Shifris, Haim-Dov
Son of Reuven and Shifra. Born on the 26th of Adar 5709 (26.3.1949) in Ramle. He studied at the elementary school in Ramle and after completing his studies there he studied at the Ramle High School and Lod and received a high school diploma. He was naturally quiet, modest, shy and kind and loved by all his friends. He had a sense of humor and a good musical hearing. His studies were accepted by his teachers even though he did not claim to excel in various subjects – and precisely because of those human qualities that everyone who knew him loved him. In high school he was active in Ramla’s basketball team and also in Israel’s national youth team. He was also a youth swimming instructor in Ramla and was active in all kinds of sports. Even during his studies he met his girlfriend and thought about marriage; He also planned to go to Palestine to study medicine because he was very fond of this profession. (He completed his high school studies in the biological track). They spent most of their time living and his girlfriend on a joint trip around son of-Shemen Youth Village, where he lived, because he loved the village life and tranquility and planned to travel a lot in common. Was far from the usual experience of youth including parties, discos and entertainment of this kind. He preferred to spend his spare time listening to music, reading, sports, and quiet conversation. In February 1968 he was conscripted into the IDF and was drafted into a combat unit, and he saw to his mother that he was going to such a unit so that she and all those close to him could live safely. But on Thursday 26 October 1968 he fell in the area of the Suez Canal when he encountered an Egyptian ambush and was hit by their bullets. He was laid to rest at the Ramle cemetery. The commander of his unit wrote his parents a letter of condolences, in which he noted that Haim was well acquainted and attracted him from the very first moment he saw him for the first time because of the mission he thought of as the motif of his life and himself as his pioneer; “During his only life, Haim stood out as a fighter with exceptional fighting ability and leadership who made him stand out above all his friends.” He concluded his letter: “He and his ilk, in their form and in their actions, design for us a symbol and an example on whose knees we educate a generation of proud fighters, whose sons live in their blood.” A basketball tournament was held in the name of the Ramle Municipality after which a municipal basketball tournament was held under the auspices of the mayor of Jerusalem, and on the second anniversary of his death a memorial booklet appeared in his memory: “From time to pen” .
