While Joseph's friends from Yeshiva Lev HaTorah in Beit Shemesh rushed home to America to unite with their families at the outbreak of the coronavirus, Joseph refused to leave the Holy Land.
Instead, Joseph joined the Israel Dog Unit to aid in searching for missing people and to help raise and train service dogs for security and search and rescue deployment missions.
Even as his friends from Yeshiva Lev HaTorah in Beit Shemesh left Israel to return to their families after the outbreak of the coronavirus, Joseph remained.
He volunteered his services to the Israel Dog Unit (IDU), whose mission is to find missing persons and to train dogs for security and rescue operations.
Commander of the IDU Mike Ben Yakov spoke at the award ceremony. “Joseph's contribution made a difference as there has been a huge increase in the amount of people who have gone missing over recent months, and the IDU has been working around the clock with a skeleton crew, due to volunteers who were down with corona or quarantined," Ben Yakov said.
After working in the IDU for its three month service commitment, Joseph is now returning to Philadelphia.
Volunteers are welcome to work in the IDU, receiving room and board for their efforts as they learn to train dogs for life-saving missions.
More information is available at www.israeldogunit.com