Yaffa, Ronen (Chapel)
Son of Lili and Pinchas, he was born on Saturday night, 10 October 1964. In Tel Aviv, Ronen was a cute and healthy baby, who developed quickly and discovered independence at a very young age. When he was about 3 years old, he went to the grocery store himself. His teacher notes that Ronen (or, as his friends called him, Chapel) was “a symbol of his peers and of course his younger peers, and there was always a feeling for his teachers that there was someone to trust.” Ronen spent most of his spare time teaching at the Scouts. He was a very devoted guide, and loved by his apprentices. Toward the end of that year, when the center of the tribe was forced to leave the job, Ronen took over the job and successfully filled it, and in the same year he also trained ninth graders. At the beginning of September 1982, Ronen enlisted in the Nahal Brigade after his parents signed an early draft permit. After eight months of training, Ronen and his core members – the “Zahav” nucleus – were stationed in Lebanon on the Syrian border. Only one kilometer separated their outpost from the Syrian posts. In a clash with terrorists, on the 15th of Sivan 5743 (27.5.1983) Ronen fell in combat and he was only 18 years and several months. He was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul. He left behind his parents and two brothers. To commemorate his memory, his parents set up a fund for the distribution of scholarships among 10th-graders at the municipal school of Dan, where Ronen studied. (For full memorial, see Hebrew text)
