The son of of Nissim and Esther, Yacov Maloul was born into a large family in Dimonet, Morocco, on 5th January 1929. He grew up in the town of Saleh and there he studied at the Alliance School. In the evenings and in his free time he studied Hebrew and biblical history at the Talmud Torah Hebrew School.
Because of his family’s financial problems, he left school at the age of 14 and learned the cabinet-making trade from a Jewish artisan in the town of Rabat, supporting his parents by sending his salary home. In his letters to his father he told of his love for Eretz Israel and Zionism.
In the meantime, Israel’s War of Independence broke out, and he decided to go there and serve with the defenders and then stay on. He told of his intentions in a letter written in French to his father, and on his birthday he left his studies and his work, having received certificates from the management of the Kol Israel Chaverim School and from people in his trade.
He sailed to the South of France, and after a period of training he was sent to Israel with a group of Machal volunteers. He then joined in the battles and operations in the southern Negev as part of the Alexandroni Brigade.
He fell in action on 11th November1948 in a battle near the Negba police station, and was buried the next day at the Kfar Warburg cemetery.
Source: Translated from the Yizkor website by Joe Woolf