SHLOMO BEN-YOSEF (age 25)
Shalom Tabechick was born in 1913 to a poor family in Poland. He worked hard as a youth to help support his family while devoting his nights to the local Betar chapter. After hearing of the difficulties facing his people in the Land of Israel, Shalom felt unable to further stomach life in the exile and yearned more each day to return to his homeland. Without a passport, visa or any money, Shalom Tabechick left everything he knew behind and smuggled himself across several borders all the way from Poland to Beirut. There he met a Greek fisherman who agreed to transport him to the shores of Palestine. Toward the journey’s end, however, the fisherman demanded a fare. Shalom had no money and was thrown overboard. Not allowing himself to be deterred, he swam to Palestine and hiked to Naharia where he joined the Jewish community of Rosh Pinah.
In Rosh Pinah, Shalom Hebraized his name to Shlomo Ben-Yosef and obtained a job at the Haifa port. Arab attacks in the area and the British administration’s policy of turning a blind eye had made life tough for Jews in the north. Working the fields became increasingly difficult and the money Shlomo earned helped Rosh Pinah to survive.
The Arab community of Djani was located on Mount Canaan overlooking Rosh Pinah. During the first days of Passover 1938, the Djani Arabs were openly preparing for an assault on the Jewish village and the British authorities were unwilling to intervene. Arabs attacked a Jewish taxi, resulting in two girls being violated and three boys being killed. Shlomo Ben-Yosef, Avraham Shein and Shalom Zuravin decided to take action themselves and close the road to Rosh Pinah.
On Thursday April 21, the boys spotted an unknown Arab bus on the road from Tzfat to Rosh Pinah. As they attacked the vehicle, a gun misfired and their grenade failed to explode. The Arabs fled in panic and British police arrested the boys. Although no one was hurt, the authorities feared the prospect of continued Hebrew vigilantism and sought to make an example of the three. An eleven day trial ensued before a British military court. Shalom Zuravin was sentenced to life in prison while Shlomo Ben-Yosef and Avraham Shein were condemned to death by hanging. Because it was later proven that Shein was a minor, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. But despite appeals from Jewish leaders around the world, there was no convincing the British to rescind Ben-Yosef’s execution. Experienced in matters of colonialist rule, the authorities wanted Palestine’s Jewish natives to recognize British dominion and were therefore determined to make an example of at least one of the youths.
Shlomo Ben-Yosef inscribed two messages in his death row cell. The first, “it is good to die for the homeland”, was a reflection of the young man’s attitude towards his imminent death and a tribute to Yosef Trumpeldor’s heroic last words at Tel Chai. The second message, “I believe that after my death the Jews will no longer have this policy of restraint” expressed hope that the Hebrew youth would follow in his footsteps rather than submit to Arab terror and British oppression.
Shlomo wrote to his mother in Poland that “you should be proud of me because I am not going to die like a humiliated exile Jew.” She had sent a telegram to the British High Commissioner of Palestine, Sir Harold MacMichael, requesting that the hanging be delayed until she could make the journey and hug her son for the last time. The request was denied and the execution was scheduled.
Reuven Hazan, the only Jewish officer in the Acre prison, was on duty the night of Ben-Yosef’s execution. Hoping to comfort the boy, Hazan was shocked when he arrived at the death row cell to see Shlomo sleeping with a smile on his lips. When he arose, the youth washed himself carefully, brushed his teeth and combed his hair. The officer was astounded. Never before had he seen a prisoner condemned to death behave with such calmness and dignity on the night before his execution.
The officer brought the boy civilian clothes – a white shirt and clean pants. But Ben-Yosef protested that he had been promised his Betar uniform for the hanging and would not go willingly unless he could wear it. The officer was well acquainted with the British sergeants and knew that this demand might instigate a struggle. He told Ben-Yosef that he would be dragged by force to the gallows and that this would be interpreted as a sign of fear. “Very well,” responded the boy after reconsidering a moment. “I will go. Let it not be said that a Jewish soldier is afraid of death.”
As Shlomo Ben-Yosef approached the gallows, he began to sing HaTikva – the Jewish national anthem. The prisoners of Acre, including his two companions from the attack, arose and joined in the singing. When the hangman’s rope cut off Shlomo’s voice, the prisoners finished their anthem without him. Shlomo Ben-Yosef was the first Hebrew executed by a foreign regime in the Land of Israel since the Roman occupation nearly two thousand years prior. On the wall of his cell was found a third message.
“You cannot conquer the mountain without leaving graves behind”
The British had made an example of Ben-Yosef – but not the kind they had intended. Stories of his heroism at the time of execution excited the youth and inspired them towards dreams of freedom from foreign rule. Anti-British demonstrations erupted throughout Palestine. In every country with large Jewish populations, the windows of British consulates were smashed. Jews everywhere attached a black ribbon to their clothes as a symbol of mourning for the heroic young martyr. Ben-Yosef’s hanging had triggered the beginnings of a revolt that would grow over time until freedom would be won.
