"Saved the lives of thousands of travelers": Mano Barak, one of the founders of the rescue units, passed away

Mano Barak, one of the first pioneers in the country, was brought to rest in Kibbutz Ein Gedi. Barak worked to assist travelers in absenteeism and rescue, and devoted himself to training and information activities on ultra-Orthodox meetings. The rescue man has become a link between the rescue units, the police and the army in the south

Kibbutz Ein Gedi was brought to rest on Monday, Mano Barak, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 83. Barak, a veteran of the kibbutz, is recognized as one of the pioneers of rescue units in Israel and who has led hundreds of rescue operations and search for missing persons in the Judean Desert. "A man of kindness and giving," said Yehuda Silk-Gold, who was a Knesset member of the ultra-Orthodox community and who has worked with Barak for many years.

Barak was born in Kiryat Haim in 1936, the third child in a family of four siblings. He was raised and educated in Kiryat Haim, founded only three years before his birth. At the age of 15, he decided to quit his studies and began working at "Solel Boneh", while at the same time joining the activities of the youth working youth movement in Kiryat Haim. When the IDF was drafted, Nahal enlisted with the members of the nucleus to which he belonged, the "Reut" nucleus, where he passed the military route as Nahalai, a route that also included a skydiving course.

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In the middle of 1958, he and his friends arrived in Kibbutz Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea, where he founded a family and has lived there ever since. Only two years earlier the Nahal settlement became a place for the kibbutz. These were the years when the kibbutz was completely isolated, without any settlement, and only through southern access. The kibbutz began to develop the tourism industry and Barak was appointed to manage the Ein Gedi baths, a position he played from the early 1960s until The early 1980s.

In the second half of the 1980s, Barak was a field coordinator for the working youth movement. Yoni Ben Dor, Coordinator of Works in the Youth Movement said: "Since he was a teenager, Mano has always been a movement member. Even after finishing his work on the movement, he continued to accompany us and was interested. He was always our article in the desert, for help and information. He was always ready to reach out. He was a true friend. "

When his work in the tourism industry ended, Barak began to devote himself to the field of security and rescue, which also became the area most closely associated with him. Initially, he worked as Kibbutz Ein Gedi's current security coordinator and then was appointed Tamar regional council security officer.

One of the pioneers of the rescue units in Israel. Barak (Photo: Kibbutz Ein Gedi Archive)

Mano Barak (Photo: Kibbutz Ein Gedi Archive, official website)

At that time, more and more travelers began arriving in the desert area, including many yeshiva students. Gold silk remembers his start with Barak: "Mir Yeshiva student, an English citizen, was lost in the area of ​​Nahal Dargot. We started recruiting volunteers to look for him, but we didn't know where to look. We were told to connect with the rescue units in the area, but be careful of them. "They are mucinous and dangerous to connect with." He said, "Today, I know that Ein Gedi is not a young guard at all, but even if there were, it doesn't matter. We spent a whole week looking for the missing person. It was at the height of the date of the date of the date of the date of the date of Capricorn. The body was found. I said to Manu and his friends to the unit, "You are the path of Abraham our father."

"They were amazed and asked 'what can it be like, you say about us eating rabbits and pigs.' I explained: 'After all, our father Abraham was a kindness. A Jew is the one who continues the journey of our father Abraham's grace. The wigs, but how much he donates after and gives of himself to others and that's what we've done for years, "Gold Silk described his initial acquaintance with Lightning.

Reached the rank of deputy police. Barak (Photo: Kibbutz Ein Gedi Archive)

Mano Barak (Photo: Kibbutz Ein Gedi Archive, official website)

Barak became the man whose job was to liaise between the army, police and rescue units in the Dead Sea region, and in that role he acted in many events. Over the years, he has reached the rank of deputy police. Police issued a statement, but announced his death: "The Southern District of Israel Police is bowing its head with the death of Volunteer Defense Forces volunteer Mano Barak. Barak's name went before him in the Southern District in general and among the rescue units in particular. He was one of the pioneering volunteers in the country and the founders of the Ein Gedi rescue unit and in the past decades of volunteering and countless complex rescues. "Yoram Sofer, the commander of the Southern District Police, mocked him and said that" Lots. Mano's class, who was a true partner, is a big loss to the police. "

The task that Barak undertook was to prevent as many as possible absenteeism and rescue of travelers, and slowly he began to devote himself to training and information in ultra-Orthodox meetings. Gold silk says that "Manu decided that he should work with the ultra-Orthodox public with guidance and information.

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"A man of grace and of giving." Barak (Photo: Kibbutz Ein Gedi Archive)

Mano Barak (Photo: Kibbutz Ein Gedi Archive, official website)

He said: "At first the students who still saw the tall guy with the white hair would ask what this 'heretic' (ransom) could teach them. He understood them and answered them in Yiddish: 'I'll teach you' and break the partitions. Every year he would He comes to the meetings and explains, at the same time, he was interviewed for newspapers and ultra-Orthodox radio. "

According to him, "Mano is the person who did the information revolution in the ultra-Orthodox world on the rules of the trip. He was already called 'the kibbutznik yeshiva chooses' (the kibbutznik yeshiva student). But beyond the role he took on, he became a member. , Was interested and on holidays we would welcome each other. "

"What characterized Mano was the optimism and the joy," Ein Gedi said today. From his first marriage, to Shoshana, he had three daughters: Cherry, Nitzan and Adi. His eldest daughter Cherry died at the age of 16 following a severe asthma attack. Barak divorced his first wife and remarried to Dorit, his wife to this day, from whom he had a daughter, Tal, and Ben, Orr. Mano Barak's funeral was held today at Kibbutz Ein Gedi.