Amichai, Yair (Yairka)

Yair (Yairka), son of Henia and Yechiel Amichai, was born on November 1, 1927, in Moshav Tel Adashim, where his parents were founding members. After two years, the family moved to Tel Aviv, and Yair went to kindergarten, elementary school and two years in the “New High School.” From his childhood Yair was known for his diligence and obedience in school and at home. He was enthusiastic about the pioneering ideals. After completing his studies, he joined the Palmach training program and spent a year in Beit Ha’arava in the north of the Dead Sea, where he worked devotedly in the field, especially in tractor work and in training and cultural activities of the local youth. During training he specialized in sabotage and patrols.
During the struggle against the British he participated in the explosion of bridges and railway lines, and after Black Saturday (29.6.1946) was called to help in Kibbutz Ein Harod. He and his friends were arrested and taken to the Atlit detention camp.
After being liberated from the camp, he moved to Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev in late summer of 1947, where he was one of those responsible for security and farming. After his marriage, he left Mishmar Hanegev for a certain period due to family circumstances and was hired to work as a clerk in the Tel Aviv Electric Company. But his longing for the land did not leave him, and in his letters to his brother, who was at Beit Keshet at the time, asked him, “When you sow in your fields, plant one seedling for me.” At the outbreak of the War of Independence, he joined the Reserve of the Palmach. Yair served with convoys to Jerusalem and the Negev. One day he was assigned to photograph the behavior of the British in arresting a Jewish convoy, but this role seemed to him too comfortable for a fellow like him.
Yair volunteered to go to the guard post at the Jewish National Fund near Beit Dagan. The next day, on January 11, 1948, he went out with his friend Menashe Kahane to plant mines around the outpost. Both were seriously injured when the last mine exploded. They were brought to Hadassah Hospital in Tel Aviv, where he acted bravely, encouraging his parents who came to visit him, saying to his mother said, “Hey heroine, I’m a hero!” The doctors believed that he would overcome his wounds and would soon be able to return to service, as he had promised his father, but his condition worsened. On the 3rd of Shvat 5708 (14.1.1948), after the sun set, he died, and was brought to eternal rest in the Nachlat Yitzhak military cemetery. To what extent his friends liked him is evident from the fact that two of his comrades in the Palmach called their sons Yair.