An American Jewish Zionist Forgotten Hero

Some two years ago, the Jewish Press published an appeal of mine:

Among the Jewish seven [six] killed victims listed in the newspaper report was an American Rabbi it seems, Yehudah Leib Lozovsky or a phonetic variety of that spelling [Lazovsky].

No other information about the Rabbi is available. It would be fitting that he be remembered.

I am asking the readers of JewishPress.com to assist with locating biographical information about the Rabbi. If you are aware of any details that could help, please contact...

I was unsuccessful.

I have now read a letter that has appeared in HaUmma quarterly, No. 222 by Moshe Ehrenfeld, an historian of the Haredi community's role in the 1948 fighting, relating that Lazovsky, an American, who was killed on April 6.

Lazovsky had immigrated to Eretz-Yisrael some ten years earlier from America. He was an amateur geographer and researcher of the land's antiquities. He was in the house of Shmuel Eliezer Zilberman where, for three days, they held off the Arab rioters. At one point, he crawled out above the barriaded entrance and fired off some shots from a small Browning pistol he had.

The Arabs complained to the British troops in the area, who were Indian Moslems (those soldiers had been brought in earlier to guard the Haram A-Sharif). They tried to enter the buidling but were repulsed and then shot through the door and killed Rabbi Lazovsky and Zilberman.

They are buried on the Mount of Olives with the other casualties. Their graves are also, like Itzkkowitz, not in the best condition. Here is Zilberman's gravestone from several years ago:

Lazovsky's is also in bad condition and cannot be identified as which one in that row.

Worse, he is not yet (!) recognized by the National Insurance Institute. And, of course, as he was not a soldier or a member of an underground, not by the Ministry of Defense.

Lazovsky, an American Jewish Zionist. Little is known about him.

And a forgotten hero.

_________

UPDATE:

A new gravestone is in place (courtesy of Sarah Barnea):

^

Guess Who Is Firing Rubber Bullets?

Not Israei police.

Not in the disputed territories.

Nope.

United States police.

In Los Angeles.

Reported that riot police fired rubber bullets at a huge crowd of young ravers rioting on Hollywood Boulevard. The youngsters threw bottles and set fire to cars after being denied entry to a Hollywood film première.  The unruly crowd began partying on the streets in protest and when they refused to disperse, officers took drastic action.

Details:

Crowds spilled into the street around Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, with some people throwing bottles at police. Witnesses said others were dancing on a police car, taunting officers and "planking" — lying down in the street. There were also sporadic fights among people in the crowd.

Police in riot gear shut down streets around the theater, and dozens of other officers in police cruisers responded to the disturbance.

Photos: Disturbance outside the Hollywood film premiere

"I knew it was going to get out of hand when they started taunting the police," said Adam Bloch, 20, who works in a building across from the theater. "They were asking for it."

There were no reports of injuries or property damage. But by early evening, a row of riot police with masks and batons were pushing against the crowd. Police also fired beanbags to disperse people.

Late in the evening, the LAPD set up a mobile field jail at the scene. At least two people were arrested on felony vandalism charges.

Terrible.

And America is a democracy.

Wait, in a democracy you can do such things?

Now they tell us?

^

The Advantages of Hindsight

Now he realizes the errors of his ways:

Driver who sparked Acre riots: I'd sacrifice myself to bring back coexistence

The Arab man who drove into a Jewish neighborhood in Acre on the eve of Yom Kippur, sparking a series of riots and violent clashes, told the Knesset Committee of the Interior on Sunday that he would "sacrifice his neck" to bring coexistence back to the bi-national nothern city.

"If what I did caused this, I am ready to sacrifice my neck right here on this table, on lowered gallows, just to return peace and quiet back to the city of Acre, to bring co-existence back to its place.

Jamal said that contrary to the accusations brought against him, he had not been drunk nor playing loud music when he entered the Jewish neighborhood last Wednesday. "I just wanted to go home, I made and mistake and tried to ask for forgiveness. This has been a harrowing experience."

How difficult is it to play along with coexistence when the restrictions of Yom kippur are so well known? Even the person I suspect of fomenting the riots owned up:

Senior police officers met with local Arab leaders on Saturday, and all agreed on the need to restore normalcy as soon as possible.

MK Abbas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta'al), an Acre resident, said that after the meeting, participants published a statement calling for reconciliation and even denouncing the Arab driver who, according to Jewish residents, sparked the riots Wednesday night by driving through the neighborhood blasting loud music while the Yom Kippur prayers were under way.

but

The discussion heated up when Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh said that the riots were started by a group of radical Jews who settled in the city with the encouragement of "political elements sitting around this table" in a bid to maintain the city's Jewish character.

Keep this in mind:-

Teen wounded in Akko Riots may lose eyesight
Jewish teenager hit by rock during Akko riots recounts the incident

Since the beginning of the Akko Riots, 14 people have been admitted to the hospital in Nahariya, all of them Jewish. The most seriously wounded victim is 18-year-old Barak Avadi, an Akko resident and yeshiva student. Avadi was hit in the eye with a stone, and it's still too early to tell how much damage was done to his eyesight

"I've been living in Akko since I was a child and violent incidents are nothing new. On Saturday, around 9:30 pm, my friends and I were getting ready for prayer in the backyard of a private residence. The surrounding rooftops had about 30 to 40 Arabs standing on them. They were shouting insults in our direction. There were a few police officers in the street at that time, and they noticed this, by they were called to assist on the next street. That signaled the Arabs to start throwing rocks at us."

"One of our guys suddenly shouted and we all scattered across the yard, trying to dodge the rocks. Next thing I know, I got hit in the eye, and a friend of mine carried me to a house next door. The woman there took care of me until the ambulance arrived. All that time the Arabs were shouting obscenities in Arabic."

Akko is Not Going to Go Away

INN reports:

Three people were wounded in Akko on Saturday night as violent riots continued for the fourth night in a row. According to Nfc, the wounded were a baby and two men, all of whom were hurt when Arabs attacked a group of Jews in a Jewish neighborhood during a chassidic celebration.

While police assured the public that they would quell any attempts to renew the violent riots in Akko, Jewish residents of the city said Saturday night that Arabs continued to attack. Arabs are throwing stones and concrete blocks from the roofs of buildings, they said. Arabs accused Jews of attacking Arab buildings with rocks.

YNET

Riots resume in Akko for fourth night in a row

The series of violent riots that erupted on Yom Kippur evening in Akko resumed on Saturday evening for the fourth consecutive day. Residents are reportedly hurling rocks towards homes and businesses.

Police have been alerted to the scene and are working to disperse the crowd.

Pictures here (Hebrew subtitles)

And a reminder from two years ago:

Acco Yeshiva Under Arab Siege

Local police were called in to break the Arab siege on the Hesder yeshiva, located in the Wolfson neighborhood of Acco. Police officers took control of the volatile situation and the crowd began to disperse. There were no injuries reported, but one person was arrested for discharging a firearm.

Accounts from Acco indicate that the riot and subsequent siege was preceded by verbal and possibly physical attacks on several yeshiva students by local Arabs as the students were dancing Torah scrolls through the streets. The police verified that a yeshiva student, an active-duty IDF soldier, fired his weapon in the air when he believed he detected a threat to himself and the other students, who were dancing and singing in traditional post-Simchat Torah celebrations.