At age 14, (Gedif) Yaakov Mulugeta and his family realized their dream to immigrate to Israel
from the harrowing dangers of their native Ethiopia. Yaakov soon began living and studying at Boys Town Jerusalem, where he won the hearts of his teachers and classmates. At the start of Israel’s current Iron Swords War, Israeli Police Staff Sergeant Gedif Yaakov Mulugeta, 29, was killed battling Hamas terrorists in the horrific massacre of Kibbutz Be’eri. Only days later was his body identified.
Yaakov was a gentle yet motivated young man
“Yaakov was a gentle young man with a smile that never left his face,” recalls Rabbi Udi
Chamo, who headed BTJ’s program for young Ethiopian immigrants from its start in 2010, the year that Yaakov arrived. “He and his classmates were highly motivated to succeed, and appreciative of our every effort to educate them.”
Yaakov volunteered to help others
Boys Town Jerusalem Dean Rabbi Meir Linchner stressed Yaakov’s excellent scholastic achievements as a new immigrant student, and his profound zeal for helping those in need – to the last moment of his life. “Yaakov and his wife lived in a poor neighborhood in the southern town of Kiryat Gat,” Rabbi Linchner noted. “He quickly volunteered to coach the local youth soccer team, motivating them to become national champs. Yaakov changed their lives.”
The family was devastated
Following a shiva condolence call which Rabbi Linchner, Rabbi Chamo and other BTJ faculty paid to Yaakov’s family, Rabbi Linchner noted, “The family is devastated at Yaakov’s death. His mother tearfully shared that he had never told her he’d served in a select IDF commando unit, or of his present post in a high-level Israel Police Force enforcement operations unit. He didn’t want her to worry.”
Yaakov was heroic in battle
At his heroic death in battle against Hamas terrorists, Gedif Yaakov Mulugeta left parents, siblings, and a wife and baby daughter.
May Gedif Yaakov Mulugeta’s heroism, dedication to building Eretz Yisrael, and passion to help others be an eternal inspiration to all.