Solimany, Yaakov

Yaakov, son of Malka and Aharon, was born on February 14, 1947 in Persia, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1952 when he was five years old. He studied at Shikmim Elementary School in Sderot and continued his studies at the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional High School. Yankele, as his family and friends affectionately called him, was lively and full of energy and vitality. He was a diligent and diligent student and had a good time at school. At school he was one of the socially prominent students. There were few people who did not know him, if not by name, then at least by sight. He spent his free time in the youth club where his first talent for working with people was discovered. Mostly he succeeded in working with youth and children. He began this important work as a volunteer and this won him his heart. He realized that his future lay in working with youth. Here he had exhausted all his powers and abilities. He took a lot of courses and progressed on his own. Yankele successfully completed an active course and felt himself worthy of taking responsible positions in the club’s corporate group committees. His name soon became famous among the people who worked with him. They learned to appreciate his self-confidence and his faith in the boys entrusted to him. His quietness and seriousness influenced the boys he cared for and even the wild ones in which they learned to listen calmly to his words. Radiated an inner wholeness that created confidence and good spirits for every person he met. His great success in his work spurred him to continue advancing in this field. Yaakov was drafted into the IDF in mid-November 1956 and assigned to the Armored Corps, and after completing basic training he was assigned to the 7th Brigade as a tank gunner. And his friends in the unit found him a loyal friend who could tell him everything that was bothering him, and although he did not leave much time for him, his connections with the club in Sderot were not cut off. In the various fields he dealt with prior to his enlistment. After completing his military service, Yankele returned to Sderot and continued working with the youth of the town for four years, after which he felt that he was well versed in field work and that it was now time to give theoretical experience a theoretical basis. When he completed his studies at the Institute, he returned to Sderot, and this time he was assigned to run the club, which not many years earlier had been a trainee. He was a manager who knew his club inside out. Because this club had a childhood, there was no problem for him and the boys felt that there was a person here who understood them. Yankle was a man who grew up out of them, and many of them saw him as an older brother, who could be approached with any problem, without shame or fear. They knew that they would always find a sympathetic ear and an open Lev. In the Yom Kippur War, Yankele participated in the difficult battles that our forces conducted on the banks of the Suez Canal, near the Firdan Bridge. On October 8, 1973, Yankele was killed by a direct hit on his tank. He was laid to rest in the cemetery in Sderot. Left behind a wife and parents. His parents donated a Torah scroll to his memory.