Tilman, Tzvi

Tzvi, son of Feiga and Menachem-Eliezer Tilman, was born on May 7, 1913, in the city of Sambor, east of Galicia, and was the son of a well-to-do Hasidic family. He joined the youth movement Hashomer Hatzair and Gordonia, while remaining loyal to the tradition of his forefathers. He diligently learned the Talmud in the beit midrash. Tzvi joined the Bnei Akiva youth movement, where he served for several years as a counselor and a member of the leadership. He took an entrance exam for the Yeshiva of Chachmei Lublin, but for various reasons he did not study there.
After passing the matriculation exams he prepared to immigrate to Israel to study at the university. When he arrived in Eretz Israel in 1935, he joined the “Avraham” group of Hapoel Hamizrachi in Kfar Pines. He worked in the orchards and was also a bookkeeper. With all his work, he still studied Torah each day, and was known as a talmid chacham and many learned from his Talmudic conversations and lectures.
In the winter of 1944. Tzvi moved with his wife to Kfar Etzion, where he worked regularly in forest afforestation. In the spring of 1946 he left his wife and young son and worked for a year and a half as a shaliach and director of the movement’s groups in the camps in Germany. He spent night hours studying Torah. His willingness to come to the aid of friends knew no bounds. He returned to Kfar Etzion after the holidays. On the 4th of Iyar, May 13, 1948, the day of the fall of Kfar Etzion, Tzvi came to the headquarters in the German monastery and fell here. On the 25th of Cheshvon, November 17, 1949, he was transferred with his friends who had fallen with him to eternal rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.