# Joshua Wander

Rabbi Josh Wander is the international spokesman for the Israeli search and rescue agency ZAKA and was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Pittsburgh in the 2013 general election. He was also featured in a segment on the reality television Doomsday Preppers. He is also a public relations consultant representing projects in, and around the Old City of Jerusalem. He holds dual citizenship in the United States and Israel.

## Early life, education and career

A native of Pennsylvania, Wander graduated from a rabbinical college in Israel with a Bachelor of Talmudic Law and subsequently earned a Masters in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
As the international spokesman for ZAKA, Wander was part of the active response for Hurricane Harvey, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the Mariana dam disaster, the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 disaster, the Surfside condominium collapse, humanitarian assistance during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, and most notably the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which Wander described as "a horror movie."@ABCNewsLive (October 10, 2023). "Video" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
Wander maintained a blog titled "Jewish Preppers" where he wrote about disaster preparedness for Jews.

## Political campaigns

Wander served as constable of White Oak, Pennsylvania and as an Allegheny County Republican committee member. He has run, unsuccessfully, twice for Mayor of Pittsburgh, and once for both Pittsburgh City Council and for Allegheny County Council.
In the 2013 election for Mayor of Pittsburgh, Wander stated his "only chance of actually winning in the race is if the Democratic nominee drops dead." Less than two months before that election it was reported Wander, while still the Republican candidate for mayor, had left Pittsburgh entirely. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Wander sold his home in Pittsburgh and moved with his family to Israel. Republican officials expressed surprise and confusion on being informed of Wander's departure. Wander insisted he would continue his campaign for mayor of Pittsburgh from Israel, though some experts questioned the legality of such an arrangement.

## Political views

In an episode of the National Geographic Channel program Doomsday Preppers, Wander was quoted as saying that he was concerned "about a series of catastrophic terrorist attacks which will fundamentally change our lives as we know them." In 2019 Wander founded the organization Bring Them Home, dedicated to educating and informing Jews living in the Diaspora of the importance of returning home to Israel. He is a certified NRA arms instructor and gun rights advocate.

## Aliyah Advocacy

Wander is an Aliyah activist.
He founded the Bring Them Home organization because in his words, “for over 76 years, Israel has failed miserably in bringing Jews home. The majority [of olim] have come because they are running away from something. We try, as best as we can, to give a positive spin [on aliyah].”

## Personal life

Wander is married with six children. In a 2012 interview with the Times of Israel, he reported he is considering moving back to Israel because he feels safer there, as a Jew, than in the United States. As of 2015, Wander is living in eastern Jerusalem and is volunteering as a paramedic.