Halfon, Raphael (“Rafi”)

Son of Shmuel and Zimbul. Born in 1932 in Istanbul, Turkey, Rafi was active in Jewish youth circles, was an avid sports enthusiast and even played for the well-known Jewish soccer team Maccabi Zion.In 1949, when he was 17 years old, he immigrated to Israel illegally. With his friends on a merchant ship anchored in Istanbul on the way, were discovered and arrested on the ship when they reached the port of Haifa, and the cousins ​​of Rafael, Israel and Benjamin, who were Etzel activists, released them from the ship. Rafi was drafted into the IDF in July 1950 and served in the Nahal Brigade. He was one of the founders of Nahal Oz, near the Gaza Strip. In 1955 he married Mazal (Fortuna). The couple lived in the Manshiyeh neighborhood of Tel Aviv. As part of his reserve service, he served as a combat medic in the Armored Corps, serving in the Sinai and the Six-Day War. During the Sinai Campaign his firstborn son Samuel was born. On August 28, 1972, Rafi fell on reserve duty. He left behind a wife and three children – Shmuel, Yaakov and Binyamin. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. “Halfon Raphael, who served in the Nahal Brigade and served in our reserve duty, was accepted by us as a disciplined, pleasant soldier who was always ready to carry out the tasks imposed on him. And stood out as a loyal friend of his fellow soldiers in the battalion. “