If I had the writing talent of my good friend, David von Treppenwitz, I'd turn this post into a family saga involving Shoah, life in America, aliyah, and the first child on both his parents' sides born in Eretz Yisrael. I'd go on to tell you about the history of Regiment 890 of the Paratrooper's Brigade, among the most fabled regiments in IDF history.

But, lacking both the talent and the patience, the best I can do is to just blurt out that this week the Paratrooper's Brigade inductees of March 2007 finished their training and were given their red berets in a big ceremony on Ammunition Hill. And when they called up the chayal mitztayen of the latest class of Regiment 890, damned if it wasn't that little kid whose father dropped him off at first grade with such trepidation like, what, two or three years ago. His greener parents were overwhelmed.

Hashem yishmereyhu veyatzileyhu.