'Hero, Israel': brother of fallen IDF soldier launches everyday heroes podcast

Shemah Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad – Hear, O’Israel, the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One.

The most famous prayer in Judaism is famously said at life’s inception – in Israel, religious children will gather at the house of a newborn boy to recite the prayer to the child – as well as at its ending. And so when Eliot Young decided to create a podcast in memory of his brother, Nathanel, the former JFS student killed in action on 7 October defending his base and the nearby Kibbutz of Zikkim, he made the title a play on words based on the Shema prayer. A podcast, focused on everyday heroes in the Jewish state, would be titled “Hero, Israel”.

Eliot, 36 years old, is the middle of five children – his brother Nathanel was thirteen years younger; just twenty when he was killled. All but one of the siblings chose to live in Israel, while parents Chantal and Nicky Young, who had lived in the tight-knit community of Cockfosters and Southgate for more than 40 years, made aliyah a month after Nathanel fell in battle against Hamas.

Nathanel met two of Eliot’s children and was “the fun uncle” who liked to play hide and seek.

“Whenever he had time off, he would spend it with with us. In fact, the last time I saw him was a week before Sukkot, He was in Jerusalem, but I was somewhere else”, Eliot says.

“And he came and joined me where I was for that Shabbat, even though he just had a few days off from the army. Usually soldiers, they want to eat and sleep and not do much else, but he spent one day with me and my kids, and one day with my sister and her kids.”

After losing his brother, Eliot has poured his energies into the podcast. Launched in January 2025, to date it has produced fifteen 45-minute episodes, running every fortnight, sharing the stories of those “unassuming individuals who have played a huge role in keeping our country going without even realising it”, who have made sacrifices to support Israel during the ongoing war with Hamas.

Nathanel’s spirit is at the heart of the podcast; Eliot honours his younger brother at the beginning of every episode and the backing track is one the fallen soldier previously created.

“It’s very appropriate. He would love that I’m doing that. Its a very personal tribute to him”, says Eliot.

“People ask me how I’ve been influenced by Nathanel’s story. He is someone who, when there was something that was important to him, would go right to the end.”

“The army wasn’t easy to get in, but he went right in, right ’til the end. He made sure he knocked on every door until he got into the army, got into the unit he wanted [the elite Golani brigade]. And when I was starting this podcast, I was recording an episode and I left it. Then I went back to it.

“I said: ‘No, in memory of Nathanel, I’m going to see this through’. So, in that way, it’s also a personal tribute to him. If I’ve got my sights on something, he would want me to see it through.”

Eliot has spoken with everyday heroes including Dr. David Leitner; seriously wounded on active army duty in 2001, he has since dedicated his life to supporting and inspiring other soldiers, including re-joining the IDF himself; Eddie Hammerman, a co-founder of the Borehamwood and Elstree October 7 Vigils; Jen Airley, mother of Binyamin Airley, a soldier killed in action on 18 November, 2023. Jen and her husband opened a house in Sfat as a retreat centre for those affected by the war; Tasha Cohen, who started Chayal’s Angels shortly after the war broke out to provide physical and emotional therapy to soldiers; Gary Yantin, who regularly hosts BBQs for soldiers across the country, reminding them we are always thinking of them, and Shirley Burdick, a Christian supporter of Israel who has focused on community mobilisation and standing publicly with Israel during times of crisis. She spends half of her time living in Israel.

Poignantly, there is also a special episode where Eliot interviews his own mother, Chantal Young, and sister Gaby Shalev, about Nathanel and their journey from 7 October to today.

Nathanel with his sister Gaby. Pic: Young family

Eliot sees Nathanel in everyone he interviews. “I call them ‘everyday’ heroes, not ‘unsung’ heroes – people who often you haven’t heard about”, he says.

“They’re just doing their daily thing. They don’t want awards, they don’t want to go viral on social media. They’re just doing their thing because they believe it’s important.

“That’s the reason this is such an important tribute to Nathanel, because since he was ten or eleven, he was always saying: ‘I’m going to move to Israel, I’m going to make aliyah.’ He didn’t say ‘this amazing thing I’m doing. This is just what I have to do. And this is how I’m going to give to the Jewish people, give to the country’. And on the day that he was sadly killed, that’s exactly what happened. He just got up and said, ‘This is what I have to deal with’.”

Nathanel with his mum and siblings on last day of training. Pic: Young family

Eliot pauses. “Think about it. The people who gave their lives that day, if they actually would have taken a second to think it would have been – you know – you might make a different decision, But they didn’t. They just knew inherently ‘this is the right thing to do’. And that is true of so many of the different projects that I can speak about in the podcast.”

Additionally, Eliot and his family try and keep the memory of Nathanel alive in their house, in everyday ways.

“My kids were young when he was killed. So there are pictures of him. We have a big Golani flag…on our balcony”, Eliot says.

“And I have moments where I’m working through something myself, and I’m wondering, if I was speaking to him now, you know, what would he say? Israel lost so many people, and we can always bring them into our daily lives. Do things in their memory.

“This might sound silly, but I needed new trainers. And Nathanel was very into trainers, especially Jordans. So I bought a pair. That wouldn’t be my choice, but I knew that he’d approve. And we bought for my kids as well. That’s the way that we know that he’s with us, and we keep him with us all the time.”