Mendelssohn-Cheshin, Ze’ev

Son of Sarah and Jacob, was born on July 1, 1925 in Jerusalem, was the sixth generation of the country, grandson and grandson of R. Itcheleh Harif, a disciple of the Vilna Ga’on, who immigrated to Israel in the rise of the Pharisees in 1809. After graduating from high school, he worked in the concentration of material for the Hebrew encyclopedia and during his free time wrote poems and literary critiques, and from 1943 on, he was a member of the Haganah in the Hish Brigade in Jerusalem. In 1945 he completed a course for scouts and on his numerous tours of the villages around Jerusalem he collected a large amount of topographic material, which was tactically discovered in the fighting. From the beginning of the War of Independence, he served in convoys along the routes of Mekor Chaim and Mount Scopus and participated in Haganah activities in HaYozm, Talpiot, Mekor Chaim and Sheikh Jarrah. In April 1948, after successfully completing the course of the regiments, he served as a number one. He participated in the conquest of Katamon, in the activities of Sha’ar Hagai and in punitive actions against the villages north of Jerusalem. He was particularly pleased with the role he was given as one of the two mortars operating against Sheikh Jarrah, for he saw this as the fulfillment of his desire to avenge this murderous nest. On the night of 24 Iyar 5708 (June 2, 1948), when he was standing near the mortar, a shell exploded. He was buried in Sheikh Bader Aleph. A few days before he fell, he told his mother: “It was a privilege for us to be the conquerors of the land of Israel and the bastions of the state. On the 7th of Elul 5710 (7.9.1950) he was put to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.