Moshe Bodek, the beloved teacher from Haifa, passed away

On Memorial Day, the respected and beloved teacher Moshe Bodek, who raised generations of students and made sure to accompany them even after they finished high school, passed away.

Moshe Bodek was born in 1929 to Mendel and Zvi Bodek, the son of a religious and branching family that engaged in butchery training. When he was 6 years old, he immigrated to Israel with his parents (they purchased a legal certificate because they recognized the impending disaster).

In Haifa, Bodek studied at the Yavneh school and later at the Bsmat, was an apprentice in the Bnei Akiva movement and in his youth joined the Echelon. One day he pasted posters against the English on Herzl Street and an English policeman asked to arrest him. Moshe threw the bucket of glue and the policeman stumbled, and still managed to shoot him and Moshe returned home with a leg injury. His father was alarmed and called a doctor to the house. During this period, he also hid with friends of his parents in Tel Aviv under a pseudonym: Yosef Caspi. When he was 19 years old, he was kidnapped by the Haganah because of his involvement in the action that preceded the massacre of the refineries. The kidnapping left a scar in Moshe's soul and he refused to talk about it until his last day.

In the Altalana case, he waited for the ship on the beach in Kfar Vitkin before it arrived in Tel Aviv and then participated in the battle for the occupation of Jaffa and was slightly wounded. When the IDF was disbanded and the IDF was established, Moshe Bodek joined the Givati ​​Brigade, as a fighter in the sabotage department of the 51st Battalion and participated in two of the eight attempts to capture the Iraqi Suvidan police station in the Negev (today's Yoav Fort). During the battle he was wounded once again by mortar fire from the Egyptian forces and was hospitalized. When the war ended, it was difficult to find a job because the veterans of the Echelon were assigned, but in the end Calvarnet worked at the Technion.

In 1953 he married Tamar, a Holocaust survivor and a student of the Oranim seminary, and in 1955 his first child Nava was born. Later, Moti (1961) and Zvia (1969) were born. In the early 60s he decided to fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher, he attended evening studies at Beit Erdstein in Haifa and later at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He first taught at the New Arab high school and in 1964-1965 he moved with his family to Nazareth Illit as part of the project to support the cities of development. In the years 1966-1994 he taught Bible and Tashba at Urban High School C in Neve Shanan. In 1994 he unfortunately retired and later taught at the Reali and Urban High School. Over the years he kept in touch with many of his students.

Bodek lives with every fiber of his soul for the State of Israel and wrote letters to the editor for 30 years and even collected them in a book: "On Mishmirati Amuda" (2020). Bodek had the privilege of being a grandfather to 15 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

On Memorial Day 93, he died at his home at the age of almost XNUMX, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

Media personality Dan Margalit paid tribute to the late Bodek on Facebook. Margalit said that they were recognized for the many letters he sent in his last years to newspaper systems, some of which dealt with Margalit's articles. Bodek and Margalit were in contact for 10 years, and even met when Bodek came to Bar Ilan University to listen to Margalit's lecture, so he introduced himself to him. After several years of acquaintance, Bodek told Margalit that Bodek's daughter, Nava, worked with Margalit at the Broadcasting Authority.

Moshe was a very modest man, and when Margalit asked how he was doing, he used to talk about the well-being of his wife, Tamar, or reply "Baruch Hashem".

Michal, who was his student and became a teacher herself, wrote in his memory:
"Moshe Bodek. A figure of an exemplary and exemplary educator, a man of clusters. He was clear, curious and alert even at the age of 90. Moshe loved people, and was connected to his many students even many years after he finished teaching them. Moshe was my teacher of Tanakh and history, he taught out of passion for the profession, The love of man and country and saw each of us, his students, as unique and special.

It was impossible to say goodbye to Moshe just because we finished school, the relationship with him was for life. Every conversation between us over the years would start with "How are your children and parents...? Say hello to them. He always asked how I felt at work and how the lessons were going in the classroom, because I, like him, chose the teaching profession, thanks in no small part to him. Moshe would ask me: "Michal, do you love your students as much as I loved you?" My heart shrinks when I remember our connection to him and his to us. Sometimes in our conversations we laughed, because we remembered the time when he was my teacher, and he would call me in the evenings to remind me: 'Michal, don't forget to bring a sandwich for tomorrow...'

Such was Moshe Bodek. A man of values ​​full of love, a father figure to all his students. We kept in touch by phone for 33 years.. until a week before his death.

I will never forget you, Moshe Bodek. Rest in peace.
׳Where are there other people like that man...' "

Einat Gerber also wrote in a post on Facebook, Shamshe Bodek was much more than a teacher for 3 decades at the six-year urban school C in Neve Shanan. Gerber wrote that Bodek was a legendary educator, who taught the love of people, the love of the State of Israel, and values, and was an example and role model for his students.

The one who was the deputy principal of the six-year Shipman school in the Carmel Castle until his retirement, Eli Fedida, paid tribute to Bodek and said that for the past two years he had been in contact with him once a week as a volunteer and thus got to know a dear and versatile man. Fedida was a history teacher and the two veteran teachers found a common language and talked about topics that interested them both.

Dalit Zlatin Yehezkel, who was also a teacher at the Shipman School and grew up as a child in Neve Sha'anan was Bodek's student. She wrote that it was a privilege to be his student and he was a very knowledgeable, humble and pleasant man.

In the face of today's education system, where many teachers feel underappreciated, it warms the heart to see the great love and appreciation for the late veteran teacher Moshe Bodek.

Bodek was laid to rest on Independence Day.

Of blessed memory.