Mordehai Lapid
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Born in 1937 in Charkov, USSR. When he was still very young his family moved to Riga, Latvia. The atmosphere in his family was purely Russian and thus very far from Judaism. Due to the anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, he began showing an interest in his Jewish background and collected materials about Israel. Jewish youth in Riga used the rehearsals of the Jewish Chorus as cover for meetings of Zionist activists. In 1959 he tried unsuccessfully to escape to Israel. In January of 1965 he organized a big gathering to welcome the Israeli singer Geula Gil as a demonstration of his love for Israeli culture and Israel generally. As a result of this action he was arrested, charged with Zionist activities and sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment in the Gulag. After his release he emigrated to Israel, and worked as an engineer in Ranaana. He lodged in Kiriat-Arba, near strife-torn Hevron, and showed himself a courageous activist among the settlers. He came up with the brave idea of building a big city for new settlers in Shomron (Samaria). On December 6th. 1993 Mordehai Lapid and his son Shalom were killed by Arab terrorists in Givat Ha-Harsina near Kiriat-Arba.
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