Haskin, Ephraim

Efraim, son of Nechama and Yitzhak, was born on March 8, 1938, in the village of Bilu. His grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Cheskin, one of the greatest rabbis in Jerusalem and the author of important studies on Jewish law, was a source of considerable pride for his grandson. He visited him frequently in Jerusalem and from his childhood he made sure to fast on Yom Kippur, and boasted of his great grandfather in Torah. Ephraim was drafted into the IDF at the end of July 1956 and assigned to the Nahal Brigade as part of the “Regavim” nucleus. After completing his basic training and completing a parachuting course, he went to Kibbutz Afikim for training. During the Six-Day War he participated with his unit in the battle for Deir el-Balah and excelled as a translator. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, he separated from his children and his wife, who was at the end of her pregnancy, and left with his unit southward. He participated in battles in Sinai until the cease-fire and then, on the morning of the 30th of Tishrei 5734 (26.10.1973), after writing postcards to his wife and parents, he went with his unit to the agricultural buffer zone at the outskirts of the city of Suez and fought in water trenches between reeds and thick vegetation. Ephraim fell in battle on that day. He was brought to rest in the cemetery in the village of Vitkin, leaving behind a wife, two sons and two daughters, parents, brothers and two sisters, and was promoted to the rank of corporal.