JERUSALEM (VINnews) — R ‘Yaakov Dovid Tannenbaum, one of the liberators of Rashbi’s tomb in 1948 and a founder of Moshav Meron who has lived there ever since, passed away Monday at the age of 99.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Born in 1923, Rabbi Tannenbaum was the son of Rabbi Shmuel Tannenbaum HyD who was the Av Beis Din of Tyrnau (Trnava), Czechoslovakia. In his youth he went to the yeshiva in Pecs, Hungary where his chavrusa was Rabbi Yochanan Sofer, later the Erloi rebbe. Most of his family perished in the Holocaust but he miraculously survived the death camps.
When he immigrated to the land of Israel, he fought together with the 7th brigade which liberated Meron. After preparing to conquer the Arab village nearby, they discovered that the Arabs had already fled before they came. Entering the tomb of Rabbi Shimon they found that the Arabs had not harmed the tomb itself, except for a small corner which was broken. Afterwards they spoke with Arab captives who related that some people had tried to destroy the tombs of Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar but the first person to bang on the tomb suffered sudden fierce pains and his frightened friends left the place.
The soldiers succeeded in locating the broken piece of the tomb and restoring it to its place.
R’ Yaakov Dovid related in an interview that it wasn’t simple to clear the tomb area. “we needed to clear the entire area of mines. On Lag Ba’Omer there was great excitement and we danced and rejoiced all night. It was clear that we would establish a settlement in Meron. Glili (the commanding officer) suggested to the religious soldiers to register to settle there and that is how we established Meron.”
The Jewish Agency added a group Rumanian immigrants and the moshav was established with Rav Tannenbaum living there until his last day. He worked in afforestation of the area and then prepared the land for housing.
“We didn’t dream that Lag Ba’Omer would reach the dimensions it has today, from year to year the crowds grew at an amazing rate,” he said later.
R’ Yaakov Dovid was last seen in public just two weeks ago when he voted in the elections for UTJ- as he had all of his life.
He is survived by a large family including his son-in-law Rav Mordechai Halperin who served in the past as the director of the committee of Meron [the settlement] and Rav Yossi Halperin who is the chabad emissary in Meron.
The levaya took place at 11 AM in Meron. May his memory be blessed.