Johnny, son of Ann and Tzemach Heiman, was born on June 14, 1932 in Jerusalem, where he studied at the Beit HaYeled and Beit Hakerem schools in Jerusalem and completed his high school studies as a student In 1946, while still in high school, Yonatan joined the Hagana organization, completing a course in sergeants and in 1948 At the age of 16 he took part in the battles for the defense of Jerusalem during the siege, and after completing his studies he served as one of the founders of Kibbutz Tel Katzir. He lived in the kibbutz between 1949 and 1953. He served in various positions in the agriculture, and for a long period filled with positions of treasurer and the center of the agriculture. In June 1953, after much deliberation, he left the kibbutz and returned to Jerusalem. His parents were then on a mission abroad and he took care of his two younger brothers, who was an author, an older brother, a counselor and a worrier. In 1956, he was elected chairman of the Student Union in accordance with the criteria he set. During his studies and much later in the world, he did not believe in trips built on a quick transition from one country to another, and spent long periods in different countries in order to meet the people of the country, their culture and customs. On these trips he greatly expanded his horizons and made many connections with different people. After completing his studies and internship, he worked for a law firm in Jerusalem, and a few years later opened an independent office and saw great blessings in his work. In 1960, he married his girlfriend Hava, who was then a student of the university in Jerusalem. In 1968 his eldest daughter Ofra was born and in 1972 his son Guy. Yonatan was drafted into the IDF in 1953. He was drafted into reserve duty, and his commanders, who appreciated him as a man and a soldier, rushed to send him to an officer’s course and followed him to a course for intelligence officers. In 1967 he took part in the battles for the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem, where he underwent a difficult face-to-face battle, with his commander and friend, the battalion commander, killed right next to him. Company commanders, and switch to service in the Armored Corps, after a brief deliberation and emotion On the morning the Yom Kippur War broke out, when he heard about the general mobilization, and before they could call him from his unit, he got on his car and drove to the unit’s place of concentration. The containment of the Golan Heights and the battles to break into the Syrian enclave on October 8, 1973. He was hit by small arms fire of Syrian soldiers and was killed. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl. In the city where he was born, he grew up and established his home and family. Even as a child, Johnny was a mixture of a lively boy prepared for mischief on the one hand, and a great deal of maturity and seriousness on the other. He was very active socially and in most of the social frameworks in which he lived and worked was usually the axis around which various social events developed. He was optimistic, cheerful, full of life and curiosity and possessed an extraordinary sense of humor. The other side of his personality was very serious. He has read and been interested in many different fields ranging from literature, poetry to history, archeology, geography, and science. Each of these subjects has devoted a great deal of time and knowledge to them in a thorough manner. Jonathan had an unusual sense of justice and a great deal of inner integrity. He lived and acted according to principles that he believed without being influenced by the “fashion” or opinions of others, never tried to impose his opinion on others, but because of his strong personality was accepted among his friends and subordinates as an authority and natural leader. His deep love for Israel, his belief in the importance of its existence as a homeland for the Jewish people, was central to his decision to move to the armored corps, and he opposed the education of the youth and the education of his children. “It is good to die for our country.” “They must be educated,” he used to say, “it is good to live for our country” and “live in And the inner conviction that in order to preserve this land, one must be prepared to give up everything for it, Johnny was a very devoted son to his parents,and a wonderful husband and father, his two children were the center of his world, he gave them every spare moment, and since his children were born, all his deeds and plans were devoted to them. When he was killed, Ofra was five years old and Guy was only ten months old. Before his hasty departure to the war, on the morning of Yom Kippur, he had not even managed to separate from his family. The last farewell words were as optimistic as usual, and his wife quickly found a note he had left before leaving: “My dear ones, see you very soon, Dad.” Johnny went on duty about a week after the birth of his son Guy. Although he could probably have been discharged from reserve duty, he refused to ask for it. In a letter to his wife, he wrote: “Actually, I did not mean to extend, and all I wanted to say was that I love you … I love so much pain (it turns out that every sentence has a lot of truth) – I have been told in an hour of irritation and tension and that perhaps they have already been forgotten, but I feel I want to relate to them, I do not know if I can explain but I have to try, After all, it is not only that there is a connection, but that the connection is very close, and no less complicated: The question is not whether I love the army. And that is the connection. To love you is to create for you what I believe is the best world you can live in and this world is this country. You remember that on the eve of the Holocaust, when we saw little children of Ofra’le’s age, and certainly there were those of Guy’s age, they were led to the slaughter, for no reason, just because there was no one to protect them, and we spoke about the moral right of the State of Israel – you said so. Well, that’s it. The existence of a strong state is the only guarantee that such a Holocaust will not recur. This is the thing that needs to be preserved in order to sustain it, except for all the other things I believe in, someone to keep it so strong! I believe that this is the only way I can guarantee you, to us, life, as I believe in them. And maybe one day when Ofra and Guy will grow up I can explain things to them and tell them that I was part of it, part of the promise of life … ”
