Eli ben Yaakov
Commissioner of the Lions between 1996-7
His motto: “Volunteering, brotherhood and evil”
Eli Ben Ya’akov, born in Jerusalem, studied at Kadori Agricultural School, served in Nahal, studied political science, general and Russian history at the Hebrew University. He is married to Dafna and together they are parents of 3 children and grandparents of 7 grandchildren.
After completing his studies and military service, he joined Kibbutz Netiv Hala where he was a member for 4 years. After completing his studies at the university, he worked for 10 years in the State Comptroller’s office and 25 years at Bank Hapoalim. He retired from there.
Wounded in the head on the first day of the Yom Kippur War, in the Litof bastion on the banks of the Suez Canal.
He became attached to the topic of volunteering even at his parents’ house, who lived volunteering and raised him according to it. His mother, who was a gynecologist and his father, a civil engineer, were regular volunteers. And of course also at the Kadori school, he drew on the spirit of volunteering and contributing to society.
He came to the Jerusalem club through Yoav Nitzan who invited him in 1978 for a meeting at the club. He came and stayed. Dafna joined and in 1994 founded the Mevsherat Zion club.
Until he became the president of the Jerusalem club, he was a member of the club’s culture committee, and became the chairman of the association of friends of the Saint-Simon home, a home for the disabled in Jerusalem that was under the care of the members of the Freemasons and was transferred to the care of the members of the Jerusalem Lions Club. The management of the daycare center, and for proper management with the registrar of associations.
In 1982, the Jerusalem Center Club was established, of which Eli was one of the founders, and after about 5 years the club merged with the parent Jerusalem Club.
In 1988, Eli Romanov, who was the president of the club, suggested to Eli Ben Yaacov to be second deputy, and from there the road was short to the presidency of the Jerusalem club in a sequence of two years 90-91, 91-92.
In 1993 – Eli Ben Ya’akov submitted his candidacy to the Israel Lions Cabinet and until he was elected as a commissioner, he acted, among other things, as the chairman of the committee for establishing clubs. When he acted to establish clubs: Mebasret Zion, the capital Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva, Beit Shemesh, Be’er Sheva Achava in the Negev.
At the World Conference in Montreal, in June 1996, I was commissioned as Commissioner of Lions Israel.
In his activity as a commissioner, the emphasis was placed on:
– Personal visit to all clubs.
– Preservation and establishment of the organization.
– Hosting the world president Saliva for 4 days.
As part of the Person of the Year activity, the exemplary people were chosen: Rauma Weizman, the late Yehuda Amichai and Prof. Alexander Sela. The event held at the Congress Center in Jerusalem was attended by the then president of the country, the late Ezer Weizman.
After the end of his term as commissioner, Eli Ben-Yaakov returned to the club and supported the presidents of the club and the regional commissioners as needed.
In summary: feeling satisfied for working for the community and acquiring true friends who walk with him along the way. The extraction of the spirit that Ora was educated.