Yaakov was born in 1928 in Boryslav, Poland, to Haya Rivka and Tzvi. His parents were landowners involved in agriculture.  His father Tzvi made aliyah on his own, preparing the ground for the family; the mother and three children then arrived in 1936. They settled in Menashiya, Tel Aviv, in the Neve Zedek neighborhood. The father first worked in a dairy, and Yaakov helped him. The family was religious and traditional.

For elementary school, Yaakov attended Tachkemoni. When he completed his studies, he went out to help the family, learning to be a tailor. He also went to night school and managed to complete his high school studies. Yaakov loved literature and was a voracious reader.

From his youth, he had a nationalist spirit, and at age fifteen, he joined Lehi. As a youth, he put up posters, delivered messages and observed potential targets for underground attacks.

He completed firearms training and became a youth instructor. He was dedicated, loyal and talented in this capacity. He gave all his time to the underground, and for four years in Lehi, he did not take even an hour of free time. His sister Miriam tells that his mother, who knew of his activities, could not sleep at night because of her anxiety. One time she hid his sole pair of shoes, so that he could not leave his house. However, nothing could keep him from fulfilling his duties to the underground: he simply went barefoot.

After the Partition Plan was announced, the Arabs began attacking the Yishuv throughout the country. Yaakov took part in underground activities against the Arab rioters in the Tel Aviv area. With the establishment of the State, he joined the IDF, together with all of his friends in the underground. He was assigned to Company C of Battalion 82 in the 8^th Brigade. He was a squad commander, a physical training sergeant. Together with the battalion, he fought in all its battles: Operation Danny, Operation Yoav, Operation Moshe and Operation Horeb.

In the attack on Auja el-Hafir, on December 27,1948 Yaakov was injured and killed. He was buried in the military section of the cemetery in Nahalat Yitzhak in Tel Aviv.