Avihatzeira, Jacob

Yaakov (Abu), son of Rahma and Yehia, was born in 1951 in Arpud, Morocco, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1963. In his hometown he studied at Yeshivat Ohel Yosef and Yizhak and in Ashkelon at the Yeshurun ​​elementary school. Yaakov was drafted into the IDF in the middle of February 1969 and volunteered to serve in the Armored Corps in the 7th Brigade, after which he was trained in the tank course “Centurion” and was a soldier in charge of the tank. After his discharge from the regular army service, he was hired as an electrician in a factory in Ashkelon and was able to work there for about a year. His superiors praised him for his honesty and innocence, his diligence and dedication, his responsibility and his precision. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Yaakov was drafted and at five o’clock in the afternoon he left his house for war and never returned. On the tenth of Tishrei 5734 (10.10.1973), in the afternoon Jacob fought in the area of ​​Hoshenia in the Golan Heights. A shell hit his tank and he was killed on the spot. He was buried in the temporary cemetery at Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot and his body was then transferred to eternal rest in the cemetery in the southern housing project in Ashkelon. He was survived by a father, mother, three brothers and four sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to sergeant.