Stern, Mordechai-Moshe

Son of Rachel and Abraham-Eliezer, was born on the 29th of Kislav, December 23, 1927 in Sibiu, Romania. He studied in a ‘cheder’ or religious school and then in a secular school. When he was 18, he decided to immigrate to Israel against his parents’ wishes. On his way to Israel, he worked for 5 months in a refugee dental clinic established in Italy by UNRWA and paid his salary to the kibbutz, where he earned recognition for all his knowledge. Mordechai-Moshe sailed to Israel on the illegal immigrant ship Bracha Fuld, and said “I can not imagine how a Jew could live in another country.” He was a guard in Wilhelm, then served in the Ramat Gan police force and was a member of the “Mishmar Ha’am”. When the War of Independence broke out, he was drafted into a battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade, was stationed in an auxiliary company and served as a guard. Mordechai Moshe took part in an operation to clear the Haifa-Tel Aviv highway near Tira, and in guard operations near the “Triangle”. Then he went down with the brigade to the south. During Operation Horev, a “liquidation” operation was carried out against the “Faluja pocket,” in which an Egyptian brigade was besieged. The attack took place on the eastern flank of the “pocket” in the area of ​​Iraq al-Manshiyya. The Alexandroni forces broke into the village from the south and took over part of it, but their assault on the hill north of the village was fought off. Meanwhile, the Egyptians recovered and attacked and forced the Israeli forces to withdraw. Part of the force was trapped inside the village. Mordechai-Moshe fell on the 26th of Kislev 5709 (December 28, 1948). He was buried in Faluja. On the 17th of Kislev 5710 (8.12.1949) he was transferred to his eternal rest at the military cemetery at Nahalat Yitzhak.