Yehuda, Chaim

Son of Yosef and Kadya. He was born on August 16, 1959, in Kiryat Ekron. He studied at the Ohel Meir elementary school in Kiryat Ekron and continued his studies at the Mikveh Israel agricultural high school. He was a diligent and industrious student, and although he was quiet in nature and disinterested, he was a member of the school’s student council on the Order and Safety Committee. When he completed one year of high school, he decided to stop his studies in order to help his mother in the household and family agriculture. During the day he worked in frameworks and spent evenings with his friends in the neighborhood club. Haim was a sports fan and played in the Maccabi football team of Kiryat Ekron. In his youth he was a member of the Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed youth movement and in the religious youth home. Haim was drafted into the IDF in May 1977 and assigned to the infantry, and was sent to basic infantry training and progressed successfully in its early stages. His classmates said: “Haim was a simple boy in his behavior, and he was very attentive to his surroundings, and during his basic training he used to write to the family every evening to prevent them from worrying. But Haim was different: he used to approach people who had trouble talking to them, ask them about their condition, honor them with a cigarette, and go away when he suffered one of the soldiers who was suffering from pain. He was able to encourage everyone. ” On the 5th of Elul 5737 (18.8.1977) Chaim was killed in the course of his duties, brought to rest in the cemetery in Rehovot, and left behind his parents and brother in a letter of condolences to the bereaved family. He was a model soldier, full of spirit and a desire to always be among the good. He performed his duties impeccably, loyally and with dedication, and the unit commanders were very appreciative of his work. “His parents commemorated him in a memorial monument in Kiryat Ekron, and his mother donated a Torah scroll in memory of the synagogue in his neighborhood.