Fahima, Shimon (Simon)

Shimon (Simon), born in Mazal and Yosef, was born on February 14, 1954, in Casablanca, Morocco, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1956. He attended the Chabad elementary school and continued to study for one year at the ” The religious comprehensive high school in Kiryat Gat Because of the family’s difficult financial situation, Shimon was forced to stop his studies in order to go to work and help with the burden of supporting the household, first working in a candle factory and later in the Solel Boneh plant. Shimon was a sports enthusiast and a member of Maccabi’s football team in Kiryat Gat and was a counselor at the Beit Aran youth club and for hours Shimon was very sociable and easy to make friends, and his friends loved him for being optimistic and cheerful, with a great sense of humor and a wide Lev and yet he was serious about things that required seriousness and knew how to behave wisely and rationally He was always willing to help others and never abandoned a friend In a time of trouble, Shimon was conscripted to the IDF in mid-May 1971 and volunteered to serve in the Golani Brigade. After basic training, he completed a course for sappers and was assigned to a brigade unit. In his unit, a soldier is considered responsible and dedicated to his position. After being wounded during training in combat in a built-up area, they tried to transfer him to serve in a rear unit, but he refused and returned to his battalion. One of his commanders wrote: “He was an excellent saboteur and very acceptable to his friends, he had a developed sense of criticism, which was also a kind of naivety, which forced us to always examine ourselves, in case we were wrong in dealing with him in daily life. , Because he is one of the best among us. ” He took part in operational activities and was awarded the “Operational Service Award”. During the Yom Kippur War, he was on guard duty in the observation post opposite the Syrians in the Hermon region of the Golan Heights. On the 10th of Tishrei 5740 (October 6, 1973), when he left the observation post and drove the APC to its destination, the APC was ambushed by Syrian soldiers, a shell hit him and Shimon was killed on the spot. Left behind his parents, four brothers and two sisters, and in a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, his commander wrote: “Shimon performed his role with exemplary integrity, courage, devotion and loyalty. He was a good soldier and loved by his comrades and commanders. “His unit published a pamphlet in memory of its people who fell in the war, and Shimon among them.