Pinto, Mordechai (Moti)
Son of Yaakov and Rachel. He was born on the 19th of Tammuz, July 14, 1941, in Jerusalem. His family tree branched to the exiles of Spain on his father’s side, and from his mother’s side, a well-known rabbinic family, the thirteenth generation of the country. After completing elementary school, he studied at the agricultural high school in Pardes Hanna. He enjoyed athletics. From early childhood, he aspired to work in El Al. When he was a small boy, his father would give him a worn out penny. He would go to the corner of his room, and would wave, bend and shape a fighter. He later perfected the methods of building model airplanes. In elementary school, he discovered his hearts dream, to be a combat pilot and teach at the agricultural school in Pardes Hanna. Mordechai studied diligently and showed a variety of talents. His teachers testify that he had “golden hands.” He was a cheerful and lively man who liked to help others. When his turn came in November 1959, he volunteered for the Air Force, thus fulfilling his childhood dream. With extraordinary diligence and exemplary diligence, Mordecai confidently pushed his path to El Al, holding the steering wheel. For a year he was one of the corps’ instructors, and was promoted to captain. He continued his regular service in the career army, and during the period of tension and preparedness before the Six-Day War. He waited impatiently for the reading order. In one conversation with a friend, he collapsed and burst into tears and said, “Why did they not call me?” Then he added, “I will wait another day and if they do not accept me as a soldier to the south, I will not get a job at the base, if they do not let me fly. ” The first day of the war came on June 6, 1967. By the end of that day, when the first reports of great victories of the air force were received, there was also a demand for Mordecai’s participation in that victory, and his contribution to that victory – his life! One of the most prominent features of his personality was the quality of fighting the weak and oppressed. He fell in an air battle held in the skies of Egypt, on the 26th of Iyar, June 5, 1967. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. His memory was raised in “Al-Alon” in the journal of the workers of El Al, and in “Maccabim”, the journal of Maccabi Israel.
