Katz, Israel Yaakov

Son of Rachel and Yitzhak-David, was born on June 26, 1924 in Lodz, Poland, and was educated in a national religious school of the Mizrachi. He brought his parents an atmosphere of Eretz Israel and constantly demanded that they immigrate to Israel with him. When the parents were not inclined to comply with his demand, he impatiently awaited his adolescence, so that he would be accepted into an organized pioneering movement and would be able to immigrate to Israel without his parents. His adolescence came at a time when the Nazi occupiers had murdered his people, and the belief in his future in the country eased depression from his soul. This belief strengthened him even in the ghettos and the concentration camps. After the war, in January 1946, he arrived in Palestine. Here he worked in carpentry and frames in Moshav Sharei and later in Tel Aviv. He married a wife and prepared to enjoy his life in the land he dreamed of and was now called to defend it. Israel-Yaakov participated in many fierce battles around his place of residence and completed a course in connections. Later he served in the Negev Brigade and was stationed in Ruhama. During the bombing of Ruhama he entered his tent in order to take a machine gun and shoot the enemy plane, and before he reached his position, he was hit by the enemy’s bullets and fell on Tuesday, July 10, 1948. He was buried in Ruhama. 1950) was transferred to eternal rest in the Nahalat Yitzhak Military Cemetery.