Bar-On, Chaim-Akiva

Haim-Akiva, son of-Mina and Naftali-Mendel, a Holocaust survivor, was born on 11.1.1953 in Katowice, Poland, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1957. He attended the school in Kiryat Shmuel, he studied at the “Mikveh Israel” agricultural school and was a good and diligent student, and his teachers testified that: “He was a successful pupil, a conscientious student, friendly and honest.” His main interest was the areas of living flora and aviation He had a great love for nature, he raised pigeons in the foyer and fish in the aquarium, cultivated dogs, set up a chicken coop for ducks and took care of his small garden, and devoted his free time to collecting coins and stamps, He was a member of the Bnei Akiva movement, and when his friends set up a nucleus they chose him to be the core of the nucleus, and he was an active man, energetic and alert. He was a fine humorist and a little sarcastic, and he was very popular with his many friends. He was quiet and did not say much about himself and what had happened to him. He had a sense of justice and was always afraid that he would harm his friend or hurt him. A special relationship developed between him and his father and they were like friends to each other, and consulted with them on every matter, small and big. Haim was drafted into the IDF in mid-November 1971 and volunteered for the parachuting Nahal unit, within the framework of the “Moriah” nucleus, which was to immigrate to Kibbutz Lavi. After basic training, he studied at the Plasim course. A few months before the outbreak of the war, he volunteered for the Armored Corps and took part in a tank course for the “Centurion” tank, and his commander testified that he was an outstanding gunner with a professional ability The “Operational Service Signal” was awarded to him for his part in the operational activities, and on October 7, With three other crew members on the ground and they took cover in the building, and Syrian soldiers attacked them with better force and closed them. He was later brought to the rank of sergeant and his family donated a Torah scroll to the central synagogue in Arad, the religious state school “Talalim” in Arad established a Torah library in his memory.