Ben Zahara and Shmuel. He was born on December 5, 1963 in Kibbutz Hatzerim, the eldest son of a family of three. Yotam passed the joint education track in the Dekel class. In high school, he studied at “Eshel Hanasi” and at the same time became prominent in his youth activities in the kibbutz and also served as secretary of the youth company. At the end of his studies he left for a year of service in the “Reim” nucleus in Yeruham. “My parents and educators did not educate me enough about the social values they were taught, and today their power to act and act as they were young has disappeared, and I do not come to them,” Yotam wrote in the 1981 edition of Tene Noga. “In 1982, Yotam was drafted into the army and began his career in a pilot course, from which he moved to a service track in the paratroopers. Yotam served as an instructor in an officers’ course for a few months, and returned to the brigade as a platoon commander in a company of platoon commanders: “You started your service in the Paratroopers in the May Brigade With soldiers from all over the country and from every stratum of the people. Your commanders from that period can tell you that very quickly you became the leader of the platoon and served as a ‘hidden commander’ for the soldiers, and especially as an educator … You came to serve in our reserve battalion exactly five years ago. And they loved you … “After his discharge from the army, Yotam traveled to New York to study and went to South America with Meirav, his future wife, while he was in Ecuador studying the Indian carving work. Yotam was a very creative person, sculpting various materials, painting, R. Where his father died and two weeks later Yotam was married to Meirav, and his son, Guy, was born in March 1993. The family settled in Tel Aviv and Yotam opened an independent business and worked in carpentry and carpentry. , Opened a large carpentry workshop with a partner and worked on large and special projects for architects and designers Yotam was a charming young man, always smiling and full of joy, a child of pure, genuine nature, full of love, a man of the book and a romantic, Plant trees “. Knowledge to love – work, family, friends and life. He loved people and came to the rescue of everyone in his path. A very sociable fellow who cultivated his social connections and took genuine care for the welfare of all his acquaintances. Yotam felt that he had to contribute to the environment and to society in order to give more meaning to life, and when he opened an independent business, he employed a youth who studied in the framework of the “Working and Studying Youths” project and hoped that by doing so, he could contribute to his education. His dream was to leave the city and live close to nature, so that “Gai would grow up in the right atmosphere.” Yotam loved the country very much and toured it, knew almost every plant and used to define plants and birds. His friend from the military service told him: “Ferga, he’s called Perga,” he said, pointing to a small flower at the side of the road, when we opened an axis from the Hermon post, . On November 6, 1994, Yotam was called up for reserve duty and went with his unit to the Gaza Strip. His job was to protect the communities on the confrontation line with the Gaza Strip and to secure the road to the settlement of Netzarim. This was the first period following the Oslo Accords, and the security arrangements have not yet been madeWere clear enough. The atmosphere in Gaza was very tense after the assassination of one of the senior Islamic Jihad leaders. On the 11 th of November 1994, Yotam toured the area with the battalion commander and another officer. They drove to the Netzarim junction, following a notice of a demonstration that was about to reach the intersection, in order to brief the soldiers in the position in anticipation of possible disturbances. They got out of the jeep and headed for the post. The junction was filled with passers-by, local Muslims and settlers from Netzarim, IDF soldiers and Palestinian policemen, and at that moment, riding a bicycle carrying five kilograms of explosives, a suicide bomber arrived. The explosion killed Lieutenant Yotam Rahat, Deputy Dror Elad and Captain Hezi Sapir. Two soldiers who were in the position were seriously injured. Yotam was laid to rest at the Hatzerim cemetery. He was thirty-one years old when he fell. Survived by Raya, son, mother and two sisters – Michal and Nurit. In his estate there are sculptures, special designed furniture, sketches, notebooks of sketches of furniture he designed and things he wrote. May 1983: “… the concept of ‘strength’ will never be a value.” Today I am strong, perhaps even more tomorrow, but yesterday I was very weak and other people dominated me and I suffered greatly. .. Strength is a function of time and place, and a person will always be a human being, whether today in Israel or yesterday in Africa or tomorrow anywhere else. ” “… because he was an honest and peace loving man, and because he was not like that, his hands were not tormented by false violence, and his lips were not defiled by the false coins that the Intifada had produced … Yotam was careful as a commander and soldier in the dignity of a man, To beautify and decorate the wooden furniture that he had designed … “On Kibbutz Hatzerim, a booklet was published in memory of him on the thirtieth day of his death, and on the first anniversary of his death, a grove was dedicated in his memory at Mitzpeh Massuah. An exhibition of Yotam’s works was held in November 1998 on the occasion of the publication of an art book in his memory, including works he left behind.
