Yair Cohen's funeral at the military cemetery in Kiryat Shaul/Channel 12
Major (res.) Yair Cohen, 30 years old from Ramat Gan, was killed yesterday (Monday) in a battle in the southern Gaza Strip. Cohen was acting company commander in the 630th Battalion in the Southern Brigade, and was a civil engineer by profession. Cohen got married about two weeks before Black Sabbath, and today his wife Maayan talked to Walla! about Yair and the heavy grief.
"I knew him years before we started dating," Maayan said in a conversation with Walla!. "I knew he was a pure person.
We live in the same neighborhood, house next to house.
He would join us for Friday dinners.
He was six years older than me and was waiting for me to join the army, then he gently took an interest.
We went on a first date at the sea during the corona lockdown, and he covered me because it was cold.
Since then we have been inseparable.
On the second date I met his parents, we both knew this was it.
Within two weeks he told me he loved me.
We waited for the perfect date of the wedding - September 20, a whole year."
IDF Space Major Yair Cohen/courtesy of the family
IDF Space Major Yair Cohen/courtesy of the family
Ma'ayan said that she was not worried at first, and knew that he was supposed to be released next Friday.
"Two weeks after that, Black Sabbath came, he drove off and told me, 'Don't worry, my dear, I'm in Otef.'
"He was supposed to be released this Friday. I felt it was dangerous and he didn't tell me that because he didn't want to worry me. He wrote to me in the last message, 'Every day in the army is one less day to hug you'. I was so waiting for his hug."
Maayan shared that she wanted them to go on a summer honeymoon, and he refused because he didn't want to leave his soldiers alone while in reserve.
"He was waiting to become an MP, I told him not to do it because it is more dangerous.
In the last four days he was a MP, after his MP was injured last week he replaced him and fell as he wanted," she said. "He wrote to me that he never missed me like this.
I felt something was wrong.
I wanted us to schedule a honeymoon for next August, and he replied that he had reserves, that he couldn't let his soldiers be alone, 'There are people here with children that I told them not to fly or schedule vacations.
So of course I won't go, I'm their commander."
IDF Space Major Yair Cohen/courtesy of the family
IDF Space Major Yair Cohen/courtesy of the family
Maayan shared about Yair's qualities, and about his great love for the country.
"He just wanted to contribute. His values, his giving, went before him. I would tell him to stop already, you don't have to give all the time. He taught me love for others and for the country," she said.
"I asked him to come out of the reserves a little more and he said he couldn't. He has soldiers and a commitment to the country. Yair was like that."
"When he started dating, he respected me so much, you won't see a person with such goodness."
Maayan told how much he insisted on pushing her in every aspect of life, and making her a better person.
"He took care of me so much all the time, even when he was in the army he told me my student, spurred me on. All the time he just wanted me closer. He made me a better person, to speak less slander. To respect my parents, who were his world. I wish everyone Had he been a bit of his size, we might not have been in this situation. Probably no one will know such an amazing person in their life, and if they did, he won a whole life like I lived. For me, it doesn't add up to the years we were together. It's for life."
Watch: IDF soldier Yair Cohen receives a certificate of appreciation at a company honors ceremony
IDF Space Major Yair Cohen/courtesy of the family
IDF Space Major Yair Cohen/courtesy of the family
Maayan said that she will never forget what happened to her.
"We had pure love. There is no human being who didn't know that - we never fought once. We loved to travel whenever we had free time, and somehow he still managed to excel in everything - in studies, in the army and at work," she said.
"He pushed everyone around him to perfection and giving. He lived for others, once not for himself. His whole life and also his death. I love him forever and he is mine forever."
More on the same topic:
IDF fallen soliders
War of Iron Swords
Gaza war
Ramat Gan