“My American English came in handy,” says Eytan Gittler, 29, a young man who grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. 

He’s at our shared workplace, Hadassah’s offices in the Jerusalem Ein Kerem hospital, where he is an operations coordinator and in charge of special projects. 

After graduating from Georgetown University seven years ago with a degree in hospital administration, Gittler moved to Israel and enlisted in the IDF, inspired by his dad’s long-ago service as a lone soldier. Following discharge, he completed an MBA at Bar-Ilan University, “much of it on Zoom from an army base because I had so much reserve duty.”  

He’s a gentle lion of a young, single man, a burger-loving foodie, ebullient and intelligent. Today, at his day job, he solved a thorny tech problem of digitally storing the 80,000 historic and recent donor recognitions on the hospital walls. 

Gittler’s best friends are his former fellow lone soldiers from Garin Tzabar 2019 at Kibbutz Lavi. Of the 29 lone soldiers in his cohort, 27 have remained in Israel. On Thursday night, June 12, they were celebrating a birthday at a Mahaneh Yehuda pizza parlor. 

“On Thursday night, we all assumed that there might be an operation with Iran based on the back and forth in the news about issues with a US-Iranian nuclear deal,” says Gittler. 

“We all agreed that nothing would happen until later the following week because Bibi’s son was about to get married. I went to sleep at 1 a.m. and vaguely remember hearing a siren go off a couple of hours later. I went back to sleep, thinking most likely it was the Houthis.” 

He checked his phone when he woke up at 8 a.m., with plans to go running. “I had literally hundreds of missed messages from my friends and family checking in, but more importantly, from my reserve unit. I wish you could have seen the shock on my face when I realized what I had missed the night before.” 

He called his commander and caught a bus to Tel Aviv. He serves in Battalion 997, a search and rescue and combat unit. Among his responsibilities is evacuating trapped civilians from collapsed buildings. 

“We’ve been called to reserve duty in Tel Aviv multiple times since Oct. 7. Unfortunately, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iranians like to fire rockets and drones into populated urban centers,” he says. 

“I spent the rest of Operation Rising Lion in the first-response teams. A commander directs and oversees the team and the damage site. An engineer assesses the stability of a building before we go in, and a medic accompanies us to do triage and provide medical care. 

“This core team relays information to Central Command with its teams that specialize in the heavy rescue equipment. Still, another team oversees gathering information that helps us understand who may have been in the disaster zone.” 

On Friday, June 13, an Iranian ballistic missile struck the middle of a modern 42-story luxury apartment building in Tel Aviv. 

“My team rushed to our vehicle with our equipment. While we were on our way, another siren sounded. We needed to seek shelter in a nearby building,” he recalls.  

“When the engineer gave the okay, we ran up the steps to the 10th floor, which had the most serious damage, and started helping people get out. Thank God, people had listened to the Home Front Command and had remained in their reinforced safe rooms. Otherwise, so many people would have been wounded or worse. 

“As it was, we had to help people who were badly shaken and shell-shocked. Surprisingly, many English speakers and tourists were in the building. I immediately began speaking to them to calm them down and direct them out. Many didn’t want to leave. Their excitement upon hearing a native English speaker in uniform was surprisingly energizing for me.” 

For two hours, his team walked the stairs up to the top of the 42-story building and then to the bottom, knocking on doors and helping residents leave their apartments. 

“Fortunately, no one needed immediate medical attention. This was a happy surprise because several floors in the middle of the building were completely wrecked, with their interiors destroyed and filled with debris.” 

When they finished clearing the building, another alarm siren sounded. 

“My team ran to a nearby building – a tall and well-known shopping center – and raced to the underground parking garage. A few minutes later, there was a loud boom, and the building shook. I thought the building was hit. My instinctive reaction was to run. Of course, there was nowhere to run. 

“When we got outside, we saw that the rocket had hit a nearby building. We were among the first to arrive on the scene. Thank God, the damage to this building, an important one, was minimal. 

“Lucky for me, hot food arrived for Shabbat dinner courtesy of the army and civilian donors. ‘Kiddush’ and a Shabbat meal go a long way in grounding you and providing a sense of normalcy in unexpected and crazy times,” he says. 

The June 15 horrendous attack on Bat Yam was technically outside of Gittler’s team’s jurisdiction, but they were called to assist. 

“We were given some information about the residents. One apartment was divided into sub-units. The tenants were old, young, Arab, Jewish, and Druze. I remember thinking, ‘This is a typical Tel Aviv setup.’ The place was completely destroyed with massive holes in the wall, with rubble, broken glass, upturned furniture, and trash everywhere. 

“One of the residents was a hoarder and had dozens of plastic grocery bags filled with expired food and old clothes. We feared that someone had fallen out of the window, which was now a massive hole from floor to ceiling. We called in a team with dogs. A heat-seeking drone found the bodies of two people outside.” 

As the search and rescue soldiers were leaving, the roads were already being cleared of burnt-out cars and rubble. 

And then, as suddenly as it started, the war with Iran was over. Gittler was promoted to sergeant major. The IDF gave him two days of vacation. He renewed his apartment lease in Nahlaot and restocked his refrigerator. Then he went back to his job, but not for long. He has already received notice that in July he’ll be called up again for two and a half months of combat reserve duty. 

“I never for a moment regret my decision to move here,” he says. “I can see the difference between my friends, who, like me, stayed in Israel, and my friends back in the US. Here, we’ve developed Israeli resilience. I love being able to do something for Israel. My day job at Hadassah and my military service are both extremely meaningful.” 

According to the government, more than 550 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 drones were launched during the 12-day war. Thank God, only 20% got through. 

Thank you, Eytan; thank you, IDF; thank you, lone soldiers. Thank you, Israeli developers of the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, who, despite doubters, pursued their concepts. The alternative is too horrible to imagine.