Cohen, Yair
Yair, son of Hannah and Shlomo, was born on December 26, 1950 in Tel Aviv. He completed three years of study at the Geulim Elementary School and later moved to Osha School in Ramat Gan where he completed his elementary studies. He also completed two years of study at the Dvir High School in Ramat Gan. The father of the family owned a kerchief, and Yair wanted to help him carry the burden of the work and began to work in the workshop. With great vigor and eagerness, he enlisted in hard work and did much to ease the burden on his sick father. He also studied bookkeeping, in order to acquire familiarity with work procedures and with regard to orders and accounts, so that he could manage the work when necessary regardless of his father. Yair joined the nucleus of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement and at the beginning of 1968 left with the “Revivim” group for the Shalva in Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev. Yair was drafted into the IDF at the end of September 1968, and together with his friends, he underwent basic training and was trained as a combat soldier, and after completing basic training he was sent to Sinai, to the Suez Canal. From desolation and sand to a flourishing and thriving farming community. A friend who served with him wrote about him: “Yair was a diligent guy, did not evade work, always smiled and was in a good mood, and after I was released I continued to meet with Yair and he tried to help me find a job. In September 1971, Yair was released from regular service and returned to his parents’ home and to his father’s sandwich, where he worked a day and organized the workshop, and in the evening he studied at Mishlev, When the Yom Kippur War broke out, he was drafted and sent to Sinai, where he was attached to an artillery unit and passed through the dread of the braking battles, as one of the unit’s soldiers wrote: “From the first moments he became friends and liked them all. He was a friendly and responsible guy. He took the job of preparing food for his friends and taking care of all their needs. At the time of the attacks, fear did not dominate him. On the contrary, he encouraged and strengthened his friends’ hands and tried to distract them from the fear of war. “Yair had a younger brother, who served at the time in Sinai, as a soldier in the armored corps, Yair was worried about his brother and even tried to search for him. On October 14, 1973, in the early hours of the evening, a huge explosion terrified the Artillery Corps, which spread over a “spontaneous” axis. Yair’s assistant was blown up and he was killed, seven days after the fall Brother. He was brought to eternal rest in the military section of the cemetery in Kiryat Shaul, and was buried next to his brother, Amnon. The two brothers fell while guarding the borders of the State of Israel. He left behind his parents, two brothers and two sisters. After his fall, he was awarded the rank of First Sergeant. When the Egyptian army stopped the northern sector of the Suez Canal, Yair was killed, and the explosion occurred during the rocket fire to stop the Egyptian attacks, which prevented the breakthrough into the Sinai, and Yair was a new soldier in my unit, But I knew him as a good and brave soldier. ” A Torah scroll written in memory of Yair and Amnon was donated to the Yesharim Synagogue in Ramat Gan, in memory of them and commemorating their names.
