JANUARY 11 • 2024 | 27

was the one I want to spend the 
rest of my life with,
” Jonah said. 
He confirmed they were on 
the same page … and moved 
on to the fun part: Figuring out 
how, when and where to pop the 
question! He’
d planned to do it 
at Park Teddy in Jerusalem, but 
it was closed. Jonah’s mother and 
Yaffa’s sister suggested trying to 
surprise Yaffa on her army base. 
“I thought it was a cool idea,
” 
Jonah said. “I texted Yaffa’s com-
mander, who is a friend of my 
soldiers from when I was a com-
mander in the army. I explained 
that I wanted to do a nice pro-
posal on base; how can I make 
that happen?” 
For a few days, there was a lot 
of back and forth, with no real 
response.
“I had a rental car for a few 
days, but since I hadn’t gotten 
a response, I assumed it wasn’t 
going to work out and was about 
to return the car early when 
suddenly I got a call from her 
captain. He said, ‘I heard what 
you want to do; come down, let’s 
do this today!’” said Jonah, who 
promptly changed his clothes, 
rushed out to buy flowers and 
food and practically flew to 
Yaffa’s base. 
Her unit had already been 
briefed and when Jonah arrived, 
15 chayalot (female soldiers) 
were preparing tables and laying 
out a red tablecloth across the 
sandy entrance to the base and 
lining it with rocks. They also 
created a heart out of rocks and 
sticks. 

A TOTAL SURPRISE
From Yaffa’s perspective, the day 
had been a busy one. It was her 
first day of navigations on the 
field. On the bus back, her com-
mander pulled Yaffa to the front 
to ostensibly ask her questions. 
“She asked me if I understood 
everything, if I needed any help 
with the Hebrew,
” Yaffa said. “I 
didn’t know why she was asking 

me all this, why she was doing 
all she could to keep me up front 
with my back facing the win-
dows!” 
Then her commander 
wouldn’t let her get her vest at 
the back of the bus. And even 
weirder, her commander was 
filming her! When they disem-
barked, Yaffa turned around, saw 
the “red carpet” and innocently 
assumed some people on base 
were doing something weird. 
“Then I realized it was MY 
unit … and then I saw Jonah,
” 
Yaffa said. “That’s when I realized 
what was happening and started 
crying … He took my hand … 
I was all sweaty from my day on 
the field. I had on all this gear, it 
was wild. But Jonah did great. It 
was a very good surprise; I had 
no idea.
”
They took a few steps down 
the “red carpet” together and 
Jonah proposed, while everyone 
cheered.
And then, of course, they cel-
ebrated! Yaffa and Jonah were 
granted one and a half hours 
together, and they used that time 
to call family in America, to 
squeal over the phone lines and 
spread their exciting news. 
It’s a delightful Detroit-Israel 
love story, a sweet proposal 
in the middle of a dark time. 
There’s plenty to look forward to, 
including engagement parties, a 
wedding to plan (so far they’re 
thinking maybe spring 2024 in 
Michigan) and their entire lives 
together.
To the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity, Yaffa said, “No matter how 
wild your story gets, if it’s meant 
to be, it will be, just sit back and 
enjoy the ride!”
Jonah agreed. “If you really 
want something, and believe 
with all your heart it’s right, it 
will be. Hashem has our best 
interests at heart.
”
And then both these Detroit 
heroes added a heartfelt, “
Am 
Yisrael Chai!” 

Jonah got 
down on one 
knee to pop 
the question.

Jonah and 
Yaffa at the 
FIDF dinner 
in 2018 when 
they had just 
started dating.