Eliav Binyamin (1909-1974)

Eliav Binyamin (Lubotsky) (1909, Riga — 1974, Jerusalem) — journalist, publisher, civic figure. His father was from Lithuania, a participant in the Palestinophile and Zionist movements; his mother was from Courland. The languages spoken at home were Yiddish and German. He studied at a cheder; Hebrew was the first language in which E. learned to read and write. In 1919, when the Red Army was in Riga, the family fled to Germany. E. first started school in the outskirts of Frankfurt. In the summer of 1920, he returned to Riga and completed primary German school and German gymnasium. From early 1928 to 1934, studied at the universities of Berlin and Vienna, studying Semitic languages and the history of the Ancient East. In 1923, he heard Jabotinsky in Riga, who had a tremendous influence on him, and joined “Beitar.” He first went to Eretz Israel at the age of 15 with his 80-year-old grandfather, who dreamed of dying in the Holy Land; they arrived in Haifa on the ship “Romania.” In Haifa, he studied at a real school. In the autumn of 1926, he returned to Riga; in 1927, he went to Eretz Israel again. In 1932–35 — general secretary of “Beitar” in Paris. In 1935, he returned to Eretz Israel and was one of the active figures in the Revisionist Zionist movement; in 1936–37, he edited the newspapers of the Revisionist movement “Ha-Mashkif” (“The Observer”) and “Ha-Yarden.” For active political activity against the policy of the British Mandate, he was arrested several times in 1937 and held in Acre Prison. Released on health grounds on condition that he leave Eretz Israel. In 1936, he left “Beitar” and created the party “Tenu'at ha-Am” (“People's Movement”), publishing the party newspaper “Mivrak” (“Telegram”). From the end of 1938, lived in Riga; returned to Eretz Israel in 1940, shortly before the Soviet occupation of Latvia. After the creation of the State of Israel, the party was dissolved; E. joined the workers' party “Mapai,” having moved from being a supporter of the Revisionist right-wing to the left camp. In the late 1940s–early 1950s, he left active political life and worked at the newspapers “Davar” (“Matter”), “Ha-Dor” (“The Generation”), and translated into Hebrew A. Deutscher's book “Stalin: A Political Biography.” From 1953, E. worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1955, consul in Argentina; in 1960–61, consul in New York. In 1966–68 — adviser to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol on information and deputy chairman of the Broadcasting Authority. From the mid-1950s, a staff member of “Nativ” (“Lishkat ha-Kesher” — the Liaison Bureau), an organisation under the Office of the Prime Minister that coordinated the struggle for the right of Jews in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to repatriate. He headed the “Bar” sub-department of “Nativ,” which worked to influence world public opinion and draw its attention to the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union. In 1957–60, worked as a commentator on Radio Kol Israel. In publications devoted to the Jews of the Soviet Union, he foresaw their future role in the development of the State of Israel. He was a member of the editorial board of one of the largest Israeli publishers, “Am Oved.” From 1969, assistant chief editor of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, editor of the sections “Jews in Eastern Europe,” “Zionism” and “Modern Israel.” He was the initiator and editor of the first volumes of “Sifryat Keter,” which featured series of original monographs on Jewish culture and history. E. was a broadly educated man, distinguished by a deep analytical mind; he was a gifted orator and, besides Hebrew and Yiddish, spoke about ten languages. He maintained close friendships with outstanding intellectuals — the English philosopher B. Russell, the French writer J.-P. Sartre and others. He left a memoir, “Zikhronot min ha-yamin” (“Memoirs from the Right,” i.e. from a representative of the right-wing movement), published after his death (Tel Aviv, 1990); the narrative covers the period up to the War of Independence.

Lit.: Eliav Arye. On Binyamin Eliav [obituary] “He-Avar” (“The Past”), in Hebrew. Tel Aviv, 1975, pp. 236–239; KEE [Concise Jewish Encyclopaedia], Jerusalem, 2001, vol. 10, cols. 576–578; Encyclopedia Judaica, second ed., vol. 6, 2007. Pp. 321–322. Batia Waldman