Eden Philip, 28-29, was born in Israel and raised in Montreal. His mother, Galia Philip, told The Canadian Jewish News (CJN) that Eden went to Israel to join the war on Oct. 17, 2023. She said she was initially opposed to the decision because he had already served for two years as a lone soldier in 2017, where he was a “marksman and commander” in the 603rd Combat Engineering Corps, according to his LinkedIn. Galia noted that the unit Eden joined after Oct. 7, 2023, as a Sergeant First Class in reserves, was in the north of Israel on the Lebanese border for the first month, but then moved into Gaza.

Benjamin Philip, Eden’s younger brother who is included in this database, joined the Israeli army after Oct. 7, 2023. Speaking of her two sons joining the army, Galia said, “My kids did it (enlisted) not because they had to but because they wanted to. To choose to go to the army, follow certain rules, being under strict conduct, takes a lot of courage. I’m proud of my two boys that that was their choice. I strongly believe that they will do their best and they will come back safe and sound.”

She shared a letter with CJN that Eden had written to her in December 2023 during Hanukkah as he was preparing for his next deployment, where he wrote, in part, “I didn’t do anything special, I did what every Israeli chose to do on the seventh of October. I chose to pick up my iron sword and defend our country, our people, our home. We should all be making this effort whether it be with a weapon in our hand, with a pen in our desk, with the letters on our keyboards. Each of us can do more. Each of us has a part to play in the history of the Jewish people.”

Eden’s LinkedIn profile notes that since returning from Gaza he has worked as the director of security at the Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem synagogue in Montreal. He had previously worked for a private security agency.

(A version of this mini-bio was originally published in a November 2024 article at The Maple.)