From Churros to Saving Lives: Meet the MDA EMT Behind One of Northern Israel's Sweetest Businesses
By day, Yohai Karyaf helps save lives as a Senior EMT with Magen David Adom. Off duty, he and his wife bring smiles to families across northern Israel through their food truck business. Balancing emergency medicine, entrepreneurship, and raising four children, Yohai proves that caring for others isn't just a profession: It's a way of life.
There are few things that bring people together the way food does. Families gather around warm Belgian waffles, children eagerly wait for popcorn and churros, and festivals across northern Israel are filled with the smell of freshly made crepes. They are moments of celebration, laughter, and community.
For 39-year-old Yohai Karyaf, those joyful moments are just one part of his life. The other begins the moment the emergency radio sounds.
For the past eight years, Yohai has served as a Senior EMT and Ambulance Driver with Magen David Adom in the Safed region. Before joining MDA as an employee, he spent two years volunteering, fulfilling a dream he had carried long before putting on MDA's uniform. "I always wanted to be part of MDA," he said. "At the end of the day, our goal is always to help people and save lives."
When his ambulance shift ends, Yohai steps into a very different role.
Together with his wife, he helps run a family business specializing in food trucks and festival food stands, serving Belgian waffles, crepes, churros, nachos, popcorn, and other treats at events across northern Israel. While one job requires life-saving decisions under pressure, the other is about creating moments of happiness.
Balancing emergency medicine, a growing business, and raising four children between the ages of five and twelve might seem impossible to many. For Yohai, it's simply a matter of priorities. "You find time for everything you love," he said.
Throughout his years with MDA, Yohai has responded to countless emergencies, but several remain etched in his memory. He was among the responders during the tragic Meron disaster, one of Israel's deadliest civilian incidents, and to this day he still remembers treating a young child who nearly drowned in a swimming pool early in his career.
Serving throughout the war brought another layer of responsibility. "Of course you're worried," he said. "I have a wife and four children waiting at home."
Despite the difficult calls, the long shifts, and the emotional weight of emergency medicine, Yohai says the profession continues to give him something no other career could. "It gives me a real sense of fulfillment."
In emergency medicine, Yohai meets people on what may be the worst day of their lives. Through his family's business, he meets them on some of their happiest. Few people get to witness both sides of life so closely, and perhaps that's exactly what makes him so passionate about both.
