The Arab Who Became a Jew and A Fighter for the Freedom of Israel

Hamuda Abu Al Ayniin was born to Arab Muslim parents in a village near Tzafat in 1926 during the British Mandate in Palestine at a time of servere hostilies and progroms by Arabs targeting Jewish towns. But, he chose to go to the Jewish Alliance school in Tzafat as its only Arab student. There he became intrigued with the Jewish culture and joined the Jabotinsky Batar youth movement.

His fascination with Judaism caused tension with his family and village who were clearly unhappy with his new affiliation and his excitement for the re-establishment of the Jewish commonwealth. For this reason he would stay in the Mystic city of Tzafat till late hours of the night studying Torah and activities in the Zionist youth movement. At first his new friends in the Betar movement were sceptical of the Arab youth who expressed enthusiasm for their movement. They thought that he was some kind of spy or at least mocking them. They tried to avoid him and even beat him when he persisted to be in their company. But, he didn’t let up on his aspirations to be a Jew.

In 1938 he completed his high school studies in Tzafat, he moved to Haifa after death threats from his family because of his decision to convert to Judaism. The rabbis turned him away a couple of times, but finally agreed to accept him as a Jew. At age 20 he was circumcised and immersed in the purifying waters of the mikvah and officially took on the observance of Torah as his lifestyle. From the Beit Din rabbincal court with his new official Jewish standing he proceeded to his next objective, to become a fighter for the freedom of Israel, he applied to join the “Irgun” underground who were fighting the British occupation of the land of Israel for an independent Jewish State in the historical homeland. Again he faced sceptical leaders of the Jewish national movement, but, ultimately he was accepted.

On an underground mission in 1946 he and two of his fellow Irgun fighters caught British soldiers and gave them a lashing in revenge for the British doing the same to Irgun fighters. Soon after, he and his comrades were arrested by the British. When asked for his identification he told the British that his name was Baruch Mizrachi, fearing that they would discover his original Arab identity which could have been very dangerous for him as his own family was out to kill him for becoming a Jew.

He was sent to British detention camp in Latrun where he was held for three month and then together with 55 other Jewish underground members transferred to camps in Eritrea in Africa. While in exile he remained dedicated to his faith. Each morning before sunbreak he would wake his Jewish friends for the morning prayers with Talit and Tefilin and pray to HaShem to bring them back to the land of Israel and remove the British invaders.

After the British discovered his identity, in collaboration with his Arab family in Tzafat they offered him release from prison on the terms that he would utrn his back on the Jews and return to his Muslim faith. He refused and remained in exile until 1948.

While in Eritrea he was shot by local  camp guards and severely wounded, his greatest concern was that he would die there and not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. When visited there by the Chief Rabbi Herzog he begged the rabbi to assure him that he would be buried in accord to the Jewish rites. The rabbi placed his hands on Baruch’s head and prayed for his full recovery and return to the land.

When the State of Israel was established and the banished were allowed to return. But, his service to the nation was not over. The newly founded Jewish State was fighting for its survival in the War of Independence.