Remembering Murray Greenfield, a New York-born Israeli hero

Murray Greenfield, the charismatic publisher whose bestselling book, The Jews’ Secret Fleet, told the heroic story of how North American volunteers – including himself – averted a British blockade and sailed Holocaust survivors from Europe to Mandatory Palestine in 1947, died on Monday at the age of 98.

The New York-born Greenfield, who made aliyah at age 21, married the Czech-born Holocaust survivor Hana Lustigova and settled in Tel Aviv. He was one of the founding members of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel and served as its executive director, establishing loan funds, a mortgage company, and housing projects in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and on kibbutzim. During a life devoted to public service, he dedicated much of his time to rescuing Ethiopian Jewry and was the volunteer director for seven years of the American Association for Ethiopian Jewry.

In 1981, Greenfield founded Gefen Publishing House, later taken over by his sons, Dror and Ilan. After Dror’s tragic death in 2003, Ilan took over the helm, and today Gefen is one of the leading English-language publishers in Israel.

Greenfield was born on September 11, 1926, raised and educated in New York City, and never lost his strong New York accent and American charm. During World War II, he served in the Merchant Marines, and by late 1946, he heard about the Aliyah Bet – or illegal immigration, as the British termed the rescue of Jews who survived the Holocaust. Greenfield was one of some 250 American volunteers who sailed on rust buckets and ultimately rescued 40 survivors. 

Finding his way to Israel

After spending time in a British prison in Cyprus, Greenfield eventually moved to Mandatory Palestine. It is said that these ships helped launch the Jewish state as the British could not accept the embarrassment they received from these survivors, who were impassioned and empowered after their internment.

“We created the Jewish state, with the help of these ships,” Greenfield once told The Jerusalem Post. “Of the 70,000-odd Jews who were brought to Palestine after World War II and before the state, over 50% came on American ships sailed by some 250 young men who were volunteers like myself.”

Until his very last days, Greenfield volunteered for many public service organizations, including Friends of the Diaspora Museum (now ANU), ZOA House, and the Dick Siegel Marketing Fund at Tel Aviv University, close to his home.

He also penned the popular book How To Be an Oleh – Or Things the Jewish Agency Never Told You (1970) and wrote numerous articles, essays, and letters to the editor in publications around the world, including The Jerusalem Post, his favorite newspaper.

A bon vivant who had the gift of the gab and was adored by his family and friends, Greenfield is survived by his son, Ilan, and daughter, Meira Partem, 10 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.

“Murray was a proud Jew, Zionist, and Israeli,” the family said in a statement ahead of his funeral in Kfar Adumim on Tuesday. “He loved life and lived it up all of his 98 years. He accomplished many things and will be remembered as one of those who helped found this country, Israel. May he rest in peace.”