Bar-Ner (Vilner), Avishai

Avishai, son of Malka and Avraham, was born on April 30, 1945 in Tel Aviv. He studied at the “Carmel” elementary school and then moved to Kibbutz Yifat to continue his high school studies, where he studied and was educated during his youth. The beauty of the valley was reflected in its character and personality. Avishai’s friends on the kibbutz remember him as a boy with natural wit, a straight character and cultivating group membership. He was also an outstanding athlete, tall and tall and active in the basketball team. At the beginning of October 1963, after completing a regional high school, he and his friends joined the army. He passed an officers’ training course and as an outstanding trainee he stayed at the base. After his discharge from the regular service, he returned to Kibbutz Yifat and took over the chicken coop. He did his job with great success – but when the Six-Day War broke out, even though he was not yet assigned to a reserve unit, he joined the fighting forces on his own initiative. Since then, he continued to serve in a company in which many of his comrades were members – “Plugat Ha’emek”. During his reserve service he was appointed deputy company commander. He was offered several times to go to courses for promotion – but he did not make a final decision. The company nurtured social cohesion and maintained friendly relations with both soldiers and officers. He would host them at home and visit their homes throughout the country. Entered his parents’ house, and then outside their home, became a meeting place for his friends. The room was always crowded with friends who came to be with him and they called him “Avishai’s Dizengoff.” His great ambition was to travel and get to know the world, and he incorporated his hobby – photography. After leaving the kibbutz, he joined the regional survey and planning group for southern Sinai, on behalf of the “Shlomo District Command”, as a director. Since then, he has been connected with his work and his soul to the magical landscapes of the Sinai Peninsula. In this work he found his full satisfaction and devoted his energy and energy to it for several years. He felt a sense of respect for the local Bedouins, and they restored his friendship and welcomed him with an open heart in their homes. They also gave him a nickname in his own language, because he was a unique personality. He was loved by all and excelled in warm and cordial respect for each person, irrespective of his status, age and community. On a three-month vacation he traveled with his two friends in Central Africa. He returned from there, full of experiences, with a diary of travel, hundreds of slides and many film slides, from the wild and human landscape of the continent, which he developed in his small lab in the corner of his room and turned into powerful pictures. He used to play the slides in his parents’ home, accompanied by explanations for his friends. On Simchat Torah night (19.10.1973), on the second shift, Avishai, who had been guarding the hole outside the bunker, noticed the group of enemy soldiers approaching them. While one of his soldiers called the platoon, Avishai was hit by enemy fire before his friends could come to his aid. He was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. After his fall, he was promoted to captain.