Joseph Trumpeldor

Trumpeldor was born in Piatygorsk, Russia 1880. Despite his not being allowed to attend a university because he was Jewish, Trumpeldor managed to become a dentist. He then joined the Czarist army to serve during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. Thus began the life of a Jewish legend.

Trumpeldor's regiment was sent to Port Arthur, and there he lived through eleven terrible months of siege. In a fierce battle, he lost his left arm almost to the shoulder but kept fighting while injured and in pain. No sooner had he come out of the hospital than he demanded to be sent back to the front. He knew he had a mission to accomplish and insisted on showing the Russian generals that Jews are strong and don't give up. Most knew of Trumpeldor's bravery and soon he become an inspiration to all those around him.

After the fall of Port Arthur, Trumpeldor was taken prisoner by the Japanese forces. He spent many months in a prisoner of war camp under deplorable conditions but he kept his spirits up because he came to the realization of the most important thing he had to do... transform the Jewish people from oppression in to a strong nation.

When the Russo-Japanese War ended, he was granted a reserves officer's rank of Captain, the only Jewish officer in the Russian Army. Although already a dentist, he entered the University of St. Petersburg to complete his law studies and immediately left for Jewish Palestine (Eretz Israel). There he worked in Degania (birthplace of Moshe Dayan) and other settlements, not as a dentist or attorney as he was trained, but rather doing ANY job that had to be done. All the other settlers agreed that with his one arm he was yet the strongest and the best of the agricultural workers.

Following the outbreak of the World War I in 1914 and his refusal to take Ottoman (Turkish) citizenship, Trumpeldor was expelled from Eretz Israel and joined the Allied war effort. He was a founder of the Zion Mule Corps in 1915 and saw action in Gallipoli where he was shot through the shoulder. The Zion Mule Corps was the first Jewish army in nearly two thousand years and Trumpeldor eventually became the officer in charge. This made him the first Jew to command a Jewish army in two thousand years. Later this group evolved into The Jewish Legion.

(1948-1967) Enlarged View of Northern Israel

After World War I ended, Trumpeldor first returned to Russia and then to Jewish Palestine. In 1919, the border between Jewish Palestine and Syria was the subject of a dispute between the British and French authorities. The four Jewish settlements of Metullah, Hamrah, Kfar Giladi and Tel Hai [above right map] were situated in this area. Arab groups loyal to Feisal in Syria attacked these settlements. An evacuation of Metullah and Hamrah had already been completed but the Jewish forces led by Joseph Trumpeldor attempted to hold their ground at Tel Hai.

On March 1, 1920, the settlement was attacked by a large band of Arabs; six of the defenders, including Trumpeldor, were killed.

Tel Hai [today...above left] was resettled in 1921, and in 1926 was absorbed into the kibbutz of Kefar Gil'adi. Six of its defenders (including two killed earlier in 1919 and 1920) were buried on an adjoining hill overlooking the Hula Valley; the site is marked by a monumental memorial statue of the Lion of Judah [above right], with Trumpeldor's final utterances ("It is good to die for our country") on its base. The resistance of Tel Hai not only became legendary throughout Jewish Palestine but also was an important factor in the final determination (December 1920) of the northern boundary of mandated Jewish Palestine. This territory later became part of Israel upon its attainment of independence (1948).

The Hebrew date of the 11th of Adar, the anniversary of the fall of Tel Hai, is celebrated as "Tel Hai Day" in Israel and pilgrimages are made to the site, particularly by youth groups. The cemetery there, containing the graves of other members of Hashomer, and of members of the Israel Defense Forces killed in the Arab-Israeli wars, has become a national shrine.

When the town of Kiryat Shemonah was established in 1949, one year after the establishment of the State of Israel, it took its name Shemona (Hebrew: "Town of the Eight"), from the eight fighters who had lost their lives in the defense of Tel Hai during this period.