Ishai Gottlieb is an Israeli who moved to Vancouver in 2022 to pursue a job opportunity. Shortly after Oct. 7, 2023, he booked a flight to return to Israel and rejoin the military as a commanding officer. He told CTV News Vancouver: “I need to be there […] I just had this urge. I couldn’t stand aside and look at what’s happening to Israel from the outside.” He added, “The evil now has a face and an address and we will treat evil as it should be treated.”

The job opportunity Gottlieb moved to Vancouver for was a position as the assistant rabbi of the Schara Tzedeck Congregation. A May 2024 article in the Jewish Independent states that the synagogue made a “priority” of programming that featured the experiences of people from their congregation that had joined the Israeli military.

The publication reported, “One of the people from Schara Tzedeck who has gone to serve was assistant rabbi Ishay Gottlieb. ‘He’s a major in the reserves in the IDF, and he left on Oct. 9th and wasn’t really back until the beginning of January,’ explained [Rabbi Andrew] Rosenblatt. ‘You’re essentially funding a staff member, like many Israeli organizations [are having to do], but there’s lots that had to be compensated for in that context.’” The rabbi added, “When you walk into Schara Tzedeck, we want you to feel like you’re in a little embassy of Israel in this building.”