Steinmetz, Avraham-Baruch

Son of Yehezkel and Paula, who survived the Holocaust. He was born on the 13th of Sivan 5706 (13.6.1955) in Kfar Sava. He studied at Maalot Elementary School in Bnei Brak and completed his studies at the “Noam” school in Pardes Hannah. Baruch was an outstanding student and accomplished his studies without much effort. He devoted his spare time to social activity at the school’s walls; He was a member of the school committee and of the school committees, and was very active when a sense of mission permeated him. From his childhood, Baruch was a member of the Bnei Akiva Bnei Brak youth movement and took part in all the activities of the branch. He was known to the students as a shield for the weak, as a food for the poor and as an assistant to those with difficulties in social absorption. He always organized actions, urging and prodding, and when some injustice was done, he did not rest until he was corrected. While he was studying at the Midrasha, in a boarding school, far from home, the connection between him and the house was strengthened. He appreciated and appreciated the education he received and the devotion and love of his parents. He loved music, theater and cinema and spent many hours listening to music and watching movies. In the upper grades, Baruch began to write many letters to his friends in Israel and abroad, in which he discovered the scope of his education, his thoughts and his worldview. After completing his studies at the Midrasha, Baruch decided to deepen his knowledge of yeshiva studies, and after the postponement of his military service, he joined the Yeshiva in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. He volunteered for the naval commando and began basic training. During the course of the naval commando unit, Baruch felt that he would not be able to withstand the heavy physical effort, and that it would be difficult for him to maintain the religious character of his unit. He successfully completed basic training and was sent by his commander to a combat paramedics course and graduated with honors. Afterward he asked to join the company where his comrades had served from basic training and had been sent to the Golan Heights to the Beit Jann farmland. In his unit Baruch served as an individual medic and showed great devotion to his role. He worked hard with his friends to fortify the line in the Syrian enclave. Under heavy shelling fire. Despite the tension in the region, he knew how to encourage his parents and friends and wrote them many letters to calm them down. On Wednesday, 25.5.1974, when he felt the need to deal with his officer who had been hit by Syrian fire, Baruch fell directly from a shell in the tank that served as his shelter for him and his commander, and was brought to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. Rabbi Ephraim Tzemel wrote to the bereaved parents: “His words embrace the arms of the world with great wisdom, honesty, and frankness. I stand amazed at the brilliance of the surgery. The real attitude, the healthy criticism and the aversion to the cultivation of illusions. In a consultation about the commemoration of his memory, Baruch wrote from the Golan Heights, which burns with fire, a letter in which he proposed to commemorate the memory of the member in setting up a scholarship fund for needy students in his memory. Arrived after the fall of Baruch, and his parents saw it as his will and fulfilled it. Three scholarships are distributed each year, at a ceremony held at his parents’ home. In this way, his parents continue their son’s way of helping and helping others. In addition, his parents published a book in his memory, including the words of friends and relatives about his character and fragments of his letters.