Murray Greenfield

Murray S. Greenfield spent more than a decade gathering the facts, which came to comprise his book, “The Jews Secret Fleet.” After attending a meeting in the home of David Ben Gurion, one of the founding fathers of Israel, Greenfield came to the conclusion that he would publish a book revealing the story of North Americans and their participation in Aliyah Bet. Ben Gurion asked him how and when he came to the Jewish homeland; he realized then that the prime minister was unaware as to how many North American volunteers were involved and the large number of survivors they brought to Palestine.

Greenfield began working in Haifa, by seeking out foreign investors to place capital in the Palestinian Economic Corporation. One must remember that in the early days of Israel’s existence, most philanthropists’ only thought of donating charity to poverty-stricken immigrants.

Greenfield settled in Tel Aviv with his newfound bride Hana Lustig. He was one of the founding members of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI), where he later became executive director. Under his directorship, the AACI flourished; Greenfield pioneered and established loan funds, a mortgage company and a variety of housing projects.

He was always involved in public service, but the cause that he dedicated the most time to was rescuing Ethiopian Jewry; he was the volunteer director for seven years of the Association of Americans for Ethiopian Jewry [AAEJ].

In the midst of his endeavors, Greenfield published a book with his wife titled, “How to be an Oleh or Things the Jewish Agency Never Told You.” He founded and contributed editorially to the first ever English language magazine titled “FrontPage,” and later founded a monthly magazine titled “Rossvet,” for Russian immigrants. Hana, a Holocaust survivor has written a book “Fragments of Memory,” which is published in six languages. Together they founded the www.czechtorah.org program.

In 1981, Greenfield established Gefen Publishing House, later taken over by his two sons Dror Z"L and Ilan Greenfield. After Dror’s passing in 2003, Ilan continued to run the company. Today Gefen publishes up to 35 titles a year and is the largest English language publisher in Israel.

Hana and Murray Greenfield have three children, Meira, Dror Z"L and Ilan and ten grandchildren, all of who reside in Israel.

References

Hillel Halkin, "Remember Aliyah Bet", New York Sun July 31, 2007.