Sorani, Yitzhak

The son of Georgia and a Tsalach, was born in Iraq in 1931. Yitzhak was the fourth child of his parents and the first son. In 1948 he was a member of the Zionist movement. Two years after the declaration of the State of Israel, Yitzhak immigrated to Israel with his sister, brother, and uncle. Yitzhak and his brothers were smuggled in an illegal border crossing between Iraq and Iran. After a brief stay in Iran, Yitzhak and his brother immigrated to Israel, where Yitzhak was sent to Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, and after a short period was drafted into a Nahal unit 904. In early April 1951, the rest of the family was permitted to immigrate to Israel. Yitzhak had already served for a year in his unit. He asked for a special day off to meet the family he had not seen during that year, and to try to help with their absorption. The meeting with Mother was very moving, and Yitzhak said that his commander had promised him a two-week leave to help with the family’s absorption, but now he had to return urgently to his base. Before his family could take its first steps in the new homeland, the news of Yitzhak’s downfall came to them. The family was devestated. At first, the story of Yitzhak’s fall was not known. Only after years of inquiries and conversations with friends and acquaintances who served with him and whose names appeared in Yitzhak’s letters and found in his utensils after his fall did his brother succeed in drawing details from a friend who served with him in that unit. It turned out that as soon as Yitzhak left his mother and his family, the unit was summoned to prevent infiltration from the Jordanian border, near Beit Guvrin. The unit carried out its mission and began retreating back to Israel. During the retreat Jordanian sniper opened fire and one bullet hit his friend. Yitzhak Surani advanced at the same time toward the border and then heard the cry for help: “Yitzhak was wounded!” Yitzhak returned to him, according to the values ​on which he was raised and educated, leaving no wounded friend in the field. Tall and strong, they lifted him on his back and continued to retreat. After a short distance, the injured friend heard Yitzhak: “Me too!” And they both fell to the ground. Private Yitzhak Sorani fell in battle in the area of ​​Beit Guvrin on the 5th of Nissan, April 11, 1951. He was buried at the military cemetery in Nahalat Yitzhak, and was survived by his mother, sisters and brothers.