Yehiel was born on October 29, 1944, in a work camp in Russia, where his parents, Shprintza and Pinhas, had fled from Poland at the outbreak of the Second World War. After the war, the family returned to Poland and, in 1951, made aliyah to Israel, settling in Ramat Gan. Yehiel attended Yahalom Elementary School and Dvir High School, and was active in the local Scouts movement, serving as a dedicated counselor.
When he was 17, the family moved to San Francisco, where Yehiel completed high school. In 1962, he enrolled at San Francisco University, majoring in psychology and criminology. In 1967, he married Beverly, a fellow student. After graduating, the couple made aliyah and settled in Kiryat Ono.
Yehiel joined the IDF in 1968, first serving as a psychologist in Nahal, then at the mental health clinic in Tel Hashomer, and later as chief psychologist of the Southern Command. At the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he refused a rear-echelon post and joined a combat paratroop unit on the southern front as an education officer. During the fierce battle at the “Chinese Farm” in Sinai, he fought alongside the soldiers and was fatally wounded on October 17, 1973.
He was buried in the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery and was survived by his wife, two children, his father, and a sister.
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