Shmueli, Jacob

Son of Gabriella and Yitzhak, was born in December 1927 in France to a religiously observant family. He completed high school and as a teenager left his parents’ home for training in southern France, intending to immigrate to Palestine. Yaakov was active in the Poalei Agudat Israel movement. He managed to get through the horrors of the Second World War. In February 1947 he reached the shores of Israel on the illegal immigrant ship “The Unknown Immigrant”, but was deported to Cyprus and stayed on the island for a whole year. Where he took a course for instructors and taught the children from immigrants from North Africa. After being released from the camps in Cyprus, he arrived in Palestine on February 18, 1948. After the establishment of the state, Jacob enlisted on July 13, 1948 and served in the Carmeli Brigade. In the army, he worked to preserve the Sabbath and kosher food in the kitchens, and he wanted to establish with kibbutz members ideological and practical foundations he wrote about in his essays and articles. He also composed poems in the style of piyyut. In battles he was always ready for any hard action and fought among the first. Yaakov was sent to the outposts in the Galilee and fell in Marus near Ayelet Hashahar on September 18, 1948. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Rosh Pina. He left a wife, Rachel, and a daughter, Chaya.