Sofer, Rachamim

Rahamim, son of Gila and Zion, was born on 25.7.1953 in Teheran, Israel, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1958. At first the family settled in Beit Shean, but after a year moved to Kfar Saba and settled there. Rahamim completed his studies at the Brenner elementary school and was accepted to the Katznelson High School in Kfar Saba where he completed four years of study in the real track. He was a member of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed movement as an apprentice and counselor. In his training classes he liked to teach theoretical subjects and hoped to develop reasonable and correct forms of thinking among his students. Rahamim was an athlete and was mainly involved in exercises in gyms, and he worked hard to develop a healthy mind in a healthy body and for three years he practiced twice a week and took part in regional gymnastics competitions as well And in the 10th grade he was a member of a group that was adopted by Kibbutz Tze’elim, and he would go out with his kibbutz friends to get to know his life there and agricultural work. When he was in 11th grade, he received a summons for air tests and passed them successfully. He decided to choose a pilot, but demanded that he be promised that he would be returned to his Nahal comrades in case he failed the pilot course. Rahamim was drafted into the IDF in mid-October 1971. After completing his basic training, he was transferred to the School of Flight and soon became a pilot in the course of the flight, and after eight months of training he decided to become a navigator. And when the Yom Kippur War broke out, Rahamim was in the synagogue and immediately rushed to his unit and set off on operational missions over Syria on October 15, 1973, The Tanta airport in Egypt, and on its twenty-first landing, was hit by a missile fired by the Egyptians and killed. He was laid-rest at the military cemetery in Kfar Saba. Is survived by his parents and three brothers. After falling he was given the rank of lieutenant. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family wrote to his commander: “your son knew and treasured. It had extraordinary qualities of kindness and a desire to prove itself and stand out. He was a young fighter with a strong desire to participate in most of the combat missions that the squadron carried out. With his death, we lost a fighter and a friend. “