Yosef Lazarovsky died on Thursday on the thirteenth of Shvat (28.1.10). Yosef Lazarovsky was a survivor of the 1929 riots in Chevron. His father Bezalel father ran a board house for Yeshiva students.

Yosef’s father, Bezalel, his sister Devorah and his uncle Yisrael Lazarovsky, a yeshiva student were murdered before his eyes. His maternal grandfather, Aharon Leib Gottlevsky, a resident of Herzliya, who came to Chevron to stay with his family that Shabbat, was also murdered.

They were all murdered at the Slonim home, where they fled to find refuge from the rioters. Yosef was about five years old. Following the murder of his father and uncle, his grandfather held him and read along with him “Shema Israel”, before he too was murdered. Sitting beside him was a yeshiva student who was murdered, collapsed and fell on him. Yosef was covered with blood, beaten in the head and lost consciousness. The yeshiva boy’s blood covered him; the rioters left him for dead. That is how he was saved.

His sister Deborah died a few days later. She was buried in a plot dedicated to the victims of the 1929 Tarpat riots on the Mount of Olives in a grave together with five year old Aharon Slonim who also was injured in the riots.

One of Yosef’s younger sisters also survived. She died several years ago.

The story of Yosef’s mother’s survival is amazing. She was beaten when rioters held knives to her, next to her younger sister. She was brought together with the wounded to Jerusalem, and believed to be dead. She was transferred to the Mission hospital on Nevi’im Street, and placed in a room with the dead. Her sister, a nurse at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, went to the morgue and realized that she still had a pulse; but the Arab doctor in charge refused to allowed her to approach. She went to Machane Yehuda market and hired four Arab porters; they secretly removed her and brought her to Hadassah hospital. She remained there for a year and a half until she recovered

In his younger years, Yosef served in the Palyam (the Palmach’s naval detachment), and then served for many years in the security services.

In recent years, Yosef led a struggle to be recognized as an orphan victim of enemy hostilities, but was not successful.

This past summer Yosef Lazarovsky visited Chevron. He told the story of the massacre in detail, with total clarity and control. He was invited to speak at the State memorial service marking the eightieth anniversary of the riots and massacre held in Chevron. His speech stirred the hundreds in attendance.

Link to Chevron memorial video. (Hebron News) http://www.hebron.org.il/hebrew/show.php?id=201