Rubinfeld, Gabriel (“Gabi”)

Son of-Bertold and Alma. He was born in the city of Genoa in Italy on February 24, 1947. The family immigrated to Israel in 1952. Gabriel attended elementary school in Kiryat Bialik, and from the age of 12 he was a member of the youth movement “Mahanot Haolim” Yael “of Kibbutz Eyal. After completing elementary school, he studied for a year at the Kiryat Haim high school and continued at the agricultural school in Kfar Galim. At the age of 16, he joined the core of early training at Kibbutz Mahanaim. In every group in which he was a member – in school or movement, he stood out for his talents and ability. And his photographs, which were his own way of commemorating various situations and places, filled a single album, which were the most beautiful photographs of life, and from his childhood he knew how to respond to every problem that arose and to this ability he continued his adolescence, to the point of argument, speculation and philosophizing. His friends respected him and appreciated him, and he liked the job very much because he saw it as applicable He was a great soldier and devoted to his duties, efficient and responsible and resourceful and courageous. He held various command and training positions in the unit – and reached the rank of sergeant. But greater than his love for the unit was his love for Kibbutz Eyal and he never missed the slightest opportunity to reach the agriculture. He used to write letters full of homesickness – to work life, to waking up in the morning and to work in the field – to work the land, because he loved the land. He loved life too, with all the good and the bad. He knew how to trust all his friends in his smile and his humor-and so he liked all his friends and commanders. But even in his compulsory service he had to go into a reprisal, known as Operation Karameh. Gabriel was then an armored commander and was wounded by a Jordanian tank shell and severely burned. It was at the al-Masri junction (Damiya Bridge), but more than a month has passed since then and after he was hospitalized he died of his wounds on April 23, 1968. He was laid to rest in the graveyard at Eyal. The commander of his unit wrote to his parents in a letter of condolence: “Gabi was one of the first members of the unit and one of its founders … … Gabi was wounded in human wounds and even in difficult moments he could smile and be happy and be interested in everything … In his death we were missing a friend and a fighter. “After that, a booklet appeared in his memory called” Gabi “in Hakibbutz Hame’uchad’s memoir “Who Fell in the War”.