Avraham Avigdorov
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Avraham Avigdorov (; July 2, 1929 – September 4, 2012) was an Israeli soldier and recipient of the Hero of Israel award (today the Medal of Valor), the highest Israeli military decoration. Avigdorov received the award for destroying two Bren machine gun positions on March 17, 1948, during the
civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
phase of the
1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionism, Zionist forces conquered territory and established ...
.


Biography


Early life

Avigdorov was born in 1929 in Mitzpa, a
moshava A moshava (, plural: ''moshavot'' , ''colony'' or ''village'') was a form of agricultural Jewish settlement in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine (now Israel), established by the members of the Old Yishuv beginning in the late 1870s ...
near
Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
. His father Gad, a member of
HaShomer Hashomer (, 'The Watchman') was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded in April 1909. It was an outgrowth of the Bar-Giora group and was disbanded after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. Hashomer was responsible for guarding Je ...
, was killed in the 1936 Arab Revolt. Avigdorov studied agriculture at Mikve Israel.


Military service and aftermath

After finishing his studies, Avigdorov joined the
Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...
in July 1947 and was assigned to the
Yiftach Brigade The 11th Brigade (also known as the Yiftach Brigade) is a reserves unit in the Israel Defense Forces, composed mainly of fighters that completed their compulsory service in the Egoz Unit, Unit 621 – 'Egoz'. History In the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...
. On March 18, 1948, during the civil war fought in the dying days of the British administration and shortly before the establishment of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
and the outbreak of the
1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
, he was part of an ambush of an Arab weapons convoy in the
Kiryat Motzkin Kiryat Motzkin () is a city in the Haifa District of Israel, north of the city center of Haifa. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, in it had a population of . However, as of September 2024, the unofficial population count is 55 ...
area. Avigdorov killed two
Bren The Bren gun (Brno-Enfield) was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by the United Kingdom in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in Wor ...
machine gunners defending the convoy and damaged their vehicle, thus turning the tide of the battle in the Palmach's favor. The vehicle he damaged exploded, seriously injuring Avigdorov. According to Avigdorov, he was placed in the morgue in the
Rothschild Hospital The Rothschild Hospital, named after its founder Baron Anselm von Rothschild, was the hospital of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde in Vienna, Austria. The hospital lasted from its opening in 1873 until its closure by the Nazis in 1943. After Wo ...
in
Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...
after being proclaimed dead by a local doctor. He was taken out after showing signs of life and stayed in a hospital with burns and a broken jaw until 1949. In that year he was operated on by South American plastic surgeons and released. In July 1949 he was awarded the Hero of Israel citation, and in April 1973 he received the Medal of Valor automatically. Following the
Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...
of 1973, Avigdorov visited bereaved families, as well as wounded veterans, to show them that one could live with an injury.


Later life

In civilian life, he worked for the
Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
in testing
pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
s.


Personal life

Avigdorov married Aliza and they had three children.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avigdorov, Abraham 1929 births 2012 deaths Palmach members Israeli soldiers Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Recipients of the Medal of Valor (Israel) People from Tiberias Explosion survivors