The son of Malka and David, Mordechai Wainerman was born in Poland on 1st January 1921. His family emigrated to Argentina when he was a child, and he was educated in Buenos Aires.
At the age of 13 he joined the Hashomer Hatzair Zionist movement and he became the first one in his age group to participate in a pioneering preparation farm. There he set an example, a model to many friends who followed in his footsteps.
He arrived in Eretz Yisrael on 5th February 1946, and was one of the first pioneers to come to Israel from Argentina; he formed the foundation of the nucleus of pioneers from Latin America.
He joined Kibbutz Negba, immediately entering into the work and life there. He also made contact with the Hashomrit movement in the Diaspora. He translated the instruction manuals from Hebrew and Yiddish into Spanish for use by the movement in South America.
With the same stubbornness that he showed when learning to adapt to the plough, he also learned how to use a machine gun, and he fell using this weapon on 12th July 1948 in the battle defending Kibbutz Negba.
Mordechai Wainerman was buried there on the same day and his name is recorded in the book “The Ravaged Storm” in memory of all those who fell defending Kibbutz Negba.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf