Her house became a memorial • Meet the woman who commemorates the dead from her husband's unit

Zehava Ya'akov, 23 years old, married to a police officer from the YSM unit from Tel Aviv. The unit lost 8 policemen in the early days of the Iron Swords War, and since then it has been devoting its time to commemorating them. YSM Matfa is a special unit of the police, which is a primary force to assist in unusual events in the field of emergency and hostile sabotage activities.

This is what Zehava says: "On the first day of the war, 07/10/2023, my husband was sent to the south, first to Sderot and then to Bari. He told me that he was sent to his unit in Petach Tikva and left the house. During the entire Shabbat I did not know what was happening to him, because I On Saturday night I saw a farewell message from him, because that's what they told me to send. He called me after a few hours and told me that everything was fine with the unit. He returned home on Monday 9/10 and said that they lost 24 members in Bari and one was killed In the battle in Sderot. He told about the difficult sights they saw. They fought bravely until the last moment and managed to hit a lot of terrorists."

"Since the beginning of the war, we have been doing very large projects in memory of the heroes from my husband's unit. Most of the projects are from our money and some from donations. In our first project we sent food to battalions of soldiers in the north and south. The second project was an event for children in November 2023 in Kiryat Motzkin. It was in cooperation with the youth center. 300 people came to the event.

The event was for children of parents recruited under Order 8 and bereaved families. It was not easy to invite the bereaved families, because it was a month after the war started. There were inflatables at the event, each child received a branded cup and a case, the families received flower pots with the sentence - "In the end it will be good, you will see that the flowers will bloom again", and on each flower pot was written the name of one of the fallen."

The private house became a pity

"All the work is done in our private house. The house has become a hub for everything. At the event we distributed boxes of cakes and cookies, and we made the cakes and cookies ourselves. There were creations for children, braids, make-up and hair, making letters for soldiers, light refreshments, popcorn. There was also a chala provision for the captives in this event. This project was with the help of Shirley Lampel, director of the youth and community department in Kiryat Motzkin."

"After that, we issued books of Psalms and a book of Deuteronomy in memory of the fallen. We distributed it to the families of the fallen of the Matfa unit, policemen and families of soldiers, who are being recruited under Order 8. In the next project, we took 100 policemen of my husband's unit and 200 families of policemen, who are being recruited Order 8 and we prepared certificates of appreciation for the donation with a case. It was also in collaboration with the youth center of Kiryat Motzkin."

A variety of donations

"We made a donation of 100 Torah sticks to a yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Then we received an inquiry about an orphan boy who was celebrating a Bar Mitzvah, and there was no one to celebrate him. We collaborated with "Hashem Hakot", who organized the event. We prepared 50 trays of cakes and cookies for the event. There were many white nights at my house making the cookie cakes."

"The next thing - we wanted to reach the families of lonely and elderly people. We asked the municipality of Kiryat Motzkin for a list of elderly people who are alone during this period. We took 50 families of lonely people and 50 welfare families and prepared a box for each family. Each family received two challahs, 8- 10 types of salads, a bottle of wine, a cake, a box of cookies. My dad helped us with the salads."

Package delivery project

"The most challenging project was the ration delivery project. We reached 2,500 ration deliveries. The whole house was cardboard. Meanwhile, I also work full-time. The ration deliveries were distributed all over the country. Also to children with special needs, also to the bereaved families of the unit, who are They themselves distributed to welfare children, to soldiers and Druze soldiers. We made deliveries of cake, cookies and drinks to all of them. We also delivered packages to the police.

The next project - the biggest we have done

"The next project is going to be the biggest project we have done. An event for children with all the bereaved families. There will be 450 children and a total of 700 people at the event. We have closed the amusement park of the Animal Park in Kiryat Motzkin and also the Animal Park complex itself. There will be inflatables at the event, the amusement park of the place, 2 food stands of Belgian waffles and shakes. There will be an activity for toddlers, dj - 7 items inside and inside each case there is a flyer with the story of the fallen. This project will also be in cooperation with the Motzkin youth department.

Do you do all the projects with your husband?

"My husband is a full partner and so are my families and his. We have an active WhatsApp group. Every time I ask in our WhatsApp group who can help.'

Does your husband appreciate your huge investment?

"At first it was a little difficult for him to see the names of the fallen every time, but every time he would thank me for what I do for him. My husband has been in the police for 6 years, and these are very close friends of his.'

Where does the energy for all the activity come from?

"In the beginning it started with a limited activity and slowly it grew. I always try to finance myself, but sometimes we manage to get some donations. The energy for action is mainly faith in the Creator of the world, because if they were killed, we have to do everything for the commemoration. The fact that my husband came home does not mean that I should forget who was killed, because my husband could have been one of them.

I always have the thought that he could have been one of them, and I have to do everything for the one who didn't come back. We have quite a few difficulties with the big projects that we are taking on, and I simply feel that the Creator of the world is with us and helps us every time to achieve things and reach the goal that I set in mind. In addition, thanks to the projects, I got to know the beautiful people of Israel, and many suppliers give us service at lower prices and even with a donation, which gives us even more motivation to continue doing it.'

I am deeply grateful to my sister-in-law who supports me, Coral Elimelech, and to my close friend, Coral Levy, and to all those in our volunteer group.

For donations in Bit: 0538310007