Suissa, Eliyahu (Eli)

Eliyahu (Eli), son of Esther and Shalom, was born on September 27, 1947 in Casablanca, Morocco, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1964. As a member of a religious family he was sent to study at the Otzar Torah Yeshiva, Israel. At the same time he studied secular studies and completed his studies in an elementary school in Casablanca. Some time later he worked as a shoemaker. He was an oriental music lover and knew how to drum an Arab drum. He often appeared in the orchestra or as an accompanist of singers, mainly in family celebrations. The children’s absorption in the country was difficult. Thirteen people were pushed into a hut in the Givat Olga transit camp, and they did not have a livelihood. Despite his strong desire to continue acquiring knowledge, Eli was forced to go to work to help support his ten brothers and sisters. He did so because for him the family was the most important, and it was for her that he would give up his personal ambitions. He worked as a laborer in the packing house in Hadera. Eli was a joyous, loving, loving, and loving person. Despite the poverty, he managed to induce an atmosphere of gaiety in the house. He brought joy into the poor, but warm home. When all the family members gathered for the holidays, Eli was amusing and funny to everyone and made them very Simcha. On Passover eve, he would take care to clean the house and paint it. He was a friend and a bad friend. He had never hated. He was friendly, light-hearted, broad-hearted and helpful. Eliahu was drafted into the IDF in February 1966, and after two months of basic training he was sent to a course for kashrut supervisors and was assigned to an air force unit in the center of the country. And his colleagues took into account the situation and gave him a long vacation without pay, so that he could help support the family, and during his regular service Eli was awarded the “Six Day War.” After his release, From the regular service he worked in the “Alliance” tires factory in Hadera on Saturdays and holidays He was fond of the children of his older sisters, bought them toys and made them Simcha with sweets, and occasionally he was called up for reserve duty in his new unit – a combat battalion of the Artillery Corps – and here he bought the sympathy of the unit’s commanders and soldiers. In the battles against the Syrians on the Golan Heights, on February 2, 1974, Eli fell in the course of his duty in Gubba al-Hashib in the Golan Heights. The next day he was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Hadera. Survived by his parents and ten brothers and sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to sergeant. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, his commander wrote: “Eli was loved by all the soldiers of the unit, he was intelligent, quiet and obedient, and he earned a place of honor because of his great willingness to help his friends. His parents donated a holy ark to the Brit Shalom Synagogue in the Sela neighborhood of Hadera.