Yitzhak Sadeh (, born Izaak Landoberg, August 10, 1890 – August 20, 1952), was the commander of the Palmach and one of the founders of the Israel Defense Forces at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. Biography Sadeh was born as Izaak Landoberg to a Polish Jewish family in Lublin, in the Russian Partition of the Russian Empire (now in Poland). His mother, Rebecca, was the daughter of rabbi Shneur Zalman Fradkin. In his youth, he studied with rabbi Hillel Zeitlin. Sadeh married three times. His third wife, Margot Meier-Sadeh, died of cancer a year before he did. He had two daughters, Iza Dafni and Rivka Sfarim, and a son, Yoram Sadeh. Sadeh died in Tel Aviv in August 1952. By then he had become a charismatic and colorful figure whose nickname in the Palmach was HaZaken (The Old Man). He is buried at Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Military career When World War I broke out, he joined the Imperial Russian Army. He saw action and was decorated for bravery. In 1917, he met Joseph Trumpeldor, and between 1917 and 1919 assisted him in the founding of HeHalutz (The Pioneer) movement. In 1920 Sadeh made aliyah to Eretz Israel, where he became one of founders and leaders of Gdud HaAvoda (The Labor Battalion). In 1921 Sadeh was a Haganah (defense) commander in Jerusalem. During the 1929 riots he took part in the battle defending Haifa. When the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine began, Sadeh established the Nodedet (Wandering Troop or Patrol Unit) in Jerusalem, that confronted the Arabs in their villages and bases. He demanded that his troops "leave the defences" and initiate military operations. In the summer of 1937, as commander of the Jewish Settlement Police he founded the FOSH (Hebrew abbreviation, FO'SH, for Plugot Sadeh, lit. Field Companies), the commando arm of the Haganah. It was an elite Jewish strike force, whose members were hand-picked by Sadeh. Sadeh commanded the establishment of Kibbutz Hanita on an isolated hill on the southern border of Lebanon. In 1941, he was instrumental in the founding of the Palmach (acronym for Plugot Mahatz, lit. Striking Companies), the Haganah's enlisted military forces of volunteers). The purpose of this clandestine elite unit was to prepare to undertake a guerilla war in the event of the Axis forces entering Palestine. During the 200 days of dread Sadeh worked on the Carmel Plan,