27.10.01
Aryeh my friend,
You have been very pleasant to me*
It was easy to like you
As warmth and love always emanated from you.
From your shiny eyes peeped a smiling glimpse
Smiling at yourself, at life and at the world.
Like a lion at the gate:
Young in spirit, a talented and a clever scholar.
A mission, target or goal had to be placed in front of you
And you would gracefully shake off your age
And like a youngster in the youth movement, with jest and courage
Set off to serve your people and your country.
That fights for its ever-developing principles.
Always ready, always first to volunteer and help,
No office is too hard for you or not important enough,
There is no idea or thought that you will not be ready to tackle and consider.
Looking at you Aryeh, and at your achievements, it is easy to conceive
How the kibbutz movement has grown out of void.
A (Jewish) scholar man,
A real autodidact
A person full of knowledge, inquisitive and clever mind
A student and a teacher at the same time.
It was a pleasure to talk with you
And to be swept away by the heat and jest of the conversation.
A modest and shy person.
You embodied the rare combination
Of sincere simplicity with no barriers and pretensions
Together with awareness of your central position.
All this was accompanied by kindness and grace,
With a shy smile like that of an innocent boy.
I am distressed at your departure*.
May you rest in peace in the earth of your kibbutz.
Aryeh, Ish Yaffeh (Aryeh, a fine man).
Yair Palgi
* Samuel II, 1,26.