Yefet, Ovadia

Ovadia, son of Fortuna and David, was born in 1945 in Egypt and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1950. He attended elementary school in Moshav Mazliah and at Achva Elementary School in Ramle. After his family immigrated to Israel, she did her homework in Binyamina. Afterward she settled in Moshav Matzliah, but later moved to Ramle. Even when he was a little boy, Obadiah helped his mother with her work, and as the eldest son of a large family, he continued to help the family all his life. After graduating from elementary school, and while studying at the youth center in Ramle, Ovadia began working as a laborer. After that he worked for two years in a Tel Aviv polytechnic workshop and studied the profession. Ovadia was a sports fan and often went to soccer games and watched competitions, although he himself did not play. He was an avid amateur of Israeli, Arabic and Greek music and loved dancing very much. According to his sister, “Ovadia was a member of the company at all.” Ovadia was drafted into the IDF at the beginning of November 1962. After completing basic training, he was trained as a cook in a unit of the General Staff, where he completed all his regular service. He completed his education course for soldiers at the Military School for Education. His discharge certificate indicated that he was a disciplined soldier and had faithfully performed his duties. After completing his regular service, he did his reserve service as part of the Israel Prison Service. After he stopped working in a prison, he was assigned to reserve duty as a cook in a infantry battalion. After his discharge, Ovadia began working as a prison guard and worked there for six years, until the end of 1971. He recently worked in the “Argaz” organization in Tzrifin. Ovadia was a dedicated and loyal son; He always took care of his parents and his brothers, helped with their livelihood and brought them all their needs. He never entered his parents’ house empty-handed. He married a wife in early 1967, and the couple moved to Lod, but even after his marriage, he helped his parents and his brother. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Ovadia served as a cook in the Milano stronghold on the Suez Canal. He took part in defending the stronghold and later retreating to Kantara. On October 8, 1973, his workers were injured and killed near Kantara in a house surrounded by Egyptian soldiers who fired into it. His body remained in the area occupied by the Egyptians, and only four months later he was returned and he was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Ramle. He left behind a wife, daughter and son, parents, six sisters and two brothers. After his fall, he was promoted to corporal. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, the commander of his regiment wrote: “Ovadia fought with great courage, and he showed great devotion to his comrades, courage and resourcefulness in the battle and acted with great trepidation and great self-risk. His parents set up a monument to commemorate him, together with other Karaite Jews, at the entrance to the central synagogue of the Karaite Jews at 16 Klausner Street in Ramle.