Gila (Baghdadi), Yosef

Son of Miriam and Shlomo. He was born on September 28, 1936 in Aleppo, Syria. He was six years old when he and his family immigrated to Israel in 1943 in the midst of World War II. The transition from one country to another was not easy and the family’s absorption difficulties were very difficult. The ten-person family lived in a tin shack, but apart from the housing conditions, the family found it difficult to adapt to a language they did not know. In the meantime, the War of Independence broke out – and this, too, did not make life easier for the entire family. But after the war and with the conquest of Katamon, the entire family moved to the neighborhood and slowly began to get used to the conditions of life in Israel. The brothers grew up and some moved to youth groups in the farms, but Yosef remained in the family. From the beginning he attended elementary school and graduated there; He then studied carpentry. When he completed his training he moved to work in the profession under private employers until he reached the army in May 1954. In the army he served in a combat unit that participated in all the activities. When the time came for him to be released from the army, the Sinai Campaign broke out and again Yosef joined another combat unit and moved with her in all the operations that were imposed on her. At the end of the Sinai Campaign, he began to work again in the profession, continued to study, and finally chose his vocation by giving the carpentry profession to the students of an institution for the retarded in Givat Shemesh. In his personal, social, and family life, he had always done his job with precision and loyalty. He liked to help others not to get a reward or to expect it. His superiors at the institution in Givat Shemesh were pleased with his work, which was also the joy of the apprentices who worked and studied under his supervision. After his marriage he settled in Beit Shemesh where he had two daughters. When the Mossad was transferred to Ra’anana, Yosef had the choice to move with him or to fight for his transfer to Jerusalem. Yosef was transferred to work in the village of Jerusalem. The transfer was linked to various struggles and problems, especially the difficult and painful housing problem. At first Joseph worked in Jerusalem and continued to live in Beit Shemesh – which made his family life difficult. So he turned to all the housing-related institutions to help him find an apartment near his place of work so that he could give his free time to his family, but fate wanted otherwise: in that city where he wanted to live, This was in a battle held in Abu Tor on the second day of the Six-Day War, on the 27th of Iyar 5727 (June 6, 1967) – and he left a wife and two daughters. A combat medic was part of his regiment, and while he did his work with great devotion and a wounded father in battle, he died. Was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem in the booklet “One Gray Battalion” was immortalized. His memory was mentioned in the bulletin of the Beit Shemesh Local Council.