Fallen soldier Yosef Guedalia's brothers share: “He fought with love in his heart”

On this Memorial Day, as flags wave in front of homes and hearts ache with memory and pain, two brothers, Charlie and Asher, opened their hearts to talk about the one who carried the banner of humility until his final moment. Through stories of childhood adventures, sports training, entrepreneurial dreams, and military operations, a rare portrait emerges of a quiet, modest, and uncompromising young man who, in death as in life, managed to unite, inspire, and leave an irreplaceable mark.

“I Knew If I Followed Him, It Would Work”

“We were a trio,” says Charlie, the middle brother. “Me, Asher, and Yosef. We did everything together. If it wasn’t my idea, it was Yosef’s. He had ideas about how to make money recycling bottles, build vegetable terraces in the garden, or just do something fun together. I always knew: if I followed him, it would work.”

Charlie describes his younger brother as a kid and teenager who brought a quiet calm, a relaxed confidence that let you breathe even when everything around was chaotic. “He’d say, ‘Everything will be fine, don’t worry,’ and it really felt true.”

Asher, the eldest, recalls the unbreakable bond formed early on. “We joked that we were like the penguins from Madagascar: I was Skipper, Charlie was Rico, and Yosef was always the youngest, smartest, and funniest. We did everything together: hiking, buying LEGO, making silly bets. Once we bet that whoever showered first with hot water would lose: Yosef, at 12, stuck to cold showers for six months, even in winter, until Mom forced him to stop when he got sick.”

From Frisbee to Elite Unit

Their physical connection was almost symbolic. Every week, frisbee at Givat Ram. “The neighbors knew us by sight,” Asher laughs. As Yosef approached his army service, Asher began training him for tryouts, and that’s where their special bond, which endured even when Yosef became a fighter in the elite Duvdevan unit, took root.

“He never told us what he really did,” Charlie says. “Only after he fell did we realize the weight of responsibility he carried. He built and led the drone program in the unit, saved lives, and got the brigade commander to declare, ‘We don’t go on operations without a drone.’”

Yosef didn’t just build drones; he also programmed apps. Asher, a programmer and entrepreneur, recalls how Yosef approached him: “He said, ‘We do a lot of operations, but we don’t learn from them. Build me an app to help with debriefs.’” And so, an operational system for managing lessons, statistics, and reports was born, ultimately serving the entire unit. “Every week, he’d tell me what to improve or add, and in between, we’d plan basketball or frisbee. He was the heart of my week.”

“He Truly Felt and Saw Everyone”

When talking about Yosef, the word that keeps coming up is humility. “Once a friend gave him a haircut,” Charlie recalls, “and Yosef got compliments. Right away, he texted the friend: ‘Everyone’s raving about your haircut.’ He genuinely meant it. He saw everyone. He always looked outward, not inward. To me, that’s the secret of humility.”

Asher adds a moving story: “When there was an argument in the team, when they were tired and tense, Yosef never fought. Even when they teased him, he’d smile. ‘Yeah, I drive like a girl,’ he’d say, laughing. Nothing could upset him. Like Hillel the Elder.”

“They Didn’t Tell Me, I Just Knew”

“We were supposed to have a family meal on Shabbat,” Charlie says. “But slowly, everyone got called up. I reached the Lebanon border. Suddenly, they pulled me aside, and I knew it couldn’t be good. When they said, ‘Your brother, Yosef…,’ the words stopped.”

Asher experienced it differently: “On Sunday, I started worrying. I sent messages: no one replied. Something in me already knew. I spent a whole day with that feeling you’re not ready to believe. Denial. In the end, I arrived with the army officials at the family’s. They didn’t really tell me. I just knew.”

“They Fought with Love in Their Hearts, Not Hatred”

“We’re in the middle of a war,” Asher says. “Until we win, we can’t talk about memory. We won’t be able to process the pain as long as the enemy lives. I want people to understand what kind of people we lost because of our mistakes.”

Charlie adds: “They gave us honor. When so much honor was lost, they brought it back. They fought with love in their hearts, not hatred. Love for the people, the land, the family. If we remember that, we’ll remember him right.”