Yaakov Herman, 24-25, is a Canadian from Toronto who attended the B’nei Akiva Yeshivat Or Chaim high school in North York, Ont. Earlier mentions of him name him as Jacob Herman. Herman immigrated to Israel at some point in the late 2010s after spending a couple years there studying at a yeshiva. He has claimed that he wanted to immigrate to Israel from a “very young age” according to The Jerusalem Post. Herman served as a corporal in the Israeli military’s Nachal Brigade

Herman attended a 2020 pizza party for Canadian lone soldiers in the Israeli military hosted by Canada’s ambassador to Israel. The Canadian Jewish News (CJN) reported that Herman “credits the IDF for two major discoveries: the diversity of the Jewish world – ‘it’s an eye-opener’ – and new truths about himself. ‘You learn how good a person you are. You’re exhausted all the time, and whether you’re going to help somebody else out, take a shortcut here, you really see how high a standard you’re going to hold yourself to. How strong or not strong you are.’” Herman told the publication that he planned to stay in Israel after finishing his service.

The CJN article noted that at the time there were 45 Canadian lone soldiers in the Israeli military.