Yoram Yair

Yoram Yair was born in 1943 in Ein HaNatziv

Yoram Yair was born in Kibbutz Ein HaNatziv and grew up in Tel Aviv. His father Rafael was an architect born in Germany, and his mother Rachel was a social worker born in Łódź, Poland. He attended Ironi D High School and belonged to the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed youth movement.

He joined the IDF in 1963 with a Nahal group and later moved to the Paratroopers Brigade. He was badly wounded in the Six Day War while leading a company at Rafah. He studied psychology from 1968, finished his first degree in 1971, and as the Officers Academy psychologist he developed a screening method for cadets.

In the Yom Kippur War he took command of the 50th Battalion in the southern Golan Heights and later led it across the Suez Canal. He commanded a brigade combat team in Operation Litani and became commander of the Paratroopers Brigade in 1981. He led the brigade in the First Lebanon War, including a landing from the sea north of Sidon.

He retired from the IDF in 1998 as a major general. He chairs and advises several companies and chairs organizations including Yahad, United for Israel's Soldiers and After Me. He built and heads the Rabin Leadership Program at IDC Herzliya.