Kaczynski, Raphael (“Rafi”)

Son of Avraham and Hinda. He was born on December 6, 1947, in a hospital in Nicosia, Cyprus, when his family was on their way to Israel and was imprisoned in a refugee camp. But at the beginning of February 1948, at the height of the War of Independence, the family arrived in Palestine – and Raphael was about two months old. He grew up, was educated and studied at Kibbutz Eilon. He belonged to the Ha – Shomer ha – Tsa’ir youth movement. He was by nature humble, simple and honest in his ways, and his personality radiated from these qualities. After he was drafted into the IDF, he was in the Artillery Corps, completing a course for surveyors and platoon commanders, but recently, during an officers’ course, he fell while carrying out his duties. It was on the day he turned nineteen – on the 23rd of Kislev 5727 (December 6, 1966) and was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery at Kibbutz Eilon, a booklet published in his memory by his kibbutz with the participation of his friends, And his friends-to-unit-and to the course they erected a memorial wave in his memory at Bamachalot (west of Kibbutz Nachshonim), in which the kibbutz planted a hundred trees.