Temima Silver, 22-23, was born and raised in Ottawa, and spent her early years in what she described as a predominately Jewish environment, including the Ottawa Jewish Community School. She then attended a public high school in Ottawa, and has repeatedly claimed the antisemitism she faced there motivated her to move to Israel and join the army as a lone soldier. Silver told CBC the antisemitism she experienced was “through anti-Zionism.”

Silver joined the army in 2020, leaving university in order to do so. She told the Ottawa Jewish E-Bulletin in 2022 that she was a “checkpoints combat soldier.” Silver was released from service later that year and remained in Israel.

In the days after Oct. 7, 2023, Silver decided to join the army again after a call for volunteers was made to her former platoon. Silver told the Canadian Press she made this choice because of how important she believes the war effort would be. “If you don’t believe that this will succeed, then you don’t believe that you see a tomorrow for future generations of Israel, of Jews, of your brothers and sisters. There is no choice,” she said. Silver has also claimed the Israeli army is concerned with protecting human life, and that this stems from the lessons of Judaism.

From July 2024 to February 2025, according to her LinkedIn, Silver worked as a paralegal at an Israeli tax law firm.

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