The Brothers Shmuel and Daniel Pearl, Safed

Twin brothers Shmuel and Daniel Pearl, the sons of Ze'ev Mattiyahu Pearl and Channa Brasahd from Zefat, loved photography. They documented the history of Zefat and the landscapes of Israel in the 1930's and 1940's. The photographs in this album and their other album (YBZ.0427) were given to the Ben-Zvi Archives and to Nadav Mann by their grandchildren: Naftali Pearl (the son of Shmuel Pearl and Miriam Bronstein) and Atzmona Waxman-Shabtai (the daughter of Daniel Pearl and Nitzchiya Bijou). Pearl and Channah nee Brashad Ze'ev Matityahu The father of the family, Ze'ev Matityahu Pearl, the son of Elyakim Getzl and Beila Judenfreund, was born in 1888 in Pidhaitsi in Eastern Galicia. He came to Israel with his family in 1898 and was one of the founders of the settlement Machanaim in the Galilee. His father, Elyakim Getzl was a farmer and sent his sons, Ze'ev and Moshe, to study in Zefat. The whole family moved there in 1902. In 1909 Ze'ev married Channah (the daughter of Yoel) Barshad who was born in Odessa. The couple had 4 children: Moshe (1913), the twins Shmuel and Daniel (1917) and Tzipporah (1925) who married Amichai Faglin, a member of the Etzel organization). In 1909 Ze’ev and his father joined Baruch Barzel and Yehuda Meiberg and founded the “Galil” Printing Company in Zefat. The machines and the paper were purchased in Vienna and brought to Zefat via Beirut, by camel. The printing house employed 15 employees and functioned until 1926. In 1927 Ze'ev, together with Yehuda Meiberg opened the Herziliya Hotel. At the end of 1929 the joint venture fell apart and the Pearl family acquired ownership of the hotel. Yehuda Meiberg built the Mercazi Hotel nearby. Ze'ev was one of the founders of the Beitar Youth Movement in Zefat as well as the founder of the Etzel group there. During the British Mandate, many British officers stayed in the Herziliya Hotel at the same time the family hid Menachem Begin, as well as resistance activists in their home (1944). In the 1940's Ze'ev Mattiyahu Pearl was active in purchasing property and transferring it to Jews in Zefat. In 1942 Ze'ev Pearl and Yehuda Meiberg purchased the building of the College from the Mission and transferred it to the JNF and to the Worker's Union Kupat Holim. They turned it into the “Beit Bossel” Convalescent Home. He worked towards purchasing the Citadel Hotel and the Scottish Mission Church in Zefat. In the early 1940's he was one of those who worked towards connecting Zefat to the National Electrical Network and even gave a personal guarantee, from his own money, to 'light up the city.' In 1943, Pearl and Meiberg purchased the commercial center in Safed, built after the 1929 riots. They established the first cinema in Zefat in the center and added additional space for light industry. When the "Company for the Development of Zefat" was founded, it moved into that Center. Ze'ev was a member of an organization called, “Bonei Batim” (Home Builders), a group of 50 people who, in 1913, bought plots on Har Canaan 'Ir Ganim' (Garden City). He later became a member of the organization for the development of Har Canaan- Tzofiya Company. He was active in public life in the city. He and his wife Channah opened their home to the needy. Ze'ev Matityahu Pearl passed away in 1948. The Pearl Family Children: Daniel and Shmuel- the twins and Tzipporah The whole family was active in the struggle of the Jewish people to build the new State. The boys, Shmuel and Daniel and the daughter Tzipporah Faglin were active in the Etzel Movement and took part in the activities of the organization against the British. The Herziliyah hotel was a vacation center for the British soldiers and officers. It was in this hotel that the family hid Menachem Begin when he was being chased by the British! Shmuel Pearl was the Etzel commander in Zefat and participated in its liberation. His brother Daniel, who was known for his courage and was idolized by the youngsters in Zefat, was 'turned in' to the British by the Hagannah. He was exiled to a detention camp in Kenya (December 1944), however with the founding of the State, he was released and returned to Israel. He was drafted into the IDF. He fought in the battles of the War of Independence in the Negev and in the liberation of the Galillee (The Chiram Operation). During the 1940's there was an old storage place near the Ha'ari Synagogue in which they hid 14 rifles. They were from an arms deal between the Etzel and the Polish Government from 1939. The rifles were a gold mine for the defenders of the city, however all those who knew the hiding place were in British detention camps. Luckily Shmuel Pearl, who had participated in hiding the guns, was released from detention in Latrun. With his help the rifles were removed from storage, cleaned and put to immediate use. The Etzel branch in Zefat almost closed down during WWII. Tzipporah Pearl, who was a high-school student at the time in the Herziliya Gymnasia, was called to return to Zefat and to reorganize the branch. She was the only woman head of an Etzel branch. In the mid 1940's she married Amichai Faglin (whose nickname was 'Gidi'),, an operations officer in the Etzel Organization. Daniel married Nitzchiya Bijou, Shmuel married Miriam Borstein and Tzipporah married Amichai Faglin. Read more