Hanoch Kalai (March 13, 1910 – April 15, 1979) ( he, חנוך קלעי) was a senior leader of
Irgun
Irgun • Etzel
, image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px
, caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
and a co-founder of
Lehi, and an expert on the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
language. He was ''Deputy Commander in Chief'' of Irgun under
David Raziel
David Raziel ( he, דוד רזיאל; 19 November 1910 – 20 May 1941) was a leader of the Zionist underground in British Mandatory Palestine and one of the founders of the Irgun.
Biography
David Rozenson (later Raziel) was born in Smarhon ...
and spent three months as ''Commander in Chief'' after Raziel was imprisoned by the British authorities, until his own arrest. He was
Avraham Stern's deputy until he left the organisation.
Early life
Born Hanoch Strelitz, Kalai was born in
Lithuania, the son of Joseph Strelitz and Pessia Rabinovich. In 1924, the family moved to
Palestine, where family lived on Herzl Street in
Kfar Saba
Kfar Saba ( he, כְּפַר סָבָא), officially Kefar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Central District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-largest city in Israel. The population of Kfar Saba i ...
and his father became a bank manager in the town and owned many orange groves. Following the
1929 Palestine riots, Kalai joined the
Haganah. He was also a member of the
Betar movement. In 1934 he was a defence witness in the trial of Ze'ev Rosenblatt for the
Assassination of Haim Arlosoroff.
Membership of Irgun
On the final night of
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...
in 1933, Betar members were attacked while parading in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...
. In retaliation, Kalai resigned from Haganah and joined the Irgun. Soon afterward, he was appointed Irgun commander for Kfar Saba and
Herzliya
Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it h ...
. During the
1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, Kalai demanded an end to the policy of restraint and the beginning of reprisals against the Arabs.
Following
Avraham Tehomi
Avraham Tehomi ( he, אברהם תהומי, also Avraham T'homi, 1903–1990), was a Jewish militant who served as a Haganah commander, and was one of the founders and first commander of the Irgun. He is best known for the assassination of Jacob I ...
's split with Irgun and return to Hagana in 1937, Kalai was appointed commander of the newly formed
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
district Irgun under
Moshe Rosenberg
Irgun • Etzel
, image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px
, caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
. He was later appointed deputy commander of the Jerusalem district under
David Raziel
David Raziel ( he, דוד רזיאל; 19 November 1910 – 20 May 1941) was a leader of the Zionist underground in British Mandatory Palestine and one of the founders of the Irgun.
Biography
David Rozenson (later Raziel) was born in Smarhon ...
. During this period, Kalai also served as a broadcaster on the Irgun's underground radio station,
Kol Tsion HaLokhemet.
Kalai's three brothers were also members of Irgun and Betar. Mordechai Strelitz was an Irgun commander in Israel and abroad, and served as liaison between Irgun and Betar. Menachem Strelitz was a member of the Irgun in Kfar Saba, where he conducted experiments with weapons and explosives. He was killed at age 22 on July 17, 1936, when a grenade exploded in his hands in the family home. Mykhael Strelitz was arrested by the British and tortured. He never recovered from the experience.
Leadership of Irgun
Following Raziel's arrest on May 19, 1939, Kalai was appointed as ''Commander in Chief'' of the Irgun. At the first meeting he chaired, Kalai decided to act on two fronts: to continue retaliatory actions against the Arabs, and the commencement of operations against the British government following Parliament's approval of the
White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939Occasionally also known as the MacDonald White Paper (e.g. Caplan, 2015, p.117) after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary, who presided over its creation. was a policy paper issued by the British governmen ...
. In following this policy, Irgun committed acts of sabotage against the infrastructure, including the post office and the government radio station in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Under Kalai's leadership, the group also assassinated the
Palestine Police
The Palestine Police Force was a British colonial police service established in Mandatory Palestine on 1 July 1920,Sinclair, 2006. when High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel's civil administration took over responsibility for security from Gener ...
CID chief
Ralph Cairns, to end his harassment of Irgun and in revenge for his alleged torture of Irgun prisoners.
First Arrest
On August 31, 1939, the British arrested him with other key members of Irgun, including
Avraham Stern, during a command meeting in Tel Aviv. He was replaced as head of Irgun by
Benjamin Zeroni. The detainees were transferred to the
Jaffa police station, and then to the
Tzrifin
Tzrifin ( he, צְרִיפִין) is an area in Gush Dan (Dan Region) in central Israel, located on the eastern side of Rishon LeZion and including parts of Be'er Ya'akov. The area proper is defined as an 'area without jurisdiction' between the t ...
detention camp. Kalai and the other prisoners were released on June 18, 1940.
Membership of Lehi
Following his release, Kalai and Zeroni joined with Avraham Stern to co-found the
Lehi, and Kalai served as second-in-command and wrote the new organization's manifesto. Kalai and Zeroni resigned from Lehi in late 1941 following Stern's attempts to form an alliance with
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
against the British.
Second Arrest
On February 3, 1942, the British police posted a £200 reward for his arrest, and on February 4, 1942, Kalai and Zeroni surrendered. According to
Yehuda Lapidot
Judah or Yehuda is the name of a biblical patriarch, Judah (son of Jacob). It may also refer to:
Historical ethnic, political and geographic terms
* Tribe of Judah, one of the twelve Tribes of Israel; their allotment corresponds to Judah or Jud ...
, one of the reasons they surrendered is that no organization would help them, and they increasingly felt like hunted animals. By agreement with the British police, they were never tried, but instead were transferred directly to a detention camp. On October 19, 1944, Kalai was exiled to a Kenyan detention camp along with 250 other detainees, and returned to Israel only on July 12, 1948.
Later life
After Israel gained independence, Kalai became a language lecturer at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was also an editor and translator to Hebrew from English, German and Yiddish, an editor at the Bialik Institute, a member of the
Academy of the Hebrew Language, and the
Israel Broadcasting Authority
The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017.
History
The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station ''Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent st ...
plenum member responsible for Hebrew-language broadcasts. He translated
Zorba the Greek into Hebrew, the first title in
Am Oved
Am Oved ("A Working People") is an Israeli publishing house.
History
Am Oved was founded in 1942 by Berl Katznelson, who was its first Editor in Chief. It was created as an organ of the Histadrut, Israel's federation of Labor, with a goal of publi ...
's People's Library imprint. He also translated
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
's
Flush: A Biography.
Kalai was married to painter and sculptor
Carmela Kalai. His son is noted academic
Gil Kalai
Gil Kalai (born 1955) is the Henry and Manya Noskwith Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, Professor of Computer Science at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, and adjunct Professor of mathematics ...
.
Kalai died in 1979, and was buried on the
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...
in Jerusalem. In 1999, the
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
Municipality named a street after him in the Malha district of the city.
Hanoch Kalai Street
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalai, Hanoch
1910 births
1979 deaths
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
Jews in Mandatory Palestine
Jewish rebels
Betar members
Irgun members
Lehi (militant group)
Israeli translators
Israeli editors
Israeli people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives
20th-century translators