TEHOMI (Zilberg), AVRAHAM

TEHOMI (Zilberg), AVRAHAM (1903–1990), Zionist underground fighter. Tehomi was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and in 1919 joined He-Ḥalutz , and participated in the defense of the Jewish population in Odessa during its civil war. In 1922 he escaped from Russia, and arrived in Palestine the following year where he worked as a laborer and joined the haganah . From 1929 to 1931, he was Haganah commander for the Jerusalem district. In 1931 he formed the Irgun Ẓeva'i Le'ummi (IẒL), and was its commander-in-chief until 1937. During this period he was also active in smuggling into Palestine huge quantities of arms from Finland and Poland. In 1937 he rejoined the Haganah, and was appointed to the High Command, in charge of training. In 1939 he was involved in bringing into Palestine Jewish "illegal" immigrants, and during World War II, he organized a Jewish Intelligence group working for the Allies. After World War II, he was active in the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation headed by Hillel Kook (Peter Bergson) in the U.S. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tidhar, 5 (1952), 2127–28; A. Tehomi, The Dream and the Awakening (1977); Dinur, Haganah, 1–3 (1954–72),   index; D. Niv, Ma'arkhot ha-Irgun ha-Ẓeva'i ha-Le'ummi, 2 (1965), index. (Joseph Nedava)