Roth, Yitzhak

Yitzhak, son of Dina and Issachar, was born on January 22, 1953 in Kibbutz Hokuk. He completed his elementary studies at the David Yellin School in Hadar Yosef near Tel Aviv. He completed his high school studies at the Hebrew Gymnasium “Herzliya” as part of the military boarding school. The first six years of his life passed over Yitzhaki, as his family called him, in the countryside in Hokuk. There he learned to love the land, the living and the flora. Already at a young age he began to walk and wander happily and freely at the Wadi Amud. From childhood, he disliked a dictated framework, ignored conventions and lived according to his own agenda. Shortly after entering the first grade, he moved with his parents to live in Hadar Yosef near Tel Aviv, in a lonely house near the Yarkon River. The house had a large yard full of trees, where he found a substitute for the natural life he was accustomed to. As a candid, honest and comfortable child, he had no trouble making connections with his new classmates, and soon he found many friends and spent many hours playing with them. True, he was naughty and never diligent, but he was always a good student. Although he was the first to study, he was not cut off from the company, was active in her life and accepted by her friends. During his elementary school years, Yitzhak was an active member of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement, organized operations and was always at the center of the affairs. Along with all this he found enough time to read books, and indeed read many, especially adventure books and journeys. But he was more attracted to the Bible, read and deepened it, and wanted to know a lot about the history of the country and of the people, and read the history books of other ancient peoples and fell in love with the history of ancient Greece and its mythology. He read biographies of great people, and whenever he encountered a particular event or interest, he researched and searched for more details in many sources, and the rumors about his many knowledge were soon spread among his friends, who sought to use him because he could explain with great patience. He understood that his duty as a good student was to help weak students or immigrant pupils in preparing their lessons and learning Hebrew, and after completing his elementary studies he decided to go to the military boarding school, which aroused many arguments in his parents’ home. He found that the exact sciences attracted him most and he saw his future in nuclear physics research. He completed his 12th grade thesis in mathematics on the subject of “group theory. Yitzhak was drafted into the IDF at the beginning of November 1971 and was assigned to the Armored Corps, where he was sent to the officers’ course. After completing the course, he took part in a course for armored corps officers and was assigned the role of tank commander in an armored unit, and he did much to succeed in his position and devoted a great deal of thought and effort to his role in the unit. He tried to combine studies into the life of the army and took textbooks with him to study at leisure, although the workload and his responsible job did not leave much time for studies. Yom Kippur, Yitzhak fought in the Sinai and participated in the effort to stop the Egyptian attacks and on 10 Tishrei 5734 (06/10/1973) in the northern sector of the Suez Canal, he was hit by enemy fire first hour of the war. After about a month, his family was informed that he was missing, and only after another month of hope, search and testimony was it revealed that he had fallen and his burial place was in enemy territory. Three months after his death, his body was found and he was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery in Ashdod. Survived by his parents, sister and two brothers. After his fall, he was promoted to lieutenant.