Yehiel's parents, Shprintza and Pinhas, fled to Russia from Poland at the outbreak of the Second World War. On arriving in Russia they were placed in a work camp where Yehiel was born on 29 October 1944. When the war ended, the family returned to Poland and then made aliyah in 1951, settling in Ramat Gan. Yehiel attended the Yahalom Elementary School and then the Dvir High School in Ramat Gan. He was a member of the local Scouts movement and was a dedicated counselor. When Yehiel was 17 the family moved to San Francisco where he completed his high school studies. In 1962 he enrolled at San Francisco University, majoring in Psychology and Criminology. In 1967 he married Beverly, a fellow student, and, after he graduated, the couple made aliyah and settled in Kiriat Ono.
Yehiel joined the IDF in 1968 first as a psychologist in Nahal then in the clinic for mental health in Tel Hashomer and finally he served as chief psychologist of the Southern Command. At the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he refused to accept a rear task and joined a combat paratroop unit in the southern front as an education officer. In a fierce battle at the "Chinese Farm" in Sinai he fought alongside the soldiers. He was fatally wounded on 17.10.73. He was buried in Kiriat Shaul cemetery. He was survived by his wife, two children, his father and sister.
