Simon and Clara Naikov, Alexi's z"l parents, Mike Rosenberg, and Yitzchak Blonder, Director of the Jewish Agency's Northern Region award a Selah student with a prize of excellence.
Photo Credit: Ze'ev Bitz |
On the morning of October 19, 1998, as the children of Kfar Darom were riding to their school in nearby Neve Dekalim, a suicide bomber's car sped toward their bus. Alexi and his fellow soldiers did not hesitate an instant; just as they had been trained, they interposed their jeep between the explosives-laden car and the school bus. Although there was a powerful explosion, not a single child was hurt. Alexi was killed, while the two other soldiers in the jeep were badly injured.
Alexi Naikov came on aliyah in 1996 via the Jewish Agency's Selah (Students Before Parents) program; his parents came a year later to Haifa, which has been their home ever since. After studies in the Technion, Alexi was inducted into the IDF, joining the Combat Engineering Corps.
Following Aliexi's death, his parents decided to commemorate his life by establishing a prize fund, which each year recognizes the ten most successful participants in "Selah", the program which brought Alexi to Israel.
Also taking part in the award ceremony were members of the Hadad family of Kfar Darom, whose children were among those saved by Alexi. The Naikov and Hadad families have become very close since Alexi's death; in fact, when the Hadad's were blessed with a daughter, they named her Osher, commemerating Alexi's Hebrew name, Asher.