Yehuda Shapira, 75: Loving grandfather worked in sports management

Died on December 10, 2023, of injuries sustained in a Hamas rocket attack in Ashkelon on October 9, 2023

Yehuda Shapira, 75, was critically wounded on October 9, 2023, when his home in Ashkelon was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza. He was hospitalized for two months before he succumbed to his injuries on December 10, 2023.

Since Yehuda was in a wheelchair, he could not get quickly to the bomb shelter in the building, and he was seriously wounded when a rocket hit the family’s home.

He was buried in Ashkelon. He is survived by his wife, Rivka, their three children, Zeev, Tziya and Bat-el, and a number of grandchildren.

Yehuda was born in November 1948 in Rishon Lezion, months after his parents arrived in Israel from Cyprus, where they had been imprisoned by the British for attempting to illegally enter the country, according to a state eulogy.

As a baby, Yehuda was infected with polio and managed to recover, but was permanently disabled.

At age 6 his family moved to Ashkelon, and after he finished elementary school they relocated to Ofakim. There was no high school in Ofakim at the time, and Yehuda dropped out of school and went to work, joining his father in delivering gas balloons and also managing a local soccer team.

Yehuda enlisted in the IDF at age 18 and served in the Gaza Division, which is when he met Rivka, and the couple married in 1971, settling in Ofakim. In 1981, they moved to Ashkelon, where he worked at a department store and continued to manage soccer and basketball teams.

An Ashkelon city eulogy describes Yehuda as an expert in Israeli politics, an optimist who was fiercely independent despite his disability and someone who loved to spend time with and go on trips with his immediate and extended family.

On his headstone it is written: “The joy for life, generosity and love that you gave us will remain in our hearts forever.”