Yehuda, Zion

Zion, son of Esther and Shimon, was born on May 6, 1952 in Jerusalem. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Yardena in the Beit She’an Valley. He completed his studies at the elementary school in the moshav and afterward began to work in his family’s farm and assisted his parents in their work. Zion preferred the work in nature to the studies. Therefore, after completing his studies, he went to work the fields of the family and assumed responsibility for running the agriculture. He helped his parents with their work and worked with them in a family of many souls. He was full of energy, multi-verbs and a lover of society, and became the living spirit among the youth in Moshav Yardena. Together with his friends, he went on trips and tours in Israel, organized meetings and sports competitions in which the youth participated in the moshav, and his friends loved him because of his willingness Zion was endowed with great patience and willingness to help everyone, and was always surrounded by a group of young people who liked to be with him because of the good atmosphere he had instilled. Zion had a talent for acting and drama. He was the lead actor in the plays that took place in the moshav and even wanted to learn the art of stage, but did not achieve his dream and really play in the theater. He was an outstanding athlete, especially in the fields of soccer and basketball, and was a member of the football team established in the moshav. Thanks to his many activities among the young people of the moshav, he was considered the leader of the younger generation and his central figure. At the same time, he did not abandon the family’s agriculture and continued to bear the burden of agricultural work. Zion was drafted into the IDF in early February 1972 and assigned to the Armored Corps, where he was trained as a tank crew member, and was assigned to a tank battalion in Sinai, where he spent a year until he was transferred to school He served as a guide, and after a period of training returned to Sinai and served as a tank crew member in an armored unit, he was an excellent professional, knew the tank and knew how to operate it correctly. He would devote himself to the youth in his residence, and he continued to participate in their social activities In the Yom Kippur War, his unit participated in the battles of containment against the Egyptians in the Sinai, and his battalion of tanks stood on the banks of the Suez Canal and fought hard and bitter battles with an enemy superior in its strength and quantity, and succeeded in blocking the advance of the enemy. (6.10.1973), in the difficult battle that took place in the southern sector of the canal, in the vicinity of the dock outpost, the tank of Zion was hit directly and he was killed. He was laid to rest at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem. He left parents, five brothers and two sisters. After his fall, he was promoted to First Sergeant. In a letter of condolence to the bereaved family, the unit commander wrote: “We, the friends of Zion, remember his courage and dedication. Until his last moments he stuck to the task and did not abandon it. Know, dear parents, that your pain is our pain and that the memory of the late Zion will always remain engraved in our hearts, and we, who knew him, will continue to accompany you in the future as much as we can. His parents donated a Torah scroll to his synagogue in Moshav Yardena.