Shmuel, Na’im

Naim, son of Miriam and Shmuel, was born in Salmaniya in Iraq in 1938 and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1950. He completed his elementary studies at the Dov Hoz School in Jaffa, and completed his high school studies at the “Siddelovsky School” in Tel Aviv, in his evening classes. When Na’im was only four years old, he went to study in the “cheder”, as was customary among traditional Jews. When he was 12 years old, he immigrated to Israel with his family, who lived in the Ga’aton transit camp, where they lived in a tent for half a year, and then moved to the hut. The difficult conditions were not pleasant to participate in school and social activities in the neighborhood school, and a year later he moved to the Megiddo transit camp, his uncle invited the family and edited the Bar Mitzvah celebration together with his son, who was also thirteen years old. That the Shmuel family did not have the option to plan a party by themselves, the conditions in the Megiddo transit camp were difficult so the family moved to the Kfar Yona transit camp and from there moved to Jaffa. Na’im was sent to work and continued his studies in the evenings: Na’im was drafted into the IDF in early January 1956. After about a year he was discharged from the army because he was the only breadwinner of his family. From time to time he was called for periods of active reserve duty, worked in all sorts of jobs, and studied in the evenings, while his younger brother married and left the house, and Na’im stayed with his parents and his sister. His father recovered and started working and Naim married his friend Sara the young couple stayed with their parents in a room in their house. Their first daughter, Chaya, was born in 1959, and a year and a half later their son Eitan was born. In 1964 their youngest son, Yuval, was born. In 1967 Naim participated in the war and was awarded the “Six Day War”. In time he was also awarded the “Operational Service Award”. In 1964, the family was evacuated from Givat Ha’aliya in Jaffa due to the danger of living in the dilapidated building that served as their home. The parents moved into a separate house, and Naim worked in many jobs and changed them frequently. He finally decided to start his own business, in partnership with his younger brother and another partner. One day a fire broke out in his home, due to the explosion of the portable gas tank, which Naim was planning on taking for a picnic with his family. He did not lose his temper and overcame the fire with a carpet, despite the burns in his hands and chest. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, his unit was called to prepare for perimeter defense on a hill south of one of the outposts on the Golan Heights. On the morning of Tu B’Shvat 5740 (October 11, 1973) at dawn, Na’im was injured and killed in a shelling of our forces. He was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. He left behind a wife, a daughter and two sons, parents, two brothers and two sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to corporal. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, his commanding officer wrote: “Naim had a willingness to do everything he had to do … with organizational ability, good spirit and a serious attitude to every role. His family donated a Torah scroll in his memory.