Mordechai, son of Hannah and Jacob, was born in 1948 in Arbil, Iraq, to a highly affluent family that immigrated to Israel in 1951 and left all of its property behind. She was absorbed in the Hiriya immigrant transit camp in the Dan region, and lived for a long time under very difficult conditions. In the transit camp Mordechai began his elementary studies. After about five years, the family moved to the Hatikva neighborhood of Tel Aviv, where he completed his elementary studies at the Hatikvah School and later attended the Shevach vocational school in Tel Aviv. Moti, as his family and friends called him, loved his studies, but after spending two years in high school he decided to stop school and go to work to help his father support the family. He was hired at Electra in the air conditioning department and quickly picked up there. Since he liked everything and excelled in diligence and workmanship, he quickly became a boy and a team leader in his department. Moti never underestimated his work, always took seriously any task he was assigned, and worked with pleasure and a strong desire to learn more, to gain experience and advance in status and position in the enterprise. Even when he was a boy, Mutti knew how to do any work quickly and perfectly, as if he had been dealing with it for many years. He had many friends in many places and different sectors of the population, and everyone was kind. He had never evaded giving a friend a helping hand, had always been willing to help with professional knowledge, advice or action. Whatever he did for others, he did with great modesty. He helped his brother in their studies and in their daily lives, and mainly tried to help his father with his work. He also assisted in all household chores, both in professions related to his profession and in the management of the household. He devoted most of his spare time to listening to music, and while he was engaged in other crafts, there was always music playing in the background. Moti liked to swim, and especially liked the open sea. His love of the sea was part of his love of nature in general, and although he was an urban boy, he loved traveling, seeing new places, and strolling in the open air. Moti loved life and saw in them something special that was given to Adam and he had to take full advantage of it. And he took advantage of every moment of his life as best he could-both at work and in recreation and in pleasures of life. Mordechai was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in mid-November 1965. After completing basic training and completing tank and tank commander training courses, he was assigned to a tank unit and filled two positions – tank commander and tank gunner – during the Six Day War, Moti fought in Sinai as tank commander, He was in a hurry to go to his parents’ home, to help as much as he needed at home or work with his father, and afterward he would go to see his friends and be released from regular service. When his time came, he was called for periods of reserve service After his regular service, Moti returned to work at Elektra, his former job, and was accepted there with open arms, despite the great recess in his professional training and promotion process. At that time, Mutti built his own room on the roof of his parents’ house – a Yaffa room decorated with figurines and antiques, with a table and six chairs made by his hands. His friends liked to come to his room, and he always greeted them with a smile and was glad to have them. Moti knew from mature thought and a deep understanding of his needs and abilities, and began to plan his future. Thanks to Hashem’s will and strong willpower achieved what he wanted. After a long period of continuous work in the factory, he decided to go ashore and was accepted as a refrigeration worker on board the ship. He spent three months on the voyage, but the space between the sides of the ship was not enough to create a city boy who liked to spend time traveling and loved the expanses. The thought of his parents, who were left alone and without help, influenced his considerations, and he decided to return to the beach, even though he was offered special conditions and the rank of first officer on the ship. He returned to work at the Electra plant. About two months before the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Moti bought an apartment, coated its walls with wooden planks of his own hands, and began preparing to establish his future. During the Yom Kippur War, Motti participated in the battle against the Egyptians in Sinai. In the battle for the Firdan Bridge, which took place on October 8, 1973, Moti’s tank was hit and he was killed. A month later, his family was informed that he was missing, and only after six months of hope, fear and pain did his family learn that Mutti had been killed. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. Survived by his parents, brothers and sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to First Sergeant. His parents commemorated him by dedicating a Torah scroll.
