Ben Ahuva and Carmel. He was born on May 6, 1963 in Holon. The eldest son of his parents, the brother of Chazai (Ezekiel) and Nissim. My father grew up in Kiryat Haim. The family first lived in a transit camp and then moved to an apartment in East Kiryat Haim. My father began his studies at the Arlozorov Elementary School and completed his studies at the Kiryat Haim Municipal High School. From an early age my father had shown a tendency to everything related to electricity, engineering, and mechanics – he used to dismantle, with great success, any electric device he could get. My father had musical talent and played an electric guitar. And shortly before joining the IDF, he joined a neighborhood band, and in August 1982 my father enlisted in the IDF and began training in basic engineering. Basic training lasted about eight months, and immediately after the end of the route my father married Ayelet Hashachar, whom she knew when he played in the band. The young couple got a week’s vacation, and my father returned to the army and went to serve in Lebanon. He was attached to a paratroopers’ unit, and his role as an engineer was to make his way to power. It was an unceasing operational activity, including in Marjayoun and Bhamdoun, and it was only at the beginning of 1984 that my father, at the request of his wife, moved to serve close to home. Until the end of his regular service, he served in a food base in Tira, and returned to serve in combat engineering. After his discharge from the army, my father worked in various jobs, and after extensive searching he found work for himself, in charge of a repair shop in a hardware store. In May 1987, Shelly (Shalhevet), his eldest daughter, was born and the son of Tiran was born in April 1991. The family lived in Kiryat Bialik, and my father had a loyal husband and a wonderful father, “Perhaps one of the consolations,” wrote his wife, “is that he saw them growing and forming, and knowing that he enjoyed being part of it.” My father was a charming person, a kind of positive energy magnet that was everywhere He was surrounded by new friends, all of whom had experienced his optimism, that he was a true friend who loved and could help anyone in me After five years of work, my father left Rafael and went to study at Yad Natan College, where he completed high-voltage electrical studies. He began working as an electrician of Kibbutz Eilon, who was in charge of all the kibbutz’s electricity systems and continued his work at Kibbutz Eilon until his death. At the end of February 2002, Avi went to reserve duty in Samaria. During that period, on the 19th of Adar 5762 (March 3, 2002), he fell in combat. He was stationed at a checkpoint north of Ofra, in Wadi Hermia on the way to Nablus. In the morning, a terrorist opened fire at the checkpoint and killed ten people, including my father. Captain Ariel Hovav, Lt. David Damelin, Sergeant Major Rafael Levy, Lt. Col. Eran Gad, Lt. Col. Kfir Weiss, Lt. Col. Yochai Porat and citizens Sergey Torov, Vadim Balagula and Yitzhak Didi. My father was thirty-eight when he fell. After his death, he was promoted to the rank of Major General, who was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Haifa, leaving behind a wife, daughter and son, parents and two brothers.
