Soldier and early pioneer-settler in Erez Israel whose life efforts to organize the military defense of the Jewish settlements in Erez Israel and whose heroic death in a battle at Tel Hai in the north of the country became an inspirational symbol to pioneering youth from all parts of the Diaspora.

Born in a small town in the northern Caucasus, Trumpeldor was strongly influenced in his youth by the model of collective communal life which he witnessed at a nearby farming commune established by followers of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. In Trumpeldor's mind, the idea of collective living became merged with the Zionist ideal of settling Erez Israel, and he dreamed of establishing agricultural communes in Erez Israel which, if necessary, would be defended by armed force.

He was however, drafted into the Russian army and lost an arm while fighting in the Russo-Japanese war. In 1912 he went to Erez Israel and worked for a while at kevuzzat Deganyah, and participated in the defense of the Jewish settlements in the lower Galilee. When World War I broke out, he was deported to Egypt after he refused to join the Turkish army. In Alexandria, he called for the formation of a legion of volunteers drawn from the Erez Israel deportees to be at the disposal of the British and help liberate the country from the Turks.

The British allowed the formation of a Jewish brigade (the "Zion Mule Corps") of which Trumpeldor became the deputy commander and which participated in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. Between 1915 and 1919 Trumpeldor traveled widely, spending much time in England and Russia, promoting the organization of Jewish regiments to fight the Turks and Jewish self-defense units to protect the settlements in Erez Israel.

In Russia, in particular, he was very active in the organization of the He-Halutz movement whose aim was the training of young Jews for settling in Erez Israel.

In 1919 he returned to Erez Israel and in January 1920 was called to the northern Galilee to help organize the defense of the settlements there which had come under increasingly fierce Arab attack. On March 1 he was mortally wounded while participating in the defense of the settlemenents at Tel Hai; his dying words were: Ein davar, tov lamut be'ad arzenu ("Never mind; it is good to die for our country").

Trumpeldor was buried near Tel Hai, and in 1934 a memorial was erected at his gravesite. Shortly after his death, a new settlement at the foot of Mount Gilboa was named Tel Yosef in his honor, and songs, poems and stories were written about him as a hero of the Jewish resettlement of Erez Israel. His lifestory served as an inspirational model to both the pioneering socialist youth movements and the right-wing youth groups. One of the largest and most successful of the latter was named in his honor: Betar, an abbreviation of Berit Trumpeldor.