Meyuchas, Ben-Zion

Son of-Zion, son of Rachel and Rafael Meyuchas, was born in 1911 in Hebron. In the mornings he attended elementary school and in the afternoon in the cheder. He learned Arabic well from an Arab sheikh. In 1925 he began studying at the Jerusalem Teachers’ Seminary and completed his studies with honors. In 1928 he joined the ranks of the Haganah and until his last day was a loyal member of the Haganah and was accepted for every task assigned to him. During the riots of 1929 he was active in the neighborhoods of Shimon HaTzadik and Sanhedria in Jerusalem and during the 1936-1939 riots served as a platoon commander and was attached to the wandering unit that operated in the region of Kiryat Anavim and Motza, and was responsible for the position in Nahalat Yitzhak on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road. His contacts with Arab dignitaries and his knowledge of the Arabic language were also a blessing for the Jewish cause. For a long period of time, he served as a judge in the membership trials of the Histadrut and also as a Haganah arbitrator. On the 12th of Adar I 5708 (22.2.1948) he fell on his post in the explosion of son of-Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, while he was translating Arabic documents in his private apartment. Together with him were his wife and young son. He left two girls (one three and one five). He was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Sanhedria, Jerusalem