We are a small country and there is virtually no one in Israel that does not have some personal connection to a soldier who was killed or to a victim of terror. Every community has its list of people killed in combat, in the line of duty or by terror. No place is immune.

In Israel when you turn eighteen you are drafted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Everyone serves the country unless you have a specific reason for an exemption.

On Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) a few years ago I went to the local ceremony in our community center.

As part of the ceremony they asked Mordechai Goodman, the father of Yosef Goodman to come forward to recite the Kaddish (prayer for the dead).  Mordechai Goodman moved to Israel from NY in the 1980’s and he owned the local pizza shop where I live. They make excellent pizza.

His son Yosef was part of an elite unit in the Israeli army. As part of his training as a paratrooper, he had to do a low altitude jump from a plane with his commander.

They jumped from the plane and somehow their parachutes got tangled. They were plummeting towards the ground while frantically trying to untangle their chutes. As long as they were tangled, they could not open the backup parachutes.

They were quickly reaching an altitude where it would be impossible to open their emergency chutes. In an act of true heroism, Yosef Goodman took out a knife that he had in his boot and cut himself loose which sadly meant that he would plummet to his death. This extraordinary personal sacrifice allowed his commander to open his emergency chute and survive.

Yosef has three brothers and by Israeli law, since their sibling was killed, they do not have to serve in the army.  Despite this exemption all three have chosen to serve or have served in elite units with their parent’s permission.

I buy my pizza from this heroic family. Such is the land of Israel. Every single aspect, and I mean every aspect is saturated with meaning—even the pizza that you eat.

—Rabbi Moshe Rothchild