2025-09-01 12:20 PM <br/> Tags: #people #AmericanJewry ![[image-109.png|382x373]] *Friedman with Moshe Dayan* # Herbert Friedman (1918-2008) - Friedman was born to Jewish immigrants in New Haven, CT. - Friedman graduated from Yale in 1938. - He then attended rabbinical school where he studied under [[Stephen S. Wise]]. - Immediately after WWII Friedman was working with the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)]] and the [[Jewish Agency]] in displaced persons camps in Europe. - From these camps he was recruited by [[David Ben-Gurion]] to work with the [[Haganah]] smuggling Jews out of the DP camps to Palestine. - Many of the Jews in the post war camps did not want to go to Palestine. Jewish children were essentially abducted, put in orphanages, and shipped to Palestine. - *These smuggling efforts served two purposes: populate Jewish Palestine for the upcoming [[1948 Arab Israeli War]], and legitimize the Jewish 'state' being formed in Palestine as the primary destination for Jews. If the Jews in the DP camps would not go to Israel, it might show Israel as lacking importance in the Jewish world thus making it harder to declare a state.* - Friedman was also involved in smuggling arms to the [[Haganah]], as a later admitted in his 1998 autobiography. - Friedman was recruited by [[Teddy Kollek]] in the period after WWII and before the [[1948 Arab Israeli War]] to help his US arms smuggling operation. --- - Friedman was recruited by [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.]] to work for the [[United Jewish Appeal (UJA)]] after his return from Europe. - From 1955-71 Friedman served as the vice chair (de facto CEO) of the [[United Jewish Appeal (UJA)]]. - In this position Friedman liaised with Israeli leaders and US government officials. - He oversaw the UJA's huge expansion in fundraising in the first decades of Israel's existence. By the time he left UJA was taking in ~$450 million annually ($3.8 billion today). - Friedman boosted Jewish investment in [[Israel Bonds]]. - In 1971 Friedman left the US and made Aliyah to Israel. - Aliyah is when a Jew leaves his country and resettles in Israel. - Friedman personally raised ~$2 million for the defense of 'holocaust historian' [[Deborah Lipstadt]] when she was sued for libel in 1997 by historian David Irving. - Lipstadt had accused Irving of Holocaust Denial™. - Irving, a deeply respected historian, was deemed guilty of holocaust denial by the British courts. - Irving was soon arrested in Austria and thrown in prison for three years on the basis of "trivializing and denying the holocaust." - In 1983 Friedman was introduced to [[Les Wexner]] by [[Gordon Zacks]]. - [[Les Wexner]] and Friedman partnered to found the [[Wexner Foundation]] that same year. - Friedman was the president of the Wexner Foundation for its first 10 years. - Through Les Wexner, Friedman came in contact with the [[Mega Group]]. - The Mega Group is an informal and secretive network of influential Jews working on the behalf of collective Jewry. - The Mega Group was a major source of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s connections. #### References - Weir, Alison. 2014. _Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel_. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “**Ex-UJA Chair Herbert Friedman Dies**.” _JTA_, April 1, 2008. [https://www.jta.org/2008/04/01/default/ex-uja-chair-herbert-friedman-dies](https://www.jta.org/2008/04/01/default/ex-uja-chair-herbert-friedman-dies?) - Siegel, Jennifer. “**Herbert Friedman, 89, Major Philanthropist During Israel’s Formative Years**.” _The Forward_, April 3, 2008. [https://forward.com/news/13096/herbert-friedman-89-major-philanthropist-during-01610/](https://forward.com/news/13096/herbert-friedman-89-major-philanthropist-during-01610/) - Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “**Rabbi Herbert Friedman Assumes Office as U.J.A. Executive Head**.” _JTA_, June 11, 1955. [https://www.jta.org/archive/rabbi-herbert-friedman-assumes-office-as-u-j-a-executive-head](https://www.jta.org/archive/rabbi-herbert-friedman-assumes-office-as-u-j-a-executive-head?) - American Jewish Archives Digital Collections. “**Biographical Sketch - Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman**.” [https://fa.americanjewisharchives.org/friedman/biographical-sketch/](https://fa.americanjewisharchives.org/friedman/biographical-sketch/)