Jeridi (Okashi), Eliezer-Yosef (Yossi)

The son of Yedida and Abraham, a member of the Yemenite community, was born on August 9, 1931 in Tel Aviv, and his mother was forced to leave her husband during the pregnancy. Meir Dizengoff, the mayor of Tel Aviv at the time, was a child’s godfather and also helped with his education, and at the age of five his father was killed in the 1936 riots and the boy was educated at the Talmud Torah and the Diskin orphanage in Jerusalem. From there he returned to his mother, who remarried and lived in Rishon Letzion. Eliezer-Yosef tried to work in a number of professions and eventually worked in a factory in Rishon Letzion. He was a member of Hanoar Haoved and was very fond of his friends. At the age of 14 he joined the Haganah and was active in its ranks. At the outbreak of the war, he served in the Givati ​​Brigade and at the beginning of January 1948 was stationed with his department in Gan Yavneh. On January 9, two classes from the department left for a tour of Gan Yavne in the area with two pistols and two grenades. Armed Arabs from the village of Abu Sawira noticed them and opened fire at them. Eleven of the patrolmen were killed and Yossi was among them. His body was returned the following day by the British army. On the 11th of Shevat 5708 (11.1.1948), he was laid to rest at the cemetery in Rishon Letzion, where he was 16 years and four months old when he died, and the mother, who wanted to delay his training, said: “You want me to wait until they kill me in bed in front of you. On January 24, Givati ​​forces raided the village of Abu Sabira and blew up its houses.