Litani, Yaniv

Yaniv, son of Roth and Yitzhak Z “l, was born on September 4, 1949 in Petah Tikva. He attended the Gordon Elementary School in Petah Tikva. Afterward he completed his studies at the Ort Yad Singelovsky High School in Tel Aviv. Even when he was a student at the school, he had a special characteristic for him: to pose difficult challenges and to stand up to them. He chose a long, high-level track – a practical course. When he was fourteen, his father died, but despite the disaster, Yaniv continued his studies and became more serious and responsible. He completed his studies successfully and was awarded a diploma in practical electronics engineering. Another character character was Yaniv’s preoccupation with many areas. From his youth he loved sports, especially basketball, and played in the Maccabi basketball team in Petach Tikvah, on the team at the ORT school and in the Beer Sheva student organization team. He built electrical and electronic devices and was given a radio amateur certificate. During his time as a student, he devoted much interest to computers and spent much of his spare time in the computer booth. He was always optimistic and cheerful. He had a special sense of humor, which sometimes seemed to people too harsh. But those who knew him well knew that behind this facade was a person who was honest and genuine. He aspired to make the most of his life and did so by listening to music, entertainment and trips in Israel with his friends and with various social activities. His ambition was to travel the world and meet new people after he was discharged from the IDF and graduated from Be’er Sheva University. He successfully completed his training as a combat pilot and then taught at the flight school. He was enthusiastic about the flight and enjoyed every moment he did in the air. He always told how he used to fly over places he liked to walk on and how wonderful the country looked from above. “Yaniv was one of the outstanding figures of a guide and a man who knew what he wanted,” later wrote the commander of the school. “He had mischief, great independence, and confidence in his power and ability to harness himself to what he thought were serious.” When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Yaniv hurried to the squadron and immediately set off for battles. On the third day of the war he returned from a raid on the Syrian front with a plane, whose tail was completely burnt, but landed safely. “On the 13th of Tishrei 5734 (October 9, 1973), Yaniv went on a mission to the Egyptian front after pleading with his commander to allow him to go into battle, On the grounds that he did not leave enough for battle. His mission was to disrupt the enemy convoys, and he carried it out successfully. On his way back to the base, his plane was hit and killed. He was laid to rest in the Petah Tikva cemetery. Survived by a mother and sister. After his fall, he was promoted to captain.