Avshalom Feinberg, founder of the NILI Jewish espionage group during World War 1, will be remembered Tuesday in a ceremony at his grave, thanks to a research paper by two young women – Shir Ben-Chaim and Merav Avital.
Feinberg was the legendary founder of NILI, a small espionage network that collected information against the Turks and passed it on to the British. He was murdered by Arabs at the age of 28, in 1917, when he was on his way to the Sinai desert to make contact with British forces there. 50 years later, when Israel liberated the spot where he was killed in 1967, his remains were exhumed and brought to burial at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Three years ago, Ben-Chaim and Avital visited Feinberg's grave on the 90th anniversary of his death as part of a research project about him which they carried out as part of their studies at the Ofra Ulpana, a Jewish high school for girls. They expected to participate in a ceremony remembering Feinberg, and hoped to be able to interview some of his remaining relatives. To their surprise they discovered that no such ceremony took place. The hero had been forgotten.
Making things right
They vowed to make things right, and on the next anniversary of Feinberg's death, in 2008, they arranged for a minyan, or quorum of ten, to be present at the grave and conduct a modest ceremony. By 2009 there were already more than 100 people at the ceremony, after the young women had publicized the event to the best of their abilities. Ben-Chaim told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news magazine that participants included 90 year old Tamar Eshel, Feinberg's niece, as well as a Bat-Mitzvah girl who brought her family along, two bereaved parents whose son was killed in the IDF, and people from all walks of life, religious and secular.
Ben-Chaim and Avital hoped that this year, the ceremony would be honored by government representatives. They contacted Education Minister Gideon Saar, Minister of Sport Limor Livnat and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin. However, none of the three found time for the ceremony. The ceremony will take place at 3:30 PM at Mount Herzl.