Support Ryan’s Memorial Day Murph Challenge Fundraiser

In honor of U.S. Navy Seal Lt. Michael P. Murphy and Israel Defense Forces Sgt. Max D. Steinberg z’’l, I’ll be doing the Murph Challenge and am asking for your support…

A lot of Americans think of Yom HaZikaron as Israel's Memorial Day, but it's really so much more than that…

How many of you are soldiers? How many of your children have you worried would fall on the field of battle? How many people do you know who have served in the military? Could you count them on one hand?

In Israel, everybody serves. In Israel, everybody has lost friends and family to acts of war or terror. So in Israel, Yom HaZikaron isn't just a state holiday; it's a national day of mourning. It's a metaphorical yahrzeit that every single person commemorates together, all at once. When the sirens sound, one at 8 p.m. IDT on Tuesday and the other at 11 a.m. this morning (April 30), the entire country will literally stand still: Cars on the highways will grind to a halt. Ten million people will collectively remember all those who laid down their lives so that they could live free in the Jewish state.

When the siren sounds:

I remember Max Steinberg, usually over a glass of bourbon. Originally from Los Angeles, Max struggled to learn Hebrew but was strong as an ox and never stopped smiling until he was blown up in an armored personnel carrier during Israel's 2014 war with Gaza.

I remember Oron Shaul, another soldier from Golani's 13th Battalion, who was riding with Max and whose body was held ransom by Hamas for more than 10 years — until Israeli commandos retrieved his remains from Gaza in January of this year.

I grieve with my friend Shai Amichai, whose little brother took his own life with his service weapon, and with Mikhael Precel, who'd just walked out of the Sbarro in Jerusalem when it exploded, killing 15 people — including his friend — and wounding 130 — including Mikhael. He was only 16 years old.

And I miss my friend Yehuda Gehasi, whom I WhatsApp’d with this morning, but who’s on his 400-something-th day of reserve duty while his wife and kids wait for him to come home again.

After a day full of grief, in a uniquely Israeli way, Yom HaZikaron flows right into Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day. It's a doubleheader: Memorial Day and July 4th, one after the other. We remember the price and then we celebrate the reward.

This Yom HaZikaron, I want to bridge our two countries and our two Memorial Days by committing to the Murph Challenge: a (U.S.) Memorial Day (May 26) workout with my F3 Essex PAX consisting of a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, and another mile-long run — all performed while wearing a 20-lb vest.

I ask you to support my effort in honor and memory of my friends and all the heroes — Israeli and American and American-Israeli — who paid the ultimate price. And I wish you a very happy Yom Ha'atzmaut and July 4th.

Proceeds will cover the cost of my registration and vest and donations to the LT. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation and Yashar LaChayal (translated: “Direct to the Soldier”), an amazing organization that directly benefits IDF soldiers.