Trumpeldor, Joseph (1880-1920)
 Soldier and early pioneer-settler
in Erez Israel whose life efforts to organize the military defense of the
Jewish settlements in Erez Israel and whose heroic death in a battle at
Tel Hai in the north of the country became an inspirational symbol to pioneering
youth from all parts of the Diaspora.
Born in a small town in the northern Caucasus, Trumpeldor was strongly
influenced in his youth by the model of collective communal life which
he witnessed at a nearby farming commune established by followers of the
Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. In Trumpeldor's mind, the idea of collective
living became merged with the Zionist ideal of settling Erez Israel, and
he dreamed of establishing agricultural communes in Erez Israel which,
if necessary, would be defended by armed force.
He was however, drafted into the Russian army and lost an arm while fighting
in the Russo-Japanese war. In 1912 he went to Erez Israel and worked for
a while at kevuzzat Deganyah, and participated in the defense of the Jewish
settlements in the lower Galilee. When World War I broke out, he was deported
to Egypt after he refused to join the Turkish army. In Alexandria, he
called for the formation of a legion of volunteers drawn from the Erez
Israel deportees to be at the disposal of the British and help liberate
the country from the Turks.
The British allowed the formation of a Jewish brigade (the "Zion Mule
Corps") of which Trumpeldor became the deputy commander and which participated
in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. Between 1915 and 1919 Trumpeldor traveled
widely, spending much time in England and Russia, promoting the organization
of Jewish regiments to fight the Turks and Jewish self-defense units to
protect the settlements in Erez Israel.
In Russia, in particular, he was very active in the organization of the
He-Halutz movement whose aim was the training of young Jews for settling
in Erez Israel.
In 1919 he returned to Erez Israel and in January 1920 was called to
the northern Galilee to help organize the defense of the settlements there
which had come under increasingly fierce Arab attack. On March 1 he was
mortally wounded while participating in the defense of the settlemenents
at Tel Hai; his dying words were: Ein davar, tov lamut be'ad arzenu
("Never mind; it is good to die for our country").
Trumpeldor was buried near Tel Hai, and in 1934 a memorial was erected
at his gravesite. Shortly after his death, a new settlement at the foot
of Mount Gilboa was named Tel Yosef in his honor, and songs, poems and
stories were written about him as a hero of the Jewish resettlement of
Erez Israel. His lifestory served as an inspirational model to both the
pioneering socialist youth movements and the right-wing youth groups.
One of the largest and most successful of the latter was named in his
honor: Betar, an abbreviation of Berit Trumpeldor.
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