fbpx
Rosenbaum, Mordechai

Rosenbaum, Mordechai


Son of Frida and Shmuel, was born in 1903 in Kalisz, Poland. He attended high school and university. In his youth he was attracted to Zionism and was one of the organizers of the Ha – Shomer ha – Tsa’ir youth movement in Poland. After serving in the Polish army, he specialized in blowing glass for scientific work in chemistry and physics, thinking that he would be of benefit to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Indeed, when he immigrated to Israel in 1924, he began to work in glass blowing at the university’s chemistry institute, and over time educated a generation of workers in this field, including veterans of the First World War. When the Institute laboratory was destroyed in 1927, he risked a number of friends and went into the rubble to rescue valuable devices. From his letters and notes, it is evident that he was a soul-seeking beauty, striving for transcendence, loving people and seeking the sparks of good and light in others. He was loyal and devoted to his family (a wife and two sons) and devoted to the service of science, the people and the homeland. Almost from the day he immigrated to Israel, he was a member of the Haganah and reached the rank of commander of a group. In recent years, he served in a company of the university, did the professional work for “Science Company” (a nickname for the Science Corps in Jerusalem) and for “Household” (the first cell of IMI in Jerusalem). In addition to his various works, he also worked on preparing glass ampoules for chemical activation mechanisms for bombs and mines. On April 13, 1948, he went with the convoy of scientists and medical personnel to Mount Scopus to bring glass and apparatus for preparing ampoules for Haganah purposes. The road to Mount Scopus passed through the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, In the morning hours of April 13, 1948, a convoy left for Mount Scopus after the British promised that the road was open and safe, and the convoy encountered an Arab ambush in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hundreds of Arabs hurled heavy gunfire at it. Some of the vehicles managed to get out and return, but two buses, an ambulance and an escort vehicle were caught in an ambush. Arabs from the vehicles, and from our positions in the city and on Mount Scopus, as well as armored vehicles, were unable to assist the convoy, and British army forces intervened and did nothing to help, despite the requests. Only in the late evening did the British intervene and rescue the survivors from the trapped vehicles, and Mordecai was among the fallen, brought to eternal rest in a mass grave in Sanhedria cemetery.

Skip to content