A 28-year-old former active-duty paratrooper and navigator, whose name has not been disclosed due to security reasons, received a call from his unit a day after Hamas’ attack on Israel. He was asked to return to his ancestral home during this time to help. The soldier had been living with his wife and two children – a two-year-old daughter and a three-month-old newborn – in Manhattan. They moved back from Israel to America in May 2022.
“He could just say, “I’m in America,’ and they’d say, ‘OK, no problem,’” his wife told New York Post. “But we looked at each other, and he was like, ‘I’ve got to get over there,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘You have to get over there. You have to go home.’”
The soldier and his wife were born in New York and went to live in Israel. When he was just 15, his family moved to the country from Riverdale, New York. He joined the Israeli army as a volunteer after studying at a yeshiva for a year.
His wife, on the other hand, was a native of Great Neck, Long Island, and met him in 2016. At the time, she was an NYU student volunteering as an EMT overseas. They lived together in Israel for six years before getting married in 2019. The couple eventually settled in Manhattan.
The young soldier's morals pushed him to go and help his country in the time of need. “It wasn’t something you have to think about,” his wife said. “We feel deeply connected to Israel … and for Jews across the world, if we don’t have Israel, we can’t survive. We feel such a strong duty and obligation for our people … I knew it wasn’t a choice.”
{{/usCountry}}The young soldier's morals pushed him to go and help his country in the time of need. “It wasn’t something you have to think about,” his wife said. “We feel deeply connected to Israel … and for Jews across the world, if we don’t have Israel, we can’t survive. We feel such a strong duty and obligation for our people … I knew it wasn’t a choice.”
{{/usCountry}}He arrived in Israel this week. While his son is too young to understand the situation, his daughter realised something was wrong.
“We said Israel is not safe, there are some scary things going on there,” his wife told their daughter. “But she’s safe … and Da-Da (as she calls him) is our superhero. He’s going to wear a cape and a mask and be a superhero for Israel.”
“He’s going to go help everybody because that’s what superheroes do, and he’s going to be back soon,” she added. “Every time she asks where he is, that’s what I tell her.”