Cena, Jacob

Son of Mualem and Hochi. He was born in 1950 in Iraq, and a year later he immigrated with his family to Israel, where he spent his youth in Moshav Beit Yosef in the Beit Shean Valley, where he completed his elementary school. After his studies, he went to work despite his young age and helped the family work the land, even when he was a young boy, who was always willing to help others and grew up orphaned by his father. When Jacob left his father and especially since his older brother left the house, he knew that he had to provide for the family, He went out to the field early in the morning and worked hard all day, but he was Simcha with his work and found satisfaction in it, so he went through his youth, the thunder of guns and bombardments he knew before he went to the army. Heavy fire and the shelling of the Jordanians, and Yaakov ran under the fire of the enemy to help the needy and took the toddlers to bring them to safety. Yaakov was drafted into the IDF in mid-November 1968. His desire to serve in the army and his love for the homeland overcame the economic considerations that should have prevented him from leaving the army, and Yaakov joined one of the most famous armored units in which he served until his dying day. On one occasion, during one of his holidays, he told the family that he was going down to operational activity in the south and “we have nothing to worry about.” He loved Jerusalem and received a vacation – even a short one – to visit And then hurried north to his girlfriend, who had planned to build his future together On October 25, 1970, he fell while carrying out a mine near the Suez Canal, and was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.