Most of the residents of Talmei Yaffe - a small moshav (a cooperative community of farmers) near Ashkelon, have evacuated their homes temporarily. Only a few people who needed to stay remained on the moshav, like those who had to care for the farms. Many soldiers were placed there too to care for the safety and security of the Negev during the war. Of course all the children left, except for one child, whose name is Ido. All of Ido’s friends left the moshav, but he had to stay with his parents, and did not have any lessons nor any after-school activities.
One day the soldiers were playing soccer and they were surprised when a ball that flew out of their field was returned to them by a young boy. The boy was Ido.
The soldiers invited him to play with them. Ido was very happy to join as he had been very sad and hardly left his room. The next day Ido asked his mother to wake him up early, so that he could join the soldiers for their morning roll call. As Ido stood in line with the soldiers, they gave him a number, like every other soldier. And when they counted and everyone shouted their number, Ido's young voice was heard shouting "twelve" and everyone knew he was part of the unit.
Since he had joined the roll call and already had a number, the soldiers decided to give Ido a responsible position - to be in charge of the medical equipment bag.. Ido was not only responsible for the equipment, he also learned about the medical equipment in the bag and participated in the unit's meeting. Since then, every morning Ido shows up for the soldiers' fitness training and every evening he joins them for dinner.
A few days ago the unit held a ceremony, and the soldiers presented Ido with the platoon's insignia.
And if you think that the soldiers did Ido a favor by including him, you may be right, but it is important to know that Ido also helped the soldiers a lot. Every time they saw him, they thought of their children at home, and of the children of the settlements around Gaza, and of you too - children from all over Israel, and remembered who they are fighting for and who they are protecting.
A big thank you to Ido, who helped the soldiers to help all of us.
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