DR.

AVRAHAM AVI-HAI
Biographical Notes

Dr. Avraham Avi-hai is a noted figure in world Jewish leadership, with years of
distinguished service to Israel. For a decade he was World Chairman of Keren haYesod
–United Israel Appeal and a welcome visitor in major Jewish centers around the world.
He has lectured in most major cities in the Western world. During his public career Dr. Avi-
hai was privileged to work in the shadow of Israel's founders and great leaders. Early on,
he was on the staff of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his successor, Levi Eshkol.
Dr. Avi-hai was recruited to public and Government service by Teddy Kollek, and by the
late Abraham Harman, later President and Chancellor of the Hebrew University.

He is a lay member of the International Board of Governors of Hebrew University of

Jerusalem, and volunteer Deputy Chair of the Board of Overseers of its Rothberg
International School. Together with Heidi Rothberg, he helped initiate the new alumni
programs and homecoming. In the early 1970s, Dr. Avi-hai was a founding Dean of the
School for Overseas Students and also acted as its Provost. He has been Visiting
Professor In the U.S. and Canada and has taught Political Studies at the Hebrew
University and Bar Ilan.

Dr. Avi-hai has been deeply involved in financial and economic matters beginning when
he worked as a political and economic reporter for The Jerusalem Post. As speech-writer
to Levi Eshkol when he was Minister of Finance, Avi-hai continued his involvement in
Israel's development. He was an organizer of the Prime Minister's Economic
Conferences in 1968 and 1969, which led to the modernization and take-off of the Israeli
economy.

Dr. Avi-hai received his Bachelor's degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, New
York, and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at Columbia University in
New York (Political Science). Earlier he studied at the University of Toronto and at
Yeshiva University, New York. He is the author of popular as well as scholarly articles in
both Hebrew and English. His book Ben-Gurion -- State Builder has appeared in English,
Hebrew, French, and Spanish. A more recent book, DANGER! Three Jewish Peoples, is a
controversial analysis of spreading rifts in Jewish peoplehood.

He is the author of many popular as well as scholarly articles in both Hebrew and English,
His book Ben-Gurion -- State Builder has appeared in English, Hebrew, French, and
Spanish. A more recent book, DANGER! Three Jewish Peoples, is a controversial
analysis of spreading rifts in Jewish peoplehood.

Dr. Avi-hai was born in Toronto, Canada and immigrated to Israel in 1952. For a time, he
lived and worked as a farmer and building laborer in a kibbutz in the south of Israel. His
three daughters were born in Jerusalem. He is married to Henrietta Wagner Avi-hai, who
is the mother of two sons and is a partner in a real estate business in Jerusalem.