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Yaffa, Dror

Yaffa, Dror


Born in Tel Aviv on January 11, 1952, Dror was born in Holon and completed his studies at the Boyar High School in Jerusalem. And was the fourth member of the Jaffe family, who was one of the founders of Kibbutz Na’an and served for several years in the Palmach’s Arab division, educated his sons to love the Land of Israel and its people. Drori the boy was found to have a rich imagination, through powerful expression and leadership ability. When he was five years old, his father died of a malignant disease and Dror found a teacher and counselor for his older brother Chaim, who tried to help his younger brothers overcome the loss of their father. It was a life that most influenced Dror’s life and shaped his personality. Dror was an outstanding student and achieved outstanding achievements in his studies. His teachers testify that he was alert and sharp-minded, with a quick understanding and perception, and impressed all his listeners with the opinions he uttered. Even guests who visited the classroom and did it for a short time were quick to recognize his ability and testified that he had played “first violin” in class. Already during his elementary school years he was discovered as a man who was always ready to help anyone in need and to help the whole. He volunteered to help the blind club in Holon and offered help and assistance to anyone who asked. Drori began to study at the Boyar High School. Here, too, he was discovered as a brilliant student, who had understanding and cleverness and managed to formulate his original and innovative ideas in a way that interested and intrigued his teachers and classmates. He was the driving force in the group of students, who lived in a boarding school near the school, participated in social and cultural activities, and was the first of the pranks and tricks of the boys. But at the same time he knew how to be mature and sensitive. He was elected to be the chairman of the student council of the school and in this position he excelled in public responsibility, initiative and leadership ability. He was also a member of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed (United Movement) movement and was active in sports, especially in light athletics and basketball. In his room you can see dozens of certificates, attesting to his outstanding achievements in sports competitions. After graduating from high school, he decided to do what he thought was right at the time and enlisted in the IDF, and was drafted into the IDF at the end of July 1970, . He was successful in the early and difficult stages of the course, participated in a parachuting course and was awarded the wings of a parachutist. Thanks to his great excellence in the real subjects he served as a guide to his classmates. But at the beginning of his career in the pilot’s course, his brother lived with a malignant disease. His brother’s illness, which influenced his way of life and shaped his character, left a mark on Dror, who tried to do his best to help his brother, but stood helpless against the consequences of the severe illness. In these stressful days, Dror wanted to leave the exhausting and risky course and move to another corps, in order to spare his mother further tension and not to be in mortal danger, leaving the mother alone, if we were in a disaster. It was his brother who, from his sickbed, persuaded Dror to continue the course. Dror was trained as a navigator and assigned to a “Phantom” squadron. In the Yom Kippur War, Dror was a navigator in the air force planes, which were fired at the enemy in Sinai. He had done his job skillfully and efficiently and had done everything he had been assigned to him in perfection and precision. On the 9th of Tishrei 5734 (October 9, 1973), Dror embarked on an operational mission over the Suez Canal. His plane bombed Egyptian forces to prevent their penetration into Sinai. The plane was hit and Dror was declared missing. His sick brother, Haim, saw himself responsible for Dror’s fall, and as a result his illness worsened and on February 2, 1974, he died of his illness. PBefore the days of mourning over Chaim’s death ended, the news came that Dror’s body had been found. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. Survived by his mother, brother and sister. After his fall, he was promoted to lieutenant. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, the commander of the unit wrote: “Dror was one of those promising young men, not long enough to be with us, but it was enough to learn and take over the sophisticated phantom systems and complicated devices in the navigator’s cabin. Dror’s path was open to him, and he was given important roles and interesting missions in the air and on the ground, but fate wanted otherwise. ” Dror’s family published a pamphlet in his memory, including his character; His mother founded a scholarship fund for the children of workers at the university in Tel Aviv. In memory of her son Haim, who was one of the senior staff of the university and was standing in the middle of his doctorate, and to the memory of her son Dror. In this she commemorated the memory of the two sons, whose lives were intertwined, and their death found them together

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