Kenan (Kaufman), Aviv

Son of Zvi and Esther. He was born on May 1, 1951 in Petah Tikva. He studied at the Ramat Warbar elementary school and at the ORT vocational secondary school in Yad Eliyahu. Where he completed his four-year electronics studies. He was a member of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement and was active in it. Prior to his induction, he aspired to join the Nahal Brigade, but he gave up in order to fulfill another dream – a pilot course – in July he enlisted in the IDF and volunteered for the air force. During his service, he completed most of his matriculation exams outside the school framework, so that he could begin his academic studies. He was preparing to study law at Tel Aviv University and planned to integrate his evening studies in the law faculty with his military service in the framework of the permanent army. In the framework of the IAF, he completed his officers’ course and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. On the 17th of Tammuz 5731 (July 1977), Aviv, along with nine of his comrades, fell in the line of duty when they returned from carrying out a vital mission in a crash at sea, between El Arish and Rafah, near Sheikh Qawud in northern Sinai. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. A memorial corner for Aviv and his friends was established in their unit; The unit also published an album in their memory; At the Dikla beach in the Rafah crossing, which was named after Aviv and his friends, the “Hatzana Beach”, not far from where the helicopter fell, was the “Gilad the Teenager”, a huge granite rock in memory of the fallen; The adjacent Mashav was named Nativ Ha’asara, and their lives and deaths were commemorated in a book called “The Enrichment,” which was published by the bereaved families.