There will be many vacant places in our ranks when this war is over. The fourth of our haverim is gone. One died flying in this country, a second was lost in a mission over Germany, a third while performing his duty in the Near East, and now Joseph Rosenberg is reported missing in action at sea.
I met Joey for the first time when I was sent to Detroit to represent the Young Poale Zion-Habonim at the National Convention of the Farband. I was impressed with his youthfulness, his enthusiasm, his devotion, his zeal. I really learned to appreciate his character at the Leaders' Seminar in Pipersville in 1940. He was about to become rosh mahaneh of Detroit and he spent hours with me discussing his plans. He showed me his neat notebook; I read his outlines, his plans, his ideas; we talked about his doubts and his ambitions.
You may not know- that during the period that he was stationed at San Diego in training, he spent every spare moment making contacts and speaking to people; he was certain that he would be able to organize a Habonim group. It is an irreparable loss for the movement here and for Kfar Blum in Eretz Yisrael ...
D. B.
Joey joined Habonim in 1935 at the age of eleven. Those who belonged to our group at that time will perhaps not remember him as well as they do others who talked more at meetings and were generally more assertive. But those who stayed with the group remember that while others were spouting high-sounding phrases about becoming halutzim. when we grow older, Joey entered a trade school to prepare himself for the life of a halutz. We remember that while others were delving into deep discussion about the problems of labor, Joey joined the local union and made himself heard there.
We remember that when a Kibbutz Aliya was formed in Detroit, Joey was one of the first to join and carry out its program. We remember that when Joey came out to camp weekends, he would do more work than others had done all week. We remember how as rosh mahaneh of Detroit Habonim, he led us through one of the strongest years of our existence.
He lived his life in search of a better world and gave his life in the struggle for it.
D. G.
Furrows, June, 1944