Katz, Aharon (Ahrale)

Son of Tzippora and Michael, Holocaust survivors. Born on the eve of Shabbat, September 2, 1950. He spent eight years in the Yavneh State Religious School in Ra’anana, and excelled in mathematics, language and Gemara, but he never boasted of his accomplishments. When he came of age, he had a few months to enlist and he took advantage of this time and studied at the Itri Yeshiva in Jerusalem. From childhood he wanted to be a parachutist, but he completed his career as a young navigator and advanced to the position of commander of a squadron. In the Yom Kippur War, Aharla was among a handful of IAF fighters decorated with the “Medal of Honor”, but because of his modesty, only a few of his friends knew about it. Ahrale did not aspire to a military career, and every time he completed his career in the regular army, he wished to be released in order to study Torah and expand his education. In the end, however, he agreed to the pleas of his commanders and remained for an additional period of service out of a sense of responsibility. Later he was sent by the army to study at Bar-Ilan University. Aharla studied economics, but also attended lectures in the Department of Jewish Philosophy, where he met his future wife Deborah. In 1977 their eldest son Yishai was born, and two years later his son Amitai was born. During the Peace for Galilee war, Ahrale was called to the squadron while he and his wife and two sons were at the Shabbat table. In a battle flight over the Bekaa Valley on 4 Av, July 24, 1982, his plane was hit by a Syrian missile, and Ahrale was killed, and after two years his body was returned to eternal rest in the military cemetery in Ra’anana. He left a wife, two sons, parents and a sister, and his family donated a library to the religious library of the Raanana Religious Council.