Sapir, Avner

Ben Nurit and Ehud. He was born on the 13th of Cheshvan 5737 (8.11.1973) in Kibbutz Yotvata. The youngest son in a family of three. Avner attended elementary school and high school in the kibbutz. His friends called him “his interlocutor.” He was an outstanding athlete and was an excellent basketball player, who played for Hapoel Havel Eilot. A sociable, smiling, yet introverted and quiet boy who was always ready to come to the aid of those who needed him. Loved by everyone around him from toddlers to the elderly. He excelled in every activity in which he worked, at work and in sports. At the end of March 1992, he was drafted into the IDF, and at the end of his basic training he was assigned to the Armored Corps, Avner’s personal data were high and promising and he wanted to contribute his best talents to the IDF. During his service he took a rifle course, a transport course and completed a tank driver course as an exemplary apprentice. Avner was promoted to the rank of corporal and was recommended for a tank commanders course, and his commanders admired him as a very good soldier with high motivation and high personal data. Avner’s medical profile, and he did not continue on the command line, to his dismay On 29.6.1993, Avner fell while serving. He was nineteen when he died. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in his kibbutz, Yotvata. Survived by his parents, sister Yael and brother Assaf. In a condolence letter to the family, the battalion commander wrote: “We learned in the battalion to know Avner, and he was assessed by his commanders as a serious soldier, a professional, a leader and full of joie de vivre.