Cohen, Yaakov (Kobi)

Ben Rachel and Chaim. He was born on the 7th of Cheshvan 5707 (7.11.1969) in Mitzpeh Ramon. In early August 1987, Kobi was drafted into the IDF and volunteered to serve in the Bnei Akiva religious elementary school. The paratroopers. After the period of consolidation, he joined the “Afa” company, which was served by members of Yeshivot Hesder together with members of Youth Aliyah, the military-command track for the officers in the paratroopers. The difficult basic training was completed in the quest for the “red beret” which he desired, and during this course he underwent a parachuting course, and proudly put the paratroopers’ wings on his chest. At the end of a year of arduous activity, with hard efforts and tests, he was awarded the rank of sergeant, arrived in Battalion 890 and served as a lieutenant colonel, during which time he served with his apprentices in Lebanon and the territories and educated his subordinates in the spirit of the principles he learned, “Every soldier is a different world,” he wrote in November 1989. In order to understand it, one must enter into his world, live with him, and be judged according to his actions. This sentence, which expresses and symbolizes Koby and his principles, was a guiding light for him and his actions. He was involved in the problems of his soldiers, and he took care of each of them personally. In May 1989 he went for an officer’s course. In the light of his achievements and success, he was appointed deputy company commander in the company called “The Red Company” ‘. Because of the difficulty and the challenge, Kobi relinquished his personal pride, the “red beret,” which he always wore proudly, and replaced it with a black beret to give an example to the soldiers in the armored infantry unit, so that they would be proud of their black cap. Kobi realized the concept of “personal example.” Lt. Col. Yehuda Shoshani writes: “When I was appointed battalion commander, I saw fit to deal with the issue of manpower. The first officer I interviewed and concluded his way through the battalion and the army was Kobi. I had no doubt that Kobi could and should be a company commander.Cobby had all the qualifications to be a company commander. A professional, charismatic, self-confident officer. We soon discovered that Kobi did not need theoretical compliments; he proved that he was capable of being a company commander in practice. Kobi replaced the commander of Company B, and trained a company with very high achievements. I gave him the ranks of the lieutenant on the roof of an Arab house in the Tulkarm area. “Kobi commanded the company in operational employment, and Kobi Leshem went to work in Jenin to study the missions. The jeep he was traveling in on April 10, 1991. He fell in the line of duty and was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Be’er Sheva, leaving behind his parents, two sisters and three brothers. “From the very beginning, Kobi discovered leadership. His soldiers saw him as a figure and a symbol of a commander who commanded them, and of a man who cared for them with all his soul. We have indeed lost an officer of the first rank. In his memoir, the company took away a poem written about a fallen father, and in the place of the word “father” they wrote “Kobi” because they saw him as a beloved and admired father, and so in the poem he brought “Kobi was everything for me / Kobi was omnipotent / to educate, to teach, to give a personal example / he would shout or be deaf / Kobi was for me God, and certainly for the rest of the soldiers …”