Moshe Gottlieb, D.C., 70, one of the first chiropractors to practice in Israel, was killed in a suicide bomb attack on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 in Jerusalem. The Islamic terrorist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus, which killed 19 and injured 74. The bus, which was completely destroyed, was carrying many students on their way to school. Dr. Gottlieb was traveling to a facility in the town of Bnei Brak, where he provided volunteer services for children.

According to his son, Seymour, Gottlieb viewed his patients as friends or partners in a healing relationship.

"My father's patients were more than just physical entities for performing chiropractic adjustments. He would interact with them, ask them about their personal life, shared his personal life experiences with them. Their quality of life was the essence of his well-being," Seymour said. "Some of them feel totally at loss with his passing."

Gottlieb immigrated to Israel from Los Angeles with his wife, Sheila, and their two children after having established a successful and lucrative chiropractic practice there. He graduated from Los Angeles College of Chiropractic in the mid 60s and moved with his family to Israel in 1978.

"We moved to Israel after spending a summer there a few years before," says his son. "Simply put, my father 'fell in love' with the land and the people there. His love for community service was so great, that he would usually prefer to stay home for the Sabbath and tend to the religious and social services of his community in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem rather than take a weekend off to visit his children and grandchildren living elsewhere. He was also instrumental in creating the core of these neighborhood community services, and he continued to play an active role in these services for over 20 years, until his very last day."

"Every day he did Mitzvoth [commandments and good deeds]," Seymour continued, "but Tuesday was his special day. Every Tuesday morning, he would head out by bus to Bnei Brak, an hour ride from Jerusalem. There he volunteered in the treatment of children with Down's Syndrome, CP and others, and then made sure he got back to his neighborhood in Jerusalem in time for afternoon prayers. I asked him once: 'Why don't you slow down a little, start your day a little later?' He said: 'What can I do, people are waiting for me, waiting for my treatment.'"

Dr. Yitzchak Freeman, a well-known Jerusalem chiropractor, shared the following story.

"I first met Dr. Gottlieb in 1988 on a late summer Friday evening. He greeted me by saying 'Shalom! It's great to have another DC in Israel. If you're serious about helping people, and not just making a few shekels, I'll help you as much as you want.' He was one of the first chiropractors in Israel; I was the 14th."

Freeman also recalled that, in 1990, "I called him and asked him to help with his expertise, with the tonal and gentle method he used in chiropractic, in the treatment of children in Bnei Brak with Down's, CP, autism, and other neurological disorders. Most of the kids loved my Diversified adjusting style, but others would cry as soon as I would enter the room. Dr. Gottlieb made the trip to Bnei Brak and started volunteering with me. He loved those kids, and continued volunteering his services to them on a weekly basis. This was the beginning of his legendary Tuesday trips to Bnei Brak. During the hour and a half I sat with his widow and two children a few days after his passing, a mother of one of such children entered the Gottlieb home, sat down and showed us a picture of Dr. Gottlieb adjusting her child who has Down's. He changed the lives of many people. Just being around him changed my life too."

Gottlieb was a subluxation-centered chiropractor; he did not view chiropractic as manual medicine or a subset of medicine dealing exclusively with the diagnosis and manual treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. Because he addressed the total well-being of his clients, he was known to have succeeded in helping many where other doctors had failed.

"He was recently the guest of honor at the wedding of a girl who was diagnosed with a brain tumor whom he helped recover," one friend explained, while visiting the Gottlieb family.

He always managed to find time to help others, whether through his professional skills, by teaching classes in the synagogue, by quietly providing financial assistance to needy individuals or families, or just by encouraging others with a smile. "No one has any idea of how many people and institutions he helped," said Rabbi Rosenbluth of the town, Elazar, a long-time close friend.

At his funeral, in the presence of hundreds of mourners, the Chief Rabbi Schlesinger of Gilo spoke in a solemn and heart-piercing voice. "A void has been created in your absence, Dr. Gottlieb. What will we do without you?"

People were crying because they simply loved him. If anyone was close to being a truly righteous person, it was he.

His wife, his brother, Judah, his son, his daughter, Feige, and 12 grandchildren survive him.

May his legendary memory be a source of blessing, and may the guilty be brought to justice. May we soon witness the endorsement of principles by all of humankind that truly support the freedom of spirit and the full expression of human potential existing within each and every one of us.