Ben Tachya and Hananiah. He was born in Jerusalem on September 2, 1980, at the Bikur Holim Hospital. The middle son in the family: a younger than his brother Eitan in seven years and an older brother of Daniel in eight years. The Hermann family was one of the founders of the settlement of Netaf in the Judean Hills, and Yair’s childhood passed there, in the midst of nature, in the magnificent landscape overlooking the mountains and the Ayalon Valley. From the age of three he was already an active partner in the construction of the family tree house with a hammer and nails, and the care of plants and trees planted around the house, turning the rocky slopes into a flowering garden. Yair’s playground was among the trees and stones, near the newly built houses, with children of different ages who had gathered in the young settlement. His good friend Yonatan Karni described their first meeting in Netaf: “On the summer vacation between third and fourth grade, I moved to Netaf, afraid of a new settlement and a new school without friends, and you appeared at the door of our hut with devilish hair and shiny blue eyes. And you made me feel like I was born here. ” At school, Yair wrote about his experiences in Netaf and called himself a “nature boy”. In a film prepared for his bar mitzvah, he said that one of his hobbies was work in the family plot. Mosa, a resident of the nearby village of Abu Ghosh and a son of a house with the Herman family, learned how to build terraces on the slopes of the mountains. Later, at the age of nineteen, Yair described the childhood experiences in a letter he sent to his good friend Doogie Nadav Yakobos on the occasion of his twentieth birthday: “We were privileged to grow up like brothers in Nataf, instead of every child today it will look crazy, the childhood we went through. I was talking about our children in wooden houses, without electricity, without a telephone, without solar water heaters, things that today remain only a beautiful memory in the head … Every time I think About the days when we would play hide and seek in the neighborhood or throw it into a basket that Oren built, or build machines, or a camp, or even just sit there. “Yair was one of the first in Nataf’s unique kindergarten, a mixed-age kindergarten for religious and secular children, like the whole of Netaf. He began his studies at Ein Harim Elementary School – the agricultural school in the Ein Kerem neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and when he reached the seventh grade he asked to study at the Jewish-Arab school in Neve Shalom. In eighth grade he moved to the Jerusalem Experimental High School. The film world aroused great interest in Yair, so he chose to study at the high school in Jerusalem from the ninth to twelfth grade, specializing in film photography, and was already there as a youth with great motivation and a strong desire to achieve professional achievements “As a boy and boy, Yair was able to maintain warm and strong ties with his neighbors in Nataf.” On the anniversary of his death, Hadassah said: “Your lack is accumulating in our neighborhood events. , That you have not missed any of them and have always made sure to appear. You’re missing a name with a poetic song that puts us out of your laughter, your talk, the stories, your special blessing. This absence is so present, and then a longing arises, sometimes accompanied by pain and sometimes sadness. And with the blanks you’re right there, there’s a nataf in the neighborhood, in every corner, in thousands of pictures that unfold your life, your growth from a golden baby to curly hair to a great and amazing young man. “Hadassah said:” I have a clear picture of your entrance to our home, on the door. With all your size you had a lot of gentleness, headGlancing at your smile, your smile. And so special to you was giving – giving a word, giving a hand, giving food, giving a flower, giving a smile, or a promise. You always brought something that benefits people, that will raise the moment, so you lived and so you live and enlighten us even now. “When Yair was eighteen years old, after a conversation with his father, he sat on a page of things he believed in and lived by. That the person lives only once, and that he should take advantage of these years to enjoy them because he was born to enjoy and learn, “wrote Yair, and more:” I believe that nothing happens just for nothing. That’s the most important thing. “The fourth:” I believe that every human being must develop the ability to be within a framework, not to give up, and always look outside the framework. “The last belief in the list: “When he enlisted in the army in mid-October 1998, Yair asked to study photography, was sent to a course for video producers, and was assigned to the Visual Arts Department in the Education and Youth Corps:” Your commanders asked the course’s instructors for the best photographer, and I know that’s what we received, “He was eulogized by the commander of the Education Center at the headquarters of the Education and Youth Officer, Colonel Yaakov Castel. “You started as a talented young man, hungry for the camera, enthusiastic, professional and devoted to work.” You started your career in the Education and Youth Corps as a photographer’s assistant, and soon you became our home photographer, and led the technical staff in many productions that required physical and mental effort. Help, always with a willingness to drown your talent on top of the footage. ” “Shortly after that, as he himself told me, Yair made a decision to invest in the place where he was,” says Yoav Spiegel. He is a servant, and we, the command team, began to discover the caring Herman … “And so, the same bursting juice of energy, with the caring, joy, and independence that accompanied Yair since his childhood in Nataf, was expressed in his military roles. Yair’s talent as an artist and a professional, and as a person who invested many hours in the work and carried with him the technical staff and the entire unit. A few months before his death, Yair was given the opportunity to make progress and carry out projects that had previously been awarded to experienced photographers. “It was a very important film for us, in which the photographer determines the quality of the film, his ability to shoot quickly, and with great sensitivity to what is happening around him,” Spiegel said. , But he was up to the task. In the editing room, the director and the editor, reservists, first-rate professionals in the country sat down and could not believe their eyes. “We liked him for the grace of his youth, his enthusiasm, his love for his friends, “We liked his sincerity, his caring and his desire to help and reach the unit with achievements.” Yair fell during his service on the 22nd of Nissan 5760 (26.4.2000) in a car accident that occurred in the Nataf area, when he was twenty years old when he was killedSurrounded by the mountainous landscape he loved so much in his life. Survived by parents and two brothers. After his fall he was promoted to sergeant. On his military tombstone, the verse was inscribed on the psalms: “Even darkness will not darken from you, and night will shine like darkness.” “Yair came to us with the soul of an artist – thanks to you, and thanks to the foundations that you gave him at home, he gave us the soul of the artist in him, and invested every inch of his soul in his service as a photographer in the IDF. “A few weeks before his death, Yair turned to his commander and suggested that he start transferring the scepter to Ariel, who was his assistant photographer.” Ariel will take a picture, and I will be his assistant, “he suggested. This is a sign of greatness of spirit, “Yoav Spiegel related at Yair’s grave.” The ability to be proud joins many of his other virtues, which create a natural leader of a technical team. And all this stopped. It’s hard for us to recover. We will continue with tears in our eyes and a great space in our hearts. We will grind our teeth and continue. I think you’d like that. You were big, Herman. “Yair’s friend, Yonatan Karni, said goodbye to him:” So many things we went through together. Many parties, the Arad Festival, Greece, Sinai and more. I can not understand you’re not here, half of me gone. You were so beautiful, so good, so talented and loved. I think if there is someone who can be said to have used all the opportunities he had in life until they stopped – it’s you, Yair. I love you. “The head of the Education Center told the family:” Yair is another victim of the road accident. There is no greater pain than your pain. His life was cut off, but his works continue to live. “
