Segal, Eliezer

Son of Shoshana and Shlomo, was born on 15.1.1900 in Mishmar Hayarden. Despite the conditions of the time, the place earned him a high school education and, apart from pure Hebrew, he also knew Arabic, English and French. He had a chance to settle down and live a more comfortable life outside the colony, but he tied his fate to the fate of Mishmar Hayarden. Eliezer was a farmer, and from his youth Eliezer grew up to work for the public. At first he was a member of the village committee and soon he took over the management of all the local affairs, both as head of the General Committee and as a member of the Culture Committee and other positions. He believed that the colony would flourish and blossom and instilled in the hearts of the Mishmar HaYarden people the recognition of the mission involved in the suffering of a school colony. He was full of joy, a man of friends whose house was open to all. He devoted most of his time to others. He was one of the oldest members of the Haganah in Israel, participated in the Haganah in his moshav and in the Galilee and was a member of the Haganah Security Council in the Upper Galilee. When the War of Independence broke out, Mishmar Hayarden, because of its geographic and topographic situation and the small number of its people, was a weak place. The place served as an external defense line and its residents were not drafted into the army but defended their colony. Eliezer took on responsible roles in actions and despised danger. The victories of the army and the establishment of the state served as compensation for his suffering. Eliezer fell on the third day of Sivan 5708 (June 10, 1948) at the time of the Syrian attack in which Mishmar Hayarden was captured, leaving a wife, Rivka, three sons and two daughters. Rich on the history of Mishmar Hayarden, which he published in the form of a book, but with the destruction of the colony lost all his notes, lectures and writings.