Shmuel Yair Landau was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 23, 1959, to Vivian and Julian Landau. When Yair was three years old, the family moved to Silver Spring, in the Washington, D.C. area, where he began his education at the Hebrew Academy.
In 1969, the Landau family made aliyah and settled in Jerusalem. Yair continued his studies at Neve Etzion Elementary School, began high school at Himmelfarb, and completed it at the Or Etzion Yeshiva in Mercaz Sapir. In 1977, he began his Torah studies at Yeshivat Hakotel as part of the Hesder Yeshiva program.
On July 10, 1978, Yair was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces as part of the Hesder framework and served in the Armored Corps. When the First Lebanon War ("Operation Peace for Galilee") broke out in June 1982, Yair's unit deployed to Kiryat Shmona and crossed into Lebanon, advancing along the eastern front.
On June 11, 1982, near the village of Sultan Yaqoub, Yair’s tank was hit. He was killed instantly. He was 22 years old.
Yair was laid to rest at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalam.
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