Cohen (Araki), Ezra

Ezra, son of Mazal, and Yosef was born on April 4, 1950, in Ein Shemer. His parents, who immigrated to Israel from Yemen, settled in the Neve Amal neighborhood of Herzliya, where Ezra spent his youth. He began studying at the “Yesodei HaTorah” elementary school and later went on to study at the Shaviv religious school. His teachers in these schools remember him as a quiet student who tried to do his job. One of his teachers wrote: “Ezra was always there for the help of the weak, tried to help them and morally encourage them, I remember his charming smile, a smile that never left his mouth.” He was one of the first to come to pray in the morning and always sat in the first bench.” He continued his studies in mechanical engineering at the vocational school in Kfar Batya, and in two years he studied in a secretarial program at the Amirim elementary school in Herzliya. The willingness to help others was the second nature, and he volunteered to help ambulance drivers at the Magen David Adom station in Herzliya Ezra was drafted into the IDF in August 1968, but after completing basic training, his condition worsened. Ezra did not accept the evil of the decree. He sent many letters of protest and knocked on many doors until he managed to change the decision a bit. Although he was not returned to service, he was not assigned to the Civil Defense, but was sent to a departmental paramedics course in the IDF. After completing his training successfully, he was placed as a medic in an artillery battalion. In order to expand his education, he was admitted to the School for Practical Brothers, near the Donolo Hospital in Jaffa. He found a living at the Herut company in Tel Aviv. Ezra was a pleasant man and devoted himself to saving the lives of comrades in arms. On October 9, 1973, Ezra was killed in the bombing of Syrian MiGs while fulfilling his duty of saving lives. He was brought to eternal rest in the Herzliya cemetery. Survived by his parents, two brothers, and two sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to corporal. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, the commander of his unit wrote that Ezra, “in his behavior and his modest personality and full of social willingness, immediately found his place in our midst. , he fell among the first of our fighters. ” His family commemorated the establishment of a charity fund that bears the name “Ezra Cohen-Araki Pension Fund”