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Palai, Arnon

Palai, Arnon


Arnon was born on September 3, 1955, to his parents, Sara and Matityahu Todi, in the maternity hospital in Kfar Saba, and until his enlistment in the army he grew up in Herzliya. As a member of a family that immigrated to Eretz Israel with the immigration of the Gra’s students 150 years ago, and to the parents who fought in the ranks of the “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel” for the establishment of a Jewish state, Arnon had a high awareness of the values ​​of love for his people, Brenner, “and from a young age he joined the” Mahaneot HaOlim “movement and volunteered to guide in a distressed neighborhood in Herzliya, where he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in the liberated Jerusalem within the walls of the Ramban Synagogue, The Hasid whose forefathers had redeemed it 131 years earlier, and Arnon saw it as a sign and a continuation of the momentum of the Jewish people’s rootedness in its land. At the end of the elementary school, Arnon decided to continue his studies at the School of Practical Engineering at Tel Aviv University. At the same time, he continued his activities in the “camps of the olim” and became the center of the movement’s camp in Herzliya and one of the organizers of the Agmon nucleus, which was supposed to enlist in the Nahal Brigade, and was determined to establish a new kibbutz in the Jordan Valley. After completing the eighth grade at the engineering school, Arnon was supposed to receive the same as the rest of the students – postponing a two-year induction to complete the engineering studies, but Arnon decided to prefer his enlistment to the army so that he would not have to leave his friends To the “Agmon” nucleus, and in the summer of 1973, the nucleus reached Kibbutz Mahanayim, to the settlement of Moe Blood. Nuclear Nahal Brigade began basic training at the end of the Yom Kippur War, and the end was placed Gittit outpost in the Jordan Valley. Arnon served during this period as the secretary of the nucleus, and at the same time carried out many night ambushes on the banks of the Jordan River. After the basic training in the Armored Corps, he was sent to the tank commanders course, and then Arnon went on to the Armored Corps course and finished in Sinai on the day Armored Corps in the fall of 1976 (late 1976) was successfully assigned as a platoon commander in the Sinai Battalion, a battalion that became his home for more than two years. Arnon advanced to the position of company commander in the battalion, and stood out for his professional, command and human skills. He created a special relationship with his subordinates, whether they were hesder yeshiva students or soldiers who came from distressed and development towns. He was careful and nurtured the brotherhood of the fighters, believing that friendship and evil were the glue that united the fighting team, and that they would stand up to him on the day of order. Arnon’s commanders followed his military path with an eye-catching eye, and recognized his ability. In 1978, just two years after he completed his armored corps course, he was called by the commander of the Armored Corps to fill the responsible position of a company commander in the Armored Corps course. Arnon hesitated, but decided to take on the role of the reason for his response: “that he will be given the challenge of training officers for the people of Israel.” He moved to the command division in Bir-Tamada. On the day of the Holocaust, 5739 (24.4.1979), Arnon decided to give another chance to the cadet, who was intended to remove him from the course, and went out on his own to carry out an exercise with live ammunition. The voice and the jaw. In spite of his serious condition, Arnon refused to use his own help, got off the tank himself and was immediately taken by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva. That night he underwent a very complicated operation, which was the first in a series of operations and treatments that lasted about a year and a half. His girlfriend and laterHis wife, Batya Pines of Herzliya, was standing next to him at the hospital all the time. His behavior during the first few weeks, when he could not speak and the doctors did not know whether he would ever be able to speak again, was, for example, his subordinates, friends and commanders who visited the hospital all the time. There were three focal points in Arnon’s life: Israel’s security, youth education – especially in the development towns – and the settlement of the country. When he improved, Arnon and Batya decided to immigrate to Safed in the summer of 1980. Arnon began to work there with youth, and he met with Hatzor Haglilit to be the youth center and afterward the director of the community center. Arnon quickly integrated into the life of the town and made contact with people of all ages and strata. His goal was to make the townspeople themselves manage and open all aspects of their lives, and not the outsiders who came and disappeared after a while. At the same time, Arnon and his comrades from the Armored Corps organized a settlement nucleus intended to house Nimrod on the Golan Heights and at the foot of Mount Hermon. As for the army, Arnon did not succumb to the limitations imposed on him by his injury. And succeeded in his struggle to return to active duty in reserve duty – as commander of an armored company in reserve duty, although he was forced to use improvised means to overcome the remaining speech difficulties after all operations and treatments. He inaugurated the training of the brigade in a new training facility in Tekoa in the Judean Desert, opposite the Arnon River, east of the Jordan River, from which his name came. Three years after the Sinai attack, however, she was impressed by his last reserve service. Arnon died on April 23, 1982, at the age of 27, when he drowned at the handicapped beach in Herzliya and was brought to eternal rest in the Herzliya cemetery.

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