Yosef Yizhak Goodman was born in New York in 1986 to Marvin (Mordechai) and Ann. When Yosef was nine months old the family made aliya as part of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's Lincoln Square Synagogue congregation and moved to Efrat. His older brother Shimon was also born in the US while his seven younger siblings were all born in Israel.
Yosef's parents were well known in the community as the proprietors of the Efrat pizzeria. Both father and son played in the American Football League in Israel. On February 2, 2006, as part of a training exercise, Yosef parachuted from a plane at the Nitzanim Base south of Ashdod. His parachute became entangled around his commander. Yosef managed to cut himself loose, thus saving his commander's life, but his reserve parachute failed to open and he fell to his death. He was buried in the Har Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
