Sarina Roffé
When the war with Hamas began on October 7, 2023, David and Tracy Zeit never once thought of moving back to New York from Efrat. They had been living in Israel, at the time, for 15 years – and David was living his dream as a tour guide – with most of his clients from the community.
“My two oldest sons are in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and both fought in Gaza as combat soldiers when they were called for reserve duty. Ezra is in the Multi-Dimensional Unit, a commando unit, created by the IDF Chief of Staff. Jesse is in Givati Special Forces. Joey, my third son, is in basic training with the Kfir Brigade. Michael will go into the IDF next year. Marcelle is in high school.”
“For Jewish existence to be complete, we need the Jewish People in the Jewish Homeland observing the Torah,” said David. “It is a triangle – the people, the land and the observance of Torah. All three are needed for a complete Jewish existence. I believe this is where I belong and where all the Jewish People should be.
“The war further entrenched my family and our commitment to living in Israel. We are not fighting overseas; we are fighting for our homeland. Having my sons serve in the IDF is a great privilege for me as a father. My sons are heroes, and they are protecting our homeland and fighting for our way of life.”
As a tour guide, David shares his love for Israel’s history, living the history, and loving the land our ancestors lived in. With 90 percent of his clients being visitors to Israel from the Brooklyn and Deal communities, David is thrilled to apply his talent as a teacher to the tour guide experience.
David was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Egyptian-born parents Marcelle Soffer and Caesar Zeit – at the time, an engineer for General Electric. The family uses the surname Zeit (Hebrew for Olive), while his paternal uncles kept the original Zeitouni. The Zeits moved their three children (David has two older sisters – Terry Franco and Rachel Safdieh) to Brooklyn in 1978. David was five years old at the time and attended Yeshiva of Flatbush graduating from high school in 1991. He fell in love with Israel as a child but further entrenched his commitment to Israel during his gap year after high school. Back in New York, he graduated from Yeshiva University with a degree in Business Management from YU’s Sy Syms School of Business.
David’s community involvement as an active volunteer kept him thriving and helped his dream career as a tour guide for Israel. As a young adult, David made friends with many people at Sephardic Bikur Holim’s youth program serving as its president. They visited the sick, had a Big Sister/Big Brother program and delivered Shabbat and holiday packages for the homebound. He made friends and connections through Young Shaare Zion, summers at Camp David, leading the Young Adult Minyan at Bnei Yitzhak, and as the director of Camp Esh for several years.
Married in June 1996 to Tracy Kopyt (daughter of Paul Kopyt and Shelly Sarway), the couple settled in Brooklyn and had four sons. David had several jobs over the years, each of them contributing to his current work as a tour guide. Along the way he received his semicha–although he prefers not to use the title–so he could work at Hillel Yeshiva High School.
David and Tracy made aliya in August 2008 with their four sons, Ezra (10), Jesse (8), Joey (4) and Michael (1), when very few families were there. Their daughter, Marcelle was born, fittingly, on Yom Ha’Atzma’ut 2010. They made a few trips to Israel to see where they wanted to live and decided on Efrat. In Brooklyn, their children attended Barkai Yeshiva, which adopted a methodology from the school their sons would now attend in Efrat. It seemed like the best fit for their family.
“We felt that the future of the Jewish people is in Israel,” said David. “There was no material reason for me to leave New York. I had a promising career. Everyone knew me and I was a ‘somebody’. In Israel, no one knew me and I went from a ‘somebody’ to a ‘nobody’.”
It took a while for David to get grounded in his current career. There were fits and starts to identify a good job.
“Since I made Aliyah, I wanted to be a tour guide,” said David. “It’s a two-year course and then you have to take a written and oral exam. I was so happy when I passed, and then Covid hit and the tourism industry dried up. Thankfully, it’s back on track now, even with the war. I had instant business with our community, largely from all those connections and friends I made while living in Brooklyn. This job is very fulfilling. I consider the job an ambassadorship to the State of Israel.
“Sometimes I go to New York to teach and make speaking appearances. This past year, I travelled to New York several times to teach the students of Magen David Yeshiva High School about the history of Israel and speak in several other schools, shuls and businesses about what it was like as a parent to send my sons off to war.
“In Israel, you live Judaism as part of your daily life without realizing it. For example, early on in our Aliyah, I was listening to the radio one day and heard the soccer scores. I don’t follow soccer. But this particular game ended in a tie. In modern Hebrew a tie game is called a teykoo. This is actually a legal term from the Gemarah, when two rabbis argue a halacha and there is no resolution to their debate. The Gemarah calls this impasse a teykoo. I love how such an ancient religious expression is used in modern parlance.”
“Another example is that a moving violation ticket in Israel is called a “doch.” That is also a term from the Talmud. The context it is used in is that after 120 years, one goes to heaven and gives an accounting of his / her life (Doch is an acronym for “Din VeHeshbon” the aforementioned “accounting”). We take ancient terms from our code of law and use them in modern slang. This is Israel. This is living Judaism.”
“Where else can you take a city bus on a Friday afternoon and the driver says “Shabbat Shalom” as you get off? Even the most secular people who don’t observe will have a Friday night meal with their family. We are living our religion. Holidays are a national celebration and you feel it in everything you do, every day.”
David has many close personal and professional relationships with friends and family from the community. The presence of Syrian Jews in Israel is growing and David is an excellent ambassador.
Joey, Michael, Jesse and Ezra
A genealogist and historian, Sarina Roffé is the author of Branching Out from Sepharad (Sephardic Heritage Project, 2017). She is researching a new book: Syria – Paths to Freedom. Sarina holds a BA in Journalism, an MA in Jewish Studies and an MBA.
