THE "PREHISTORIC" PERIOD

There is a legend that many of the Native American peoples are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel – the Chumash, for example, who inhabited the area in and around, what is today, Los Angeles. Is it possible that this tribe was named after the Five Books of Moses? Are they, and other such tribes, among those who are descended from the ancient Israelites? This can be open to speculation (or DNA), but the first American/Israelite contact of which there is definite record occurred in 1759 with the visit of Rabbi Moshe Malkhi of Safed to the Spanish/Portuguese Congregation Shearith Yisrael in New York, the oldest congregation in North America and presided over by Rabbi Joseph Pinto. The following year, Rabbi Malkhi arrived in Newport RI, one of the main mercantile centers in North America at that time, and visited the Yeshuat Yisrael Synagogue headed by Rev. Isaac Touro, a hazan from Jamaica. These visits were the result of the Halukkah system in Palestine, an ancient system that sought to send out emissaries to the Diaspora

communities to raise funds for the poor in the Homeland.

THE ORGANIZING OF HALUKKAH

It wasn’t until 1761, when Halukkah in, what is today, the United States, became organized after an appeal from London to help the Jews of Safed in the aftermath of the recent earthquake that devastated the town. New York, therefore, became the center of Halukkah funding from North America with Daniel Gomez as its treasurer assisted by Hyman Levy who would later become a major subscriber to the Bills of Credit that was issued by the Continental Congress. Other halukkah centers were later established in North America, most notably Newport and Philadelphia.

THE EARLIEST EMISSARIES

Rabbi Malkhi was followed by Rabbi Raphael Carigal of Hebron who visited twice in 1771 and 1773, and then, two years later, by Rabbi Samuel Cohen of Jerusalem. But it was Rabbi Carigal who left a lasting impression in colonial America. He had, previously, visited the Jews of Surinam and Curacao and had, at one time, officiated as Chief Rabbi of Barbados. On Shavuot 1773, he was in Yeshuat Yisrael in Newport where he gave a sermon that was attended by Joseph Wanton, the Governor of Rhode Island, and Rev. Ezra Stiles, President of Yale. Entitled “The Salvation of Israel”, it was preached in Spanish and Hebrew and became the first Jewish sermon in America to be published. It was translated by one of the leading Jewish merchants of Newport during that time, Abraham Lopez. Halukkah was suspended during the Revolutionary War, but afterwards, it resumed.

MORDECHAI MANUEL NOAH

In the early decades of the 19th century, American, and American Jewish interest in active Jewish Restoration to its homeland was first aroused. This “nationalist” idea was best personified by Philadelphia-born Mordechai Manuel Noah, playwright, editor, and diplomat. As editor of the National Advocate in 1818, he was the recipient of a letter written by President John Adams in which he stated his hope that the nation of Israel will soon return to its homeland. Noah made it a point to acquaint himself with many of the Palestinian emissaries who came to the US as well as with the organizers of halukkah. In the 1820s, he declared the island of Ararat in upstate New York as a place of refuge for Jews where they would all be gathered and eventually brought to the Land of Israel. And as he considered the indigenous Americans to be descended from the ancient Israelites, indigenous Americans were invited to participate. The project failed, however, and thereafter, he advocated the immediate settlement of the ancient Jewish homeland.

THE JEWISH IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA FROM GERMANY

During this time, thousands of Jews had immigrated to the US from German-speaking countries. Many were adventurous, being among the pioneers into the American west. The majority were reform and progressive in outlook, and had no tolerance for the orthodox way of life, the belief in the Messianic Redemption – and certainly not Halukkah which they viewed as nothing more than charity and beggary. Orthodoxy, however, was still a substantial part of this immigrant population.

As this community gained ascendancy, eventually overtaking the previously dominant Sephardim, leaders began to emerge from among both orthodox and reform, and the relationship to the Land of Israel was shaped accordingly. Orthodox Rabbis Israel Baer Kursheedt of Congregation B’nai Yeshurun in New York and Isaac Leeser of Mikve Yisrael Congregation in Philadelphia, followed the lead of Western European Jewry and established, in 1832, the American branch of the Trumat Hakodesh Society which transferred halukkah funds to Palestine via Europe, bypassing the need of the emissaries. This was in reaction to the suspicious activities among some of the emissaries who began to arrive in the US. The Society lasted for 20 years.

The leaders of reform Jewry, on the other hand, were Rabbis Isaac Mayer Wise of Hebrew Union College and David Einhorn of Baltimore who preached that the best path for the revitalization of Palestine lay in “practical colonization” and away from the Halukkah method. But they were also strong opponents of a national revival in the ancient homeland and when the Zionist movement was in its infancy, they, along with the orthodox, were among its most outspoken opponents. However, because of their long held beliefs in “practical colonization”, these reform, anti-Zionist, German-American Jewish immigrants, can be considered the first outspoken group of Zionists in the US. Gradually, though, mainstream Zionism made inroads even in this community. Among its first advocates was Rabbi Bernard Felsenthal of Chicago in 1900 resulting in the condemnation by many of his reform colleagues. Soon, three faculty members of Hebrew Union College who were also pro-Zionist - Henry Malter, Max Margolis, and Max Schlessinger – resigned in protest of the College’s newly-appointed president, Dr. Kaufman Kohler’s, anti-Zionist views.

THE BEGINNING OF AN AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

American Jewish pilgrimages to Palestine, made by both prominent and ordinary American Jews, began around the 1830s. Such pilgrimages would often raise their communal status in the Jewish community back in the United States. Among the earliest of the more prominent pilgrims were: Mendes Cohen of Baltimore, first American to explore the Nile; William Pollock of New York, a Halukkah activist, who went in 1834; Simeon Abrahams, Halukkah activist, earned an honorary rabbinical degree in Jerusalem in 1848; James Nathan, leader in the Jewish community, who visited the Temple Mount area; and Edwin de Leon of South Carolina who as American Consul-General in Egypt in the 1850s also protected American missionary work in Jaffa.

The beginning of a settled American community, however, had an unusual start. In 1844, Warder Cresson, a Quaker from Philadelphia, had just been appointed American consul of Jerusalem. He had gone to Palestine in that capacity and also as missionary in order to convert Jews to Christianity, but on his way there, a rumor had circulated in the halls of Congress that he was mentally unstable. When Cresson reached Jerusalem, he was informed that his appointment had been withdrawn. Undeterred, he set about preaching the gospel. However, he became enamored with the piety of the local Jews in spite of conversion attempts by the Christian missionaries as well as the constant oppression by the Turkish rulers, who had controlled Palestine since 1516, and the Arab settlers. By 1848, therefore, he became Jewish and adopted the name, Michael Boaz Israel. He returned to the States the following year to settle some family affairs, and four years later, he went back to Palestine – permanently. Thus, the first American Jew to make aliyah was a convert to Judaism, and American Jews would make aliyah ever since. In 1852, Cresson, now Israel, attempted to establish, with the support of a Jewish-Christian Society in England, a Jewish farm settlement in Emek Rephaim in Jerusalem as a model for future Jewish farm settlements. It was unsuccessful.

From 1854-60, the Jerusalem neighborhood Mishkenot Shaananim was built. The building of this neighborhood, the bulk of which was paid for through the last will and testament of Judah Touro, the son of Isaac Touro and New Orleans businessman, was led by the British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, and Gershom Kursheedt, member of the New Orleans City Council, chief executor of the Touro will, and son of Israel Baer Kursheedt.

HALUKKAH OUT WEST

With the opening up of the west to American settlement, Jews too joined in the migration. Along with the new Jewish communities that were established in this period, centers were also organized to deal with Jewish social and economic problems as well as halukkah. Therefore, new halukkah centers emanated from such places as Cincinnati and Denver. But it was from California that a majority of halukkah contributions originated, with San Francisco being the largest center in the western US – a result of the Gold Rush of the late 1840s. It was also from San Francisco that many of the pilgrimages to Palestine had come, such as that of Hyam Joseph in 1851, who went along with a Jewish notable from Philadelphia, IA Lehman. In the tiny pueblo of Los Angeles, the local Hebrew Benevolent Society, part of which was devoted to halukkah, was established in 1854 by Phillip Newmark, a prominent German Jewish merchant in the city, and Samuel Labatt, Sephardi merchant and pioneer from Houston. By the late 1860s, a certain Haim Sneersohn became the first emissary to reach Los Angeles by way of Washington and many other cities across America, and by the 1870s, it was said that halukkah emissaries to America had succeeded in making contact with Jewish communities from Maine to California.

AFRICAN SLAVERY AND THE LAND OF ISRAEL

According to the community of African Hebrew Israelites, when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 CE, destroyed the Temple, and exiled hundreds of thousands of Judeans from their homeland, many migrated to Africa, some settling in west Africa, from where they were taken as slaves to the Americas. This bit of history could be open to debate, but it is definitely known that, beginning in 1619, when the first African slaves arrived in, what is now, the United States, they eventually adopted the form of Christianity of their white masters. This involved the learning of the Bible which taught to revere the Land of Israel and its native people, the Jews. During the two and a half centuries of the slavery period, glorifying Israel, the Biblical stories, and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, abounded among the “Negro spirituals”. The story of the Jewish slaves in ancient Egypt, especially, was used as a metaphor for the Africans’ own suffering. Ironically, many Jews, descendants of those slaves in Egypt, did not see the similarity between their ancestors’ experiences and the latter-day African experiences in America. While not as active in the slave trade as their Christian neighbors – Aaron Lopez being one major exception – Jewish attitudes toward slavery mirrored American society as a whole. In pro-slavery areas of the country, Jews also tended to be pro-slavery and held slaves. In anti-slavery areas, Jews were also anti-slavery. Officially, the Jewish leadership in the US, namely Rabbi Wise, and halukkah organizers Rabbis Leeser and Morris Raphall, were either shamefully quiet about the subject, or, as in the case of Rabbi Raphall, sympathetic to slavery. In Philadelphia, Jews were among the most active abolitionists. However, Philadelphia-born Mordechai Manuel Noah was slavery’s most vocal advocate. On the opposite side, Judah Touro was one of its most outspoken opponents as was Rabbi Felsenthal. Rabbi Einhorn, the “practical colonization” advocate, was almost lynched by a mob due to his outspoken anti-slavery stand.

DURING THE CIVIL WAR

The Civil War affected Palestine on two levels – halukkah and cotton. During the War, all halukkah activity from the United States ceased. This would have adversely impacted the welfare of Palestinian Jewry were it not for the large contributions coming in from the centers in Europe and North Africa. At the same time, demand for cotton increased. This was the economic mainstay of the southern United States and American cotton was in high demand in Europe. During the War, its production plummeted and Europe was forced to look elsewhere to satisfy demand. Palestine and Egypt were, at that time, huge cotton producers and demand for Palestinian cotton skyrocketed. Unfortunately, of the few agricultural enterprises Palestinian Jews engaged in, cotton production was not one of them, being in the hands, mainly, of Arab fellaheen. Consequently, any income from the selling of cotton to Europe did not benefit the Jews, but it did not benefit the fellaheen either as they were “owned” by the Arab effendi nobles who took the lion’s share of the monies that came in. This was the state of affairs until the end of the Civil War. During the Reconstruction period, southern American cotton production gradually resumed and demand for the Palestinian and Egyptian product decreased dramatically.

LATER AMERICAN WORK ON BEHALF OF THE JEWS

After the Civil War, American interest in the Land of Israel resumed, spearheaded particularly by the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (est. 1859). The Board supported Palestinian Jewry during the cholera outbreak in 1865, and two years later, established a permanent fund for Jewish interests. They donated funding for the new Mikve Yisrael Agricultural School, built in 1870, established a Jewish hospital fund in Jerusalem, and worked with the American Consul in Jerusalem to aid Jews during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78).

Aside from these activities, there were others who made their contributions to the Land of Israel. In 1866, a group of American evangelists from Maine and New Hampshire moved to Palestine and, with the help of the American vice-consul in Jerusalem Herman Leventhal, a convert to Christianity, founded the settlement Mount Hope outside of Jaffa. The settlers would employ local Jews, teaching them agricultural pursuits. It was their belief that such enterprises would be a first step in bringing about a massive Jewish return to Israel and with it, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Their efforts failed, however as their settlement was exposed to constant Arab attacks as well as the harsh elements of desert and marsh. After a year, most left Palestine disillusioned. In 1870, Simon Berman, a Polish-born American Jew, had settled in Tiberias and founded the Holy Land Settlement Society. But despite its promising start and support from many Palestinian Jewish quarters, this enterprise, too, failed. Benjamin Peixotto made a pilgrimage to Palestine in 1874 in an attempt to relieve the persecution of the Jews as he had in Romania as US Consul-General in that country.

HALUKKAH CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE AMERICAN KOLEL

Beginning in 1866, special emissaries were sent by the newly-formed Vaad Clali which had just been established in Jerusalem to oversee all halukkah funding and to work closely with the halukkah organizations in the United States and Canada. By the late 1870s, the North American Relief Society for the Indigent Jews of Jerusalem (est. in 1853 by the Portuguese Jewish and orthodox German Jewish communities as the successor to the Trumat haKodesh) was contributing $750 a year to Palestine, by way of the halukkah center in London, with instructions to divide the amount equally between the Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Contributions intended for Ashkenazim only, were sent directly to the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Samuel Salant in Jerusalem. The New York Society for the Relief of the Poor in Palestine forwarded about $1,250 a year. Baltimore congregations Chizook Emunah and the local Shearith Israel would send about $500 a year. Up to 1885, American halukkah contributions did not exceed $5,000 annually, but through the energetic work of Palestinian Rabbi Yosef Rivlin, the increase of the halukkah from America was soon apparent. Both Ashkenazim and Sephardim competed for American funds, but the Sephardim, tired of opposing the Ashkenazim in North America, decided instead, to confine their attention to the largely Sephardic centers in southern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

By the 1890s, the North American Relief Society came to be mired by law suits by those who challenged its handling of Halukkah funds. Legal costs were staggering and this resulted in the organization’s eventual disbandment. American halukkah seemed headed for demise, but not quite.In 1879, a group of American Jews who settled in Jerusalem attempted to form an American kolel with the support of the US consul in Jerusalem J.G. Wilson. Presumably, this kolel would be supported by American Jewry at the expense of the other kolelim in Palestine, and the Vaad Clali made sure to block its establishment. The Vaad was initially successful and, instead, took responsibility for the Americans’ welfare. Despite this, under the initiative of Nahum Harris, an American retiree living in Jerusalem, an American kolel was finally formed in 1896, separate from the Vaad Clali, and they called it Kolel America Tif’eret Yerushalaim. The Brisker Rebbe Yehoshua Lob Diskin was persuaded to be its spiritual head and under his guidance, contributions to Kolel America increased yearly. By 1900, membership had reached almost 300. It still exists to this day. The Vaad, fearing the consequence of this independent kolel, effected a settlement in 1901 on a basis of two-thirds for the Vaad and one-third for the Kolel from all collections made in the United States and Canada. Under this new arrangement, the total amount of the American collections for the halukkah increased and amounted to about $20,000 a year – about $5,500 after expenses.

THE EARLY ZIONIST MOVEMENT

The pogroms in Russia and throughout Eastern Europe resulted in a mass migration of Jews from that area to other parts of the world. Some 25,000 went to Palestine, a few thousand went to Argentina, but most went to the United States. Of those who went to the US, there was a core among them who followed the Zionist spirit. They became the vanguard of the Zionist movement in America, the hub of which was New York's Lower East Side where the majority of Jewish immigrants settled.

In 1882, Joseph Bluestone, a prominent physician, established there the first such society, the New York Lovers of Zion. Eliezer Bricker, treasurer of the second Zionist Society established in New York, extended much financial aid to the early pioneers in Palestine. Other Zionist societies were, later, founded, each with its own political points of view and aiding the early Palestinian pioneers in different ways. By 1900, 24 such organizations were located in New York alone, with a membership of 5000. These were the nucleus of the American Zionist Federation.

Some of the earliest supporters and members of the BILU were American Jews. But this was also a time when the Ottoman Empire was experiencing the rise of non-Turkish nationalisms within its borders. Therefore, fearing the rise of Jewish nationalism, a communication from the minister of foreign affaris was sent to Gen. Lew Wallace, United States minister to Turkey, in which the statement was made that Jews would be made welcome anywhere in Turkey except in Palestine. This was strongly opposed by Gen. Wallace and in 1884 he took vigorous action against the threatened expulsion from Palestine of the Lubrowsky brothers, naturalized American citizens. In 1887 and 1888 attempts were made by the Turkish government to limit the sojourn of American Jews in Jerusalem to one month—later extended to three months. This was opposed, as well, by Wallace’s successor, Oscar Straus, a Jew. Due to the support given him by Secretary of State Bayard, (and later, by Secretaries Blaine, Gresham, and Hay) who contended that the United States, by reason of its Constitution, could not recognize any distinction between American citizens in respect to their religion, successfully halted any steps to expel American citizens who happened to be Jews. As a result, it appeared that the rights of American citizens who were Jews became carefully guarded by the Turks. In 1897, some of the American delegates to the First Zionist Congress – Adam Rosenberg, Shepsel Schaffer, Rosa Sonnenschein, and Davis Treitsch, later made aliyah and greatly aided the new Zionist movement. By the next year, however, Americans, as well as other Jews who were not Ottoman citizens, were forced to seek assistance from their consuls in Palestine before their disembarkation in Jaffa.

LABOR ZIONISM IN AMERICA

Labor Zionism in America began in New York in 1903 with the founding of the American branch of the Poalei Tzion organization. This was the first in a long line of such organizations and was formed by Zionist immigrants from Eastern Europe who were also embued with the socialist ideals of the "old country". They sought to combine this socialism with Zionism into a philosophy they called "socialist Zionism". Among the intellectual leaders of this movement was Nahman Syrkin, an activist from Russia who had settled in the US in 1908 and became the preeminent socialist Zionist in the United States for many years. This movement was an effort to redeem the Land of Israel through hard work and labor, ultimately creating a utopian, non-capitalist, socialist society in the Jewish homeland. Subsequently, the majority of olim from America held these views and became active in the various socialist movements in Palestine. Other like-minded organizations later followed in the US, Palestine, and Europe. Beginning in 1905, the heHalutz movement became the vanguard of this socialist aliyah. They were later joined by the Habonim.

WORLD WAR I

Until 1914, American aliyah continued at a slow pace in spite of obstacles imposed by Turk and Arab alike. Such activity, however, was halted during World War I when the Turkish rulers in Palestine caused the Jews to suffer from oppression and starvation. Many were expelled from the country. During much of the war, the US officially declared its neutrality allowing American Jews to form emergency committees to aid the Jewish communities in the war-torn lands of Palestine and Europe. In 1915, due to the influence of Henry Morgenthau Sr., a Jew and ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, the situation eased, somewhat, and he arranged for a convoy of American warships to bring food supplies and medical equipment to Palestine. By 1916, some Americans volunteered to fight in the Zion Mule Corps which distinguished itself in the Dardanelles Campaign. Many of the Zionist leaders such as David Ben Gurion, Yitzkhak Ben Zvi, and Pinhas Rutenberg, found refuge in the US, particularly New York, where they continued their Zionist activities. (It was there that Ben Gurion met a young Zionist activist, Paula Munweis. She, later, became Mrs. David Ben Gurion.) The primary goals of these Zionist leaders were twofold: One, to prepare young Jews for settlement in Palestine. And two, to form a Jewish Legion of American, as well as Palestinian and other western Jews, to help the British fight the Turks for the liberation of Palestine. Chapters of Jewish Legion Committees were formed from New York to Los Angeles and four thousand volunteered to fight. They, eventually, arrived in Britain and formed into the 39th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. Some of the more prominent American Legionnaires who either made aliyah or contributed to other fields elsewhere were:

Gershon Agron who founded the Palestine Post in 1932, later becoming the Jerusalem Post in 1950.

Nathan Ausubel who fought in the Jordan Valley in 1918, author of “A Pictorial History of the Jewish People”.

Louis Fischer, journalist and author, one-time communist turned ex-communist.

Elias Ginsberg who later co-founded the Haganah.

Abraham Goldberg, prominent Zionist activist.

Bert Levy, who became an arms smuggler in Central America, and later, instructor for the British Home Guard.

Arieh Lubin, became a prominent Palestinian artist.

Nehemiah Rabin, father of Yitzkhak Rabin, socialist activist during the Mandatory period.

Alex Rose, union organizer and later, co-founder of the Liberal Party of New York.

Zvi Wachsman, author and journalist.

Samuel Zirlin, Zionist activist and delegate to the American Jewish Congress.

By December 1917, Palestine was under full British control. The next year, a Zionist Commission was formed under Chaim Weizmann to advise the new British governing authorities on Jewish matters in Palestine, and Americans were well-represented:

Dr. Eliahu Lewin Epstein, head of the American Zionist Medical Unit of Hadassah during the War, was successor to Weizmann as chairman. He, in turn, was succeeded by:

Dr. Harry Friedenwald, eye specialist and the Unit’s medical advisor, who later, bought the land near Hadera that became the Yaar Shalom neighborhood. After him came:

Robert Szold who was active in the Palestinian economy.

Robert Kesselman, the Commission’s chief auditor who was also Executive Director of the Federation of American Zionists.

Rabbi David de Sola Pool, Rabbi of Shearith Yisrael in New York, was active in the Commission’s affairs.

Alexander Dushkin was its Education Secretary. He, later, became inspector of Jewish schools for the Mandatory Government.

THE POST-WAR PERIOD UNTIL THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

American members of the Jewish Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference which argued for Jewish rights in Palestine and elsewhere included:

Joseph Barondess, prominent union leader in the US.
Jacob de Haas, former secretary of the Federation of American Zionists.
Mary Fels, Zionist activist.
Bernard Flexner, attorney and philanthropist.
Felix Frankfurter, professor of law, legal advisor to the Delegation.
Dr. Harry Friedenwald, eye specdialist.
Jurist Julian Mack, who was also a member of the Zionist Commission (the settlement of Ramat Hashophet was named after him (1941)).
Louis Marshall, attorney and leader of the non-Zionists, who later helped to enlarge the Jewish Agency.
Louis Robison, treasurer of the Federation of American Zionists.
Nahman Syrkin, a leader of Poalei Tzion.
Stephen S. Wise, Zionist activist, leader of the Jewish community of the United States. As president of the American Jewish Congress, he was active on behalf of achieving Israeli independence. The settlement of Kfar Shmuel is named after him.

When the war had ended, many of the American members of the Jewish Legion made aliyah. They were later joined by other American pioneers and helped to make valuable contributions to Palestinian society and the rebuilding of Israel. During the economic crises in the 1920s when many Palestinians were unemployed, the American community was hard-hit. They could only barely make a living as manual laborers. Many returned to the US, but for those who stayed and persevered, their accomplishments in Palestinian society (both before and after the Mandate) were impressive.

In the early years of the Zionist movement, great emphasis was placed on agricultural settlement. In 1908, an Ahuzah society, whose purpose was to purchase land in Palestine in order to establish new Jewish agricultural communities, was formed in St. Louis by Simon Goldman, formerly, the leader of Hoveve Zion in England. Soon, other Ahuza societies were formed throughout the US, from New York to Los Angeles. Sometimes, Goldman, himself, purchased plots of land with his own money – for example, Poriya in 1911, first settled by members of American Hehalutz, thus, becoming the first settlement founded entirely by Americans. In 1913, the Los Angeles Ahuza, and later, the LA branch of the Nathan Straus Palestine Advancement Society, attempted to purchase 17 acres of land in Palestine. This attempt failed due to the start of World War I, but in the post-war period, such efforts began anew. In 1924, the American branch of Mizrahi purchased land near Jerusalem that became the settlement of Neve Yaacov. In 1931, Gan Yavne was founded by the New York Ahuza and later, 12 members of the Detroit Kvutzah settled in Ramat Yohanan. Avihayil was founded by former fighters in the Jewish Legion in 1932. During the 1930s, as the numbers of American halutzim increased, many settled on, and integrated into, the kibbutzim that were newly established – Naan, Degania Bet, Ginnosar, Afikim, Ramat David, Givat Brenner, Mishmar haEmek. But sometimes, this wasn’t so easy. Many kibbutznikim considered Americans just too soft for the rigorous life of the kibbutz. Consequently, there were many cases of Americans being turned away from one kibbutz after another. Some became frustrated and disillusioned and either settled in the cities or returned to the US. But halutzim from America continued to arrive. In 1945, American Hashomer Hatzair established a dye-casting plant on land that later became the modern town of Hatzor. American halutzim also followed Palestinians in the settlement of the Negev (1946), in defiance of British law, and from that time and during the years immediately after independence, helped to settle Urim, Gal’on, and also Kfar Darom – totally obliterated by the Arab army of Egypt in 1948, obliterated for a second time by Ariel Sharon in 2005.

Since 1920, when 2 Americans were among those who fell defending the settlement of Tel Hai against Arab attackers, Americans have contributed greatly to the Yishuv’s defense - in the Haganah, Irgun, Lehi, Palmah, and Jewish Brigade. During World War II, many Jews in the US were active on behalf of the Zionist cause and of rescue efforts from Europe. As a result, the Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs was established. The writer Ben Hecht, whose works were later banned in Britain due to his pro-Jewish activities, was active with the pro-Irgun Bergson Group under the Palestinian soldier/activist Peter Bergson, which sought to create a Jewish army of Diaspora and Palestinian Jews to fight the Nazis. Also due to his influence and Bergson’s, Hollywood and Broadway joined forces and organized the American League for a Free Palestine, and later, the American Arts Committee for Palestine. Because the Irgun played a major part in organizing these movements, and because Ben Gurion would often spread anti-Irgun propaganda, sometimes equating them with the Nazis, American Jewish organizations, in collaboration with the Roosevelt administration, would often attempt to silence them, both during and after the war. In spite of this, the Hecht/Bergson organizations had some influence with the US government. In 1944, the US War Refugee Board was established and sent one of its emissaries, Ira Hirschman, to neutral Turkey to help Jews escape from Europe. Several thousand were saved from certain death as a result, and many were helped to Palestine. Americans also aided in the struggle against the British blockade of “illegal” immigration, both during and after World War II, and also helped to fight off the impending British and Arab onslaughts in the months leading up to, and during, the War of Independence. New York Yiddish actress Stella Adler, in 1946, chartered a ship to take Holocaust refugees to Palestine. Other ships were also chartered by other sources. This activity was intensified later on and resulted in the formation of an organization known as the Machal – Diaspora Jewish and non-Jewish volunteers fighting for Israeli statehood and the right of Diaspora Jews to settle in their ancestral homeland. 3500 joined Machal including 1000 Americans, most notably:

Bill Bernstein of San Francisco was second mate on the Exodus 1947 which brought over 4000 Jewish refugees to Palestine but was intercepted by the British. He was clubbed to death by British soldiers who stormed the ship attempting to arrest the would-be immigrants.

Moshe Brodetzky, son of Palestinian refugees and formerly 2nd Lieutenant in Company E of the 5th Infantry during WWII for which he was awarded the Silver Star, became commander of Irgun forces on Mt. Zion.

US Naval Lt. Monroe Fein became captain of the ill-fated Irgun ship Altalena.

Murray Greenfield who had served in the US Merchant Marines during WWII and later became a leader in Aliyah Bet.

Lou Lenart, US Air Force pilot during World War II, lead pilot in the first aerial combat mission of the IAF in 1948.

Al Schwimmer headed a group of American volunteer aviation instructors who trained pilots in the fledgling Israeli Air Force. Americans were to play such a prominent role in the air force that English was the primary language spoken.

Paul Shulman became first commander of the navy.

Jesse “Tex” Slade, a non-Jew, member of the Navajo nation, WWII infantryman in the US army and 4th Troop volunteer during the War of Independence. After independence, he purchased some ranchland in the Negev.

THE FALLEN OF THE AMERICAN SECTION OF THE MACHAL

The following list includes both Jews and non-Jews:

Stanley Andrews, from Los Angeles, MIA at Iraq el Sueidan, presumed dead, body never found.
Philip Balkin, from Los Angeles, killed at El Auja.
Lou Ball, NY, Iraq el Sueidan.
Spencer Boyd, St. Louis, near Nebi Rubin.
Bill Edmondson, Chicago, near Jerusalem.
Moshe Geberer, NY, near Jerusalem.
William Gerson and Glenn King, Los Angeles, killed in Mexico City while attempting to fly their C-46 to Israel.
Oliver Holton, Lakewood OH, and Alvin Levy, Long Beach NY, killed in a plane crash in the Sea of Galilee.
Joseph Kahn, Los Angeles, killed in Jerusalem fighting for the Irgun.
Jerome Kaplan, Bayonne, and Mandel Math, Brooklyn, both MIA after attacking Latrun.
Jacob Klein, NY, Kfar Menahem.
Ari Lashner, NY, Kfar Blum.
Baruch Linsky, NY, Hulda.
David Livingston, NY, Mishmar Haemek.
David “Mickey” Marcus, NY, killed by friendly fire near Abu Ghosh.
Harold Monash, NY, near Jerusalem.
Moshe Perlstein of Brooklyn, killed near the Etzion bloc.
Sam Pomerance, NY, while ferrying a Spitfire from Czechoslovakia to Israel, killed in a crash in the Yugoslav Alps.
Moe Rosenbaum, Brooklyn, near Ekron.
Jacob Rothman, Newark NJ, killed in a plane crash near Nice, France, on assignment for the Israeli Air Force.
Dov Seligman, Bronx, Ein Dor.
Irving Sevin, Chicago, killed on a mountain trail between Maayan Baruch and Safed.
Jack Shulman, NY, Beersheba.
Edward Troyen, NY, wounded in a flying mission, later died.
Bob Vickman, Los Angeles, killed in a plane crash during a mission over the El Arish region.

PROMINENT AMERICANS
The following is a partial list of prominent American Jews, mainly olim but also those who live in the US, who have made valuable contributions to various spheres of Israeli society, both before and after independence.

LAND RECLAMATION

Before independence:
Moses Alexander of New York, founded the Ohale Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem in 1901.

Lee Berman, a leader of the Chicago Ahuza which bought land in the Galilee that became the settlement of Sarona, in 1920, was appointed the settlement’s first administrator.

Moshe Furmansky, led the first aliyah of the American branch of Hashomer Hatzair from the US in 1931, and became a member of Mishmar Haemek.

Saadia Gelb made aliyah in 1947 and settled in Kfar Blum (which was partially founded by Americans in 1943), and became one of those who embodied the pioneering spirit of the halutzim.

Nathan Goldberg of the Bronx was chairman of the Gan Haim Corp. in the early 30s, to purchase land for the planting of citrus plantations in Palestine.

Eliezer Joffe, led one of the earliest arrivals of American heHalutz that helped to found Poriya. Later, he became one of the founders of Nahalal (1921) where he was appointed director of the Tnuva agricultural cooperative company.

Jacob Lipman was a soil expert and member of the Jewish Agency. In 1927, he took part in a commission that surveyed the soil of Palestine.

Israel Matz, who moved to Palestine from New York, was one of its strongest backers.

Dr. Louis Melnick, though a resident of Los Angeles, sold land in the Carmel region of Haifa (1935), thus helping to develop that city and its suburbs.

Emanuel Neumann founded the Committee of Palestine Survey (1943) to invest in various water projects.

Baruch Ostrovsky was a socialist member of Ahuza in New York that purchased a plot of land north of Tel Aviv that later became the town of Raanana. He became the town’s first mayor.

Bernard Rosenblatt and Elias Passman were leaders in the American Zion Commonwealth Co. which, in the 1920s, purchased the plots of land that later became Balfouriya, Ramat Yishai, Kiryat Ata, Afula, and Herzliya.

Julius Rosenwald, head of Sears Roebuck and one of the financial backers of Palestinian agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn’s experimental agricultural station in Atlit in 1909.

After independence:
Ben Ami Carter, made aliyah in the mid 60s as leader of the Black Hebrew Israelites who claimed descent from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Judy Gross, chairwoman of the Hebron Fund which helps to develop the Jewish community of Hebron and all of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

David HaIvri, Land of Israel activist, hosts the Revava.org website.

Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam founded the Hasidic Kiryat Bobov neighborhood in Bat Yam.

Rabbi Yekutiel Halberstam founded the Hasidic Kiryat Sanz neighborhood in Netanya.

Grand Rabbi Levi Yitzkhak Horowitz, the son of Palestinians, established in the early 80s, the Bostoner Hasidic community in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof. His son, Rabbi Moshe Shimon Horowitz established, and now leads, the Bostoner community in Betar Ilit.

Miriam Levinger, wife of YESHA leader Rabbi Moshe Levinger, one of the pioneers in the revival of the Jewish community of Hebron.

Baruch Marzel, pro-Land of Israel activist resulting in his arrest and incarceration numerous times by the Israeli police on orders from the Israeli government.

Dr. Irving Moskowitz, successful businessman in Los Angeles who has worked to strengthen the Jewish presence in Israel’s heartland and Jerusalem in particular.
Anita Tucker, Gush Katif activist, brutally expelled from her home under orders of PM Sharon in 2005.

POLITICS

Before independence:
Meir Bar Ilan, leader of the American branch of Mizrahi, moved to Palestine in 1926 and became one of the leading representatives of the Palestinian Mizrahi in the Vaad Leumi.

Louis Lipsky, prominent American Zionist leader and political ally of Chaim Weizmann, helped in the enlarging of the Jewish Agency to include non-Zionists.

Golda Meir, one of the most prominent leaders of the Histadrut, made aliyah in 1921 along with her husband, Morris Myerson. In 1969, she was elected Prime Minister.

Morris Rothenberg, a founder of the Jewish Agency, was cochairman of its International Council (1933, 1935).

Abba Hillel Silver, who, as president of the Zionist Organization of America, was one of the most outspoken Zionists during and after the Holocaust. In 1947, he became an honorary citizen of Ramat Gan. One of his most famous quotes was, “Zionism is not refugeeism.”

Felix Warburg, businessman, member of the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. in New York, was a non-Zionist member of the Jewish Agency, involved in the economic development of Palestine as well as the Hebrew University. The settlement Kfar Warburg was named after him.

Meir Weisgal, organized the Jewish Agency’s American office in New York of which, in 1947, Zionist leader Arthur Lourie was Director.

After independence:
Steven Adler, National Labor Court Judge.

Shimon Agranat was appointed to the Israeli Supreme Court in 1950 and became Chief Justice in 1965.

Moshe Arens, former Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Shamir.

Yehudah ben Meir, psychologist, member of the National Religious Party, served as Deputy Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Shamir.

Cheryl Ben Tov, former Mossad agent who, under the alias of “Cindy”, helped to capture the traitor Mordchai Vanunu in Rome. Her father was the founder of Allied Discount Tires.

Marsha Caspi, mayor of Savyon.

Ron Dermer, political consultant in Israel. His brother is, and his father was, mayors of Miami Beach.

Marcia Freedman, former Knesset member, served as member of the Independent Socialist Faction.

Raanan Gissin, senior adviser to Prime Minister Sharon.

Dore Gold, Israeli statesman and diplomat to the UN.

Eve Harow, spokeswoman for YESHA communities, a resident of Ephrat.

Meir Kahane, a rabbi from New York, founder of the Jewish Defense League in New York, which soon spread nationwide, settled in Israel in 1970 where he founded Kach. He was one of the most prominent figures in Hebron.

Bruce Kashdan, diplomat, Foreign Ministry official.

Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi of Ephrat.

Shmuel Sackett, one of the leaders of Manhigut Yehudit.

Dovid Shir’el, a resident of Hebron, is a Manhigut activist and creator of its website.

David Wilder, spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron.

THE ECONOMY

Before independence:
Justice Louis Brandeis of the US Supreme Court, though he did not make aliyah, was an active Zionist and champion of private enterprise both in Palestine and the US. The settlement Ein Hashofet was established and named after him, ironically, by the American branch of the socialist Hashomer Hatzair movement.

Abraham Dickenstein founded the investment company Ampal-America Israel Corp. (1942).

Eliahu Shama, a Syrian Jewish merchant who lived for a while in the US, made aliyah in 1919 and established the Jerusalem Trading Center.

Robert Szold, along with Israel Brodie, established the American Economic Committee for Palestine (1932).

After independence:
Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel.

Moshe Goldberg, former president of the AACI, later to become corporate secretary of America Israel Paper Mills.

Jonathan Kolber, financier and president of Claridge, Israel.

Mordechai Kreiner, Vice President of marketing at Supersol supermarkets.

Martha Meisels, consumer advocate.

Ed Mlavsky, a leading figure in Israel’s high-tech industry.

Don Patinkin, founded the Economics Dept. of the Hebrew University.

HEALTH

Before independence:
Dr. Louis Cantor, pioneer in sanitation.

Lilian Cornfeld was Palestine’s foremost nutritionist and culinary expert in the 30s.

Dr. Israel Kligler, bacteriologist.

Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah in the United States (1912). In 1913, this organization sent two nurses – Rose Kaplan and Rachel Landy – to lay the groundwork for Hadassah’s health and sanitation work in Palestine. During the Mandate, Szold was elected to the Vaad Leumi (1930), and established the Dept. of Social Welfare. She also led the Youth Aliyah organization (1934) to rescue Jewish children from Nazi Germany. The settlement of Kfar Szold (1935) was named after her.

Philanthropist Nathan Straus, after whom the town of Netanya was named (1929), though he did not make aliyah, was active in Palestinian society. He founded the Nathan and Lina Straus Health Center in Jerusalem (1929) of which, Dr. Ephraim Michael Bluestone, former director of Hadassah and son of Joseph Bluestone, was made chairman.

After independence:
Dr. David Appelbaum, internationally respected Emergency Room Director of the Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem when he was killed by an Arab suicide bomber at a café in Jerusalem in 2003. His death inspired a group of American doctors to make aliyah.

Prof. Howard Cedar, an expert in gene regulation and Israel Prize winner.

Dr. Nathan Faltz, leading surgeon.

Phyllis Glazer, nutritionist.

Prof. Shimon Glick, expert on medical ethics.

Harriet Sher, co-owner of Great Shape/YMCA Exercise Studio.

RELIGION AND EDUCATION

Before independence:
Albert Einstein visited the Hebrew University in 1923, was long involved with its development. Upon the death of Chaim Weizmann in 1952, he was approached to succeed him as president of Israel. He politely turned down the request.

Louis Ginzburg, expert on Jewish law, in the US, became the first lecturer on Halakhah at the Hebrew University.

Rabbi Judah Magnes became first Chancellor of the Hebrew University.

Jacob Schiff, head of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. was one of the major financial backers of the Technion in Haifa before World War I.

The Slobodka Yeshiva, established in 1925 in Hebron, was American-supported and –funded and many American students who had already made aliyah, came to study there. Several were murdered by Arabs in the massacre that took place in the city in 1929 - Zeev Berman Halevy (NY), Aharon David Epstein (Chicago), Haim Krasner (Brooklyn), Aharon David Sheinberg (Memphis TN), Yaacov Weksler (Chicago), Benjamin Hurwitz (NY).

Rabbi Jacob David Willowski of Slutzk, “Chief Rabbi” of Chicago, who settled in Israel in 1904 and founded a yeshivah in Safed.

After independence:
Carl Alpert, vice-chairman of the Technion’s Board of Governors.

Prof. Yisrael Aumann, winner, Nobel Prize for Economics.

Pinchos Churgin founder of Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan. Those academics and scholars who assisted in its foundation were Rabbi Dr. Joseph H. Lookstein (later Bar-Ilan Chancellor), Rabbi Zemach Zambrowsky, Rabbi M. Kirshblum, Prof. Saul Lieberman, Rabbi Prof. Emanuel Rackman (later to become Bar-Ilan president), and philanthropists Philip, Max and Frieda Stollman of Detroit.

Abraham Feinberg established the Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Rabbi Moshe Greenberg, professor of Bible Studies at Hebrew University.

Barbara Levine, initiator of the TALI School System which specializes in teaching all aspects of religious Judaism to a largely secular student body.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Americans had been involved in Palestinian archaeology since 1838 when the gentile Edward Robinson did scientific research in the country.

Before independence:
Cyrus Adler, a Jew from Arkansas, came to Palestine in 1890 as Antiquities Commissioner for the proposed Columbian Exposition in Chicago to collect local archaeological exhibits.

Nelson Glueck, prominent American archaeologist, director of the Jerusalem branch of the American School of Oriental Research, conducted excavations in both western and eastern Palestine from the 30s to the 50s.

Prof. Richard Gottheil of Columbia University headed the American School of Archaeology in Jerusalem beginning in 1909.

After independence:
Judith Green, prominent archeologist.

HEBREW vs. YIDDISH

In the early years of the Zionist movement when most of the pioneers in Palestine came from Eastern Europe, there was a constant debate over whether the national language of the Jews should be Yiddish or Hebrew, the original language of the land. The activities of Eliezer ben Yehudah notwithstanding, many of the new immigrants continued to speak the Yiddish of their parents, especially the Americans, most of whom were of East European parentage. It was only years later that Hebrew became the norm among American olim.

Before independence:
Peretz Hirschbein and Halpern Leivick, socialist Yiddish writers became champions of the kibbutz movement upon their visits to Palestine in 1929 and 1937 respectively.

Dorothy Ruth Kahn, Hebrew author who immigrated in the early 30s and wrote about the realities of Palestinian life.

Jessie Sampter, Hebrew poet, who established a vegetarian convalescent home in Givat Brenner in 1929.

Yehoash, Yiddish poet, lived for a while in Palestine in 1914 and translated the Bible into Yiddish.

Chaim Zhitlowsky was a Yiddish critic and commentator. He was also an activist for Poalei Tzion since his visit to Palestine just before the war and one of the leading organizers of the Jewish Legion.

After independence:
Scholem Asch, Yiddish writer, made aliyah in 1956 and after his death the following year, the Scholem Asch Museum in Bat Yam was founded in his memory.

Avraham Avi-Hai, author and Zionist leader.

Tzvi Fishman, former Hollywood screenwriter, a ba’al tshuva who made aliyah in 1984 and has become a scholarly writer on Judaica, often in collaboration with another American, Rabbi David Samson, dean of the Maale Erev Institutions. Awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity.
Caroline Glick, journalist, contributor to the Jerusalem Post.

Reuven Grossman, novelist.

Yossi Klein Halevy, author and journalist, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.

David Pinski, Yiddish writer and playwright, settled in Haifa in 1949. His home became a center of Yiddish culture in Israel.

Chaim Potok, author of “The Chosen”.

Naomi Ragen, acclaimed novelist.

ART

Before independence:
Hy Mayer, animator, created short animation films of Palestine during World War I.

After independence:

Yaacov Kirschen, cartoonist for the Jerusalem Post.

Leo Osheroff, founder of Arta art supply store.

ENTERTAINMENT AND THE PERFORMING ARTS

Though most Americans involved in the entertainment industry did not make aliyah, they still contributed greatly to the Palestinian cultural scene. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, MGM, RKO, and Universal did a brisk business in Palestine, employing local representatives to distribute their films to the local theaters. American entertainers also made contributions to the local film industry.

Before independence:
Leonard Bernstein conducted his first Israeli concert in 1947; thereafter, he often made guest appearances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Other musicians who often collaborated with the Orchestra since its founding in 1936 included Emanuel Feuerman, Leopold Godowsky, and Pierre Monteaux.

Edis de Phillipe founded the Palestine Opera (1947).

Elsa Dublon moved to Palestine in 1936 and became an accomplished choreographer.

Leopold Jessner was often, a guest director at Habimah.

Jascha Heifetz, violinist, was a frequent performer in Israel beginning with a concert in Tel Aviv in 1925.

Meyer Levin, journalist, wrote the screenplay for the first Palestinian feature film in 12 years “My Father’s House” (1947).

Irma Lindheim, writer, founded the Kedem Film Co. (1934) along with other local theater personalities at the time. She later became the second president of Hadassah.

Paul Muni, Oscar-winning actor, performed the role of Emile Zola at the Habimah Theater in 1938.

Edward Norman founded the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (1939) for the promotion of American Jewish artists in Palestine and Palestinian Jewish artists in America.

Cantor Yoselle Rosenblatt arrived in Palestine in 1933 to provide the musical accompaniment to the film “My People’s Dream”. He died shortly afterwards and was buried on the Mount of Olives.

Maurice Samuel, writer and Zionist activist, provided the narration for the Palestinian films “Land of Promise” (1935) and “A Day in Degania” (1942).

Maurice Schwartz, Yiddish actor, was guest director at the Ohel Theater directing the play “Yoshe Kalb” in 1937.

Richard Tucker, American cantor, life-long Zionist, provided the musical background for the 1946 Palestinian film “Behind the Blockade”.

Jacob Weinberg, composer and pianist. His performances were sometimes heard on the Palestine Broadcasting Service – Kol Yerushalayim.

Adolf Zukor, head of Paramount. Long involved in Palestinian/Israeli affairs, in 1935, he persuaded Paramount’s musical director Boris Moros to provide the musical background for the Palestinian film “Land of Promise”. Zukor’s brother was Rabbi Arthur Liebermann who had recently made aliyah from Berlin.

After independence:
Mike Burstyn, popular actor and entertainer. Famous for his Kuni Lemml character in the 70s.

Joseph Cedar, film director, graduate of the Film School in Maale Adumim, directed the highly-successful “Campfire”, and “Beaufort” which won him the Best Director award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Kirk Douglas starred in the first Hollywood feature to be filmed in Israel, “The Juggler” (1953).

Amos Elkana, composer.

Richard Farber, composer and writer.

Yishai Fleischer, station manager of Arutz Sheva Radio.

Eytan Fox, film director. Openly gay, his films usually deal with gay subject matters. One of his most popular and successful films, “Yossi & Jagger”, dealt with homosexuality in the Israeli army during the Lebanon War.

Sharon Genish, originally from Los Angeles, spokesmodel for Versace.

Elihu Katz, professor of communications, known as the father of Israeli television.

Zvi Keren, composer and musicologist.

Otto Klemperer, famous orchestra conductor who made aliyah in 1970.

Serge Koussevitzky, maestro, who often performed in Israel. In the early 50s, Leonard Bernstein created the Serge Koussevitzky Music Collection at the National Library in Jerusalem.

Liz Magnes, jazz pianist.

Artur Rubinstein, American pianist, often played concerts in Israel whose proceeds went to the establishment of the Artur Rubinstein Chair of Musicology at the Hebrew University. The Rubinstein Forest outside of Jerusalem was named in his honor and this was where his remains were reinterred one year after his death.

David Sarnoff, chairman of NBC, became the first Honorary Fellow of the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot. While on a visit to Israel in 1951, he proposed to Ben Gurion that he help to create Israel’s own television broadcasting system.

Jodi Schenck, artistic director of the Guild Theater in Raanana.

Eitan Schwartz, winner of an Israeli TV reality show, TV personality, public relations.

Tuvia Singer, rabbi and anti-missionary activist, host of “The Tuvia Singer Show” on Arutz Sheva Radio. Known as the “Chief Rabbi of Newstalk Radio”.

Paul Smith, actor, starred in many films, most notably “Exodus” and “Popeye”.

Stanley Sperber, conductor.

Sam Spiegel, Hollywood producer and life-long Zionist, the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem was named after him, paid for through part of his estate.

Steven Spielberg, American producer and director, long involved in film projects in Israel, the Spielberg Film Archive of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is one of the foremost film archives in the Middle East.

Isaac Stern, former president of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, performed many concerts in Israel including a tour during the First Gulf War when a total of 39 missiles were bombarding Tel Aviv.
The Kabbalah Centre, established in Jerusalem, in 1922 and then in Los Angeles under Phillip Berg in 1969, recently began to look into buying property in the town of Rosh Pina near the Kabbalah capital of Safed. Through the dissemination of its teachings by such celebrities as Roseanne Barr and especially Madonna (both of whom also looked into buying property in Israel), Kabbalah achieved great popularity in Hollywood and Hollywood Kabbalists have maintained close spiritual, if not physical ties, to Israel. Other present or former high-profile devotees include: David and Victoria Beckham (LA residents as of this writing), Sandra Bernhard, Naomi Campbell, Laura Dern, Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York (US resident), David Geffen, Jeff Goldblum, Linda Gray, Jerry Hall, Goldie Hawn, Paris Hilton, Diane Keaton, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Ritchie, Winona Ryder, Britney Spears, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor.

SPORTS

Americans have participated in Palestinian sports competitions before, during and since, the first Maccabiah was held in 1932 in which 10 American athletes participated.

Before independence:
The Benny Leonard Club was founded in 1923 and for many years, it was the foremost club for champion Palestinian boxers.

The Palestine American Athletic Club was established in 1932 as an umbrella organization of American sportsmen in Palestine.

In the first Maccabiah, Sybil Koff won four titles in track and field in the first Maccabiah. David White won the title for broad jump. In the 1935 games, Lillian Copeland won titles in shot put, discus, and javelin as did Yudy Finkelstein. Marty Frieden and Jim Sandler were prominent in the high jump as were Harry Hoffman and Abe Rosenkranz in track and field.

After independence:
Tom Almadon, goalkeeper for Macabi Haifa.

David Mark Berger, weightlifter, died in the 1972 Olympics massacre in Munich.

David Bluthenthal, originally from Los Angeles, one of the most prominent player for the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team, he lifted the team to the Euroleague Championship in 2004.

Tal Brody, made aliyah during the 1968 Macabiah. He led Israel to the European basketball championship.

Rony Gaffney, left-back for Betar Jerusalem.

Nat Holman, introduced basketball to Israel in the early 50s.

Steve Krulevitz, played #1 for the Israel Davis Cup Team (1978-1980).

Leonard Krupnick, defender for B’nei Sakhnin.

LaVon Mercer, African-American basketball player. Played for Hapoel, and later Maccabi, Tel Aviv, and lifted Maccabi to the Euroleague Finals in the late 80s.

Aulcie Perry, Israel State Cup Champion for Macabi Tel Aviv (1976-1981), an African-American convert to Judaism.

OTHER FIELDS

Alan Beer, was a leader in the gay and lesbian community in Israel who organized the first Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. He was murdered in the bombing of bus #14 in 2001.

David Breslau who, along with labor leader Herman Pomeranze, and Akiva Skidell, organized in 1952, the Hitahdut Olei America, a civic organization which advocated the option of dual nationality and job placement for American olim among other activities. It later became known as the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI).

Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart, founders of Nefesh b’Nefesh who, as of this writing, has succeeded in bringing 10,000 American olim to Israel.

Rabbi Israel Goldstein, rabbi of Yeshurun Synagogue in New York, head of Keren Hayesod, made aliyah in 1961.

David Hartman, established the Shalom Hartman Institute.

Eliezer Jaffe, a leader in social work.

Martin Karp, long-time director of the LA Jewish Federation’s Israel Office.

Prof. Col. Irving Kett, professor of civil engineering and technology and Cal State LA, long and distinguished military career who engaged in two tours of duty in Israel as an American officer. Head of AFSI in the San Fernando Valley. Owns homes in Northridge and Netanya.

Rabbi Alexander Linchner, founder of Boys Town in Jerusalem in 1949, to teach new immigrant youths new skills to compete in Israeli society.

Yaacov Matek was a founder of Kibbutz Sasa and the pioneer of the school for seeing eye dogs.

Fredi Rembaum, LA Federation director of Israel-overseas relations, instrumental in developing the Tel Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership along with Herb Glaser who became its chairman.

Alice Seligsberg became Executive Director of the Palestine Orphan Committee (1919). After her death (1941), the Seligsberg Vocational High School for Girls was founded in her memory.

Dr. Hillel Shuval, leading environmentalist and campaigner for religious pluralism. His wife, Dr. Judith Shuval, is a prominent sociologist.

Hanoch Smith, pollster.

Ezra Stein, executive director of G’dud Ha’Ivri which works with the IDF in preventing Arab terrorists from entering Jewish communities.