Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW

Abraham Avigdorov Emil Brig Emmanuel Landau Siman Tov Ganeh Yair Racheli

shell hit the half-track and wounded the four IDF soldiers. Despite his wounds and with the vehicle out of commission, Ganeh covered the rest of his unit’s retreat with the still-working machine gun. For the next six hours, he gave first aid to the other wounded soldiers and continued to fire back on the Egyptian soldiers. His unit was finally able to rescue him. After the battle, his legs were amputated due to his injuries.

After the war, Ganeh became a taxi driver (he received prosthetic legs) and was very involved in shuttling soldiers around during the Six Day War.

Ron Feller was born in Tel Aviv and joined the Haganah in the years leading up to the War of Independence. Once the IDF was founded, he served in the Givati Brigade. In July 1948, he crawled in broad daylight towards a pair of Egyptian tanks that had caused damage to Israeli equipment. Feller took out a tank with an anti-tank weapon; the other tank retreated. This action ended the Egyptian attack for the day.

The dedication of these men is rarely mentioned in recent years. It took a lot of dedication and courage to serve during the Israeli War of Independence, and these soldiers were recognized for their remarkable bravery in battle.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.