Leibowitz, Ofir Yosef

Ben Tzippora and Israel. He was born on February 27, 1972, in Haifa. Ophir studied at Ma’ale Hacarmel Elementary School, continued in the “Sammat” junior high school and graduated with honors from the high school in the “Semet” school, in electronics. He was awarded the Excellence Award at the Technion graduation ceremony. In addition to his high school studies, he volunteered to undergo a first aid course at Magen David Adom. Ophir participated in sports activities at the school and represented the Sammat school team in volleyball, he liked to ride a bicycle, a car in Haifa and the surrounding area, and he had excellent physical fitness. And his parents’ apartment, Ophir was very attached to his family and did not miss a single family event, and he loved to take pictures and to commemorate every family event. In history, and especially in the history of the Jewish people in recent generations, towards the end of December 1990 Ophir was drafted into the IDF and volunteered for the Paratroopers Brigade. On August 17, 1993, a week before his discharge from the IDF, Ophir and his brother Nachshon went for a walk In the Judean Desert, to prepare him for recruitment and to prepare him for an elite unit. From this trip the brothers did not return. When they were away for three days, they began extensive searches for them. On 13 July 1993, Ophir’s body was found and four days later, the body of Nachshon was found. It was estimated that Nachshon was probably physically distressed and that Ophir would call for help. When he was on his way, a cliff fell, and the two died of dehydration. The brothers were buried side by side in the military cemetery on the Carmel coast, in Haifa. Survived by parents. From a poem written by the parents in memory of their sons: “We will remember you in his diary / We will remember you in our night / We wake up with morning to work / And we have a night at our bed / We will remember your laughter / And the seriousness of your face / The endless phone calls. / And you are with us at rest / We will never forget you and we will not part with you / Until we arrive and rest at your side … / And when the day comes we will meet in the world of truth.