Zemel, Israel

Son of Rachel and Chaim, a pioneer of the Second Aliyah, was born on February 17, 1915, in the Merhavia group, and in 1921 his parents moved to Nahalal and were among the founders of the moshav. Israel completed the ten grades of the school and was known for its diligence in studies and reading books and loyalty to everything it took upon itself. His mischief also did not detract from the teachers’ affection for him. He grew up working at his parents’ farm and became a heavy-expressionist, heavy-handed, self-contained man, but a few friends who opened his Lev to him. He loved to listen to classical music, where he found a vivid expression of a vibrant soul in a dead end. Israel often played and sang to express in this way what it was unable to express in speech. In 1933 he joined the local Haganah, was in charge of the Slik and trained in sabotage. That year, he volunteered to guard the orchards in the Sharon region – in the war for Hebrew labor. He always responded to every call for help for the individual and for the whole. He was one of the initiators of the sheep-raising industry, and with two other young people he bought a herd of sheep and became a shepherd. In 1936 he took part in an activity to organize the youth of Nahalal to settle in Shimron, and its name was among the first. The organization became a group that absorbed a young group of students from Degania and together they went to the settlement in Hanita and Israel took responsibility for the flock industry as a great experience. He also participated in the preservation of the place and in his defense, and thanks to his honesty and simplicity, he liked his friends and hoped to find his satisfaction here. When his younger brother enlisted in the Second World War, he gave up his ambitions and hopes, and returned to work in his parents’ farm. In the winter of 1948, he fulfilled his obligation to guard and defend himself, and in early May 1948, he enlisted in the Golani Brigade and took part in the battles of Mishmar HaEmek and the Sejera-Lubia front where he was injured and two days before the end of the recovery he returned to his battalion. One day he went with his battalion to the Negev and recently participated in the Horev operation to remove the Egyptian army from Israel, and on the third attack on the armored vehicles on an outpost near Rafah was hit and fell on Tuesday morning (4.1.1949). He was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Nahalal, and his memory was raised in the book “Asher Shachlanu” in memory of the fallen of Nahalal during the War of Independence.