continued to study at a high school, he succeeded in his studies, and because of his general interest in all subjects, he learned a great deal of information, and because of the difficulties in carrying out the industrial enterprise that his father transferred from abroad, Rafi was forced to leave school and help the family. He was one of the first volunteers to the Palmach and completed courses for squadrons, scouts and saboteurs Kiryat Arba’im, Mishmar HaEmek, Kfar Giladi, Hazorea, Ein Harod and Tel Yosef, as well as organizing Aliyah Bet from neighboring countries, and was caught on the border and imprisoned in 1939. In 1939 he was among the first four to take part in a unique project in the history of settlement in Israel , Living in arid land in the Arava, and was a member of the Arava until his dying day, and during the years of the kibbutz’s adaptation to the environment he fought for the lack of faith of the members and encouraged them to work. During the War of Independence he served as a reconnaissance officer and toured Ras a-Zawira and the road to Sodom, and brought information about the Ein-Husov police. As a result of this information, Operation Lot was planned (the occupation of the Ein Hosov police and the opening of the road to Sodom). On November 26, 1948, Rafi left with a jeep unit to tour Wadi Jabb on the way to Sodom. As soon as he thought that one of the jeeps was about to sink into the mud, he jumped to his aid, boarded a mine and was seriously wounded. Despite his agony, he continued to command the tour and even to provide first aid to himself. Three days later, on 26 November 1948, he died of his wounds at the Dajani Hospital in Jaffa. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery at Nahalat Yitzhak. Members of Beit Ha’Arava published a booklet in his memory and in memory of their fallen comrades.