Eli Hurvitz (; born 27 November 1970) is the executive director of the Eddie and Jules Trump Family Foundation, chairman of the Israel Forum of Philanthropic Foundations, and former member of the Israel National Board of Education. Between 2000 and 2011 Hurvitz served as the deputy director of

Yad Hanadiv Yad Hanadiv (The Rothschild Foundation) is a Rothschild family philanthropic foundation in Israel. Goals and objectives Yad Hanadiv defines its mission as: Dedicated to creating resources for advancing Israel as a healthy, vibrant, democratic so ...

, the Rothschild Family Foundation, and previously as an advisor to the Chairman of the

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee () is a permanent Knesset committee which oversees key Foreign and Defense issues of the State of Israel, including the drafting of legislation, supervision over related government ministries and the ...

at the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

Biography

Hurvitz was born and educated in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, to Yair (Esq.), former Director General of the

State Comptroller of Israel The State Comptroller of Israel ( ''Mevaker HaMedina'', , literally: ''Critic of State'') inspects, reviews, and audits the policies and operations of the government of the State of Israel. The State Comptroller's Office is also the government's ...

, and Professor Haggit (M.D.), former Head of Pediatrics at the

Bikur Holim Hospital Bikur Cholim Hospital () was a 200-bed general hospital in West Jerusalem, established in the 19th century and closed around 2020. Until then, it was the oldest hospital in the country still operating. Bikur Cholim had obstetrics and cardiac depa ...

. He is the first grandchild of

Eliyahu Meridor Eliyahu Meridor (; 20 July 1914 – 16 October 1966) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Herut and Gahal from 1959 until his death in 1966. Biography Born Elijhu Wierzbolowski on 20 July 1914 in Saint Petersburg i ...

, and is named after him. His uncles are

Dan Meridor Dan Meridor (; born 23 April 1947) is an Israeli politician and minister. A longtime member of the Likud party, in the late 1990s he became one of the founders of the Center Party. He rejoined Likud a decade later, and returned to the Knesset ...

, former Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, and

Sallai Meridor Sallai Meridor (; born 1955) is an Israeli politician. He was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States between 2005–2009, appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Career Meridor was an aide to Moshe Arens when he was the Foreign Minister ...

, former Israeli Ambassador to the US and Chairman of the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

. Hurvitz earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees magna cum laude at the

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

's School of History. His M.A. thesis, titled ‘The Military Wing of

Hizballah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

: a Social Profile’ was published by the Dayan Center in 1999. Since 2009, Hurvitz writes on social affairs and philanthropy for Israeli newspapers and in a blog, labeled, 'The Fourth Generation'. He is a co-editor of a series of educational books and host of popular videocasts on Education, titled 'Restart' and 'Relevance'.

Career in Philanthropy

Between 2000 and 2011, Hurvitz served as the deputy director of

, a philanthropic arm of the Rothschild Family, which created in Israel the new National Library, the Supreme Court Building and the Knesset, and established the Open University of Israel, the Institute for Advanced Studies, and the Centre for Educational Technology. In the early 2000s, Hurvitzled Yad-Hanadiv's efforts to establish a new National Library for Israel, and represented the foundation in the Committee for Changing the Status of the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

, headed by Supreme Court Judge,

Yitzhak Zamir Yitzhak Zamir (; born in Poland on April 15, 1931) is a professor of public law and Dean of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Law, a former Attorney General of Israel, first Dean of the University of Haifa's Law Faculty, and a fo ...

. In 2011, Hurvitz joined as executive director to set up the Eddie and Jules Trump Family Foundation, a philanthropic foundation that aims to serve as a catalyst for improving educational achievement in Israel by cultivating high-quality teaching in schools with an emphasis on Mathematics and the Sciences. The foundation is responsible for Israel's success to double the number of high school students graduating the advanced mathematics and physics majors ("five units"). In 2012, Hurvitz was selected by ''

The Marker ''TheMarker'' () is a Hebrew-language daily business newspaper published by the Haaretz Group in Israel. ''TheMarker'' was founded in 1999 by journalist and entrepreneur Guy Rolnik along with Haaretz Group and U.S.-based investors. Five years ...

'' Magazine as #87 at "Israel's 100 Most Influential People". In 2015, Hurvitz was selected by ''

Yediot Ahronot (, ; lit. "Latest News") is an Israeli daily mass market newspaper published in Tel Aviv. Founded in 1939, is Israel's largest paid newspaper by sales and circulation and has been described as "undoubtedly the country's number-one paper."

'' Newspaper to the list of 'Israel's 50 Heroes of Civil Society'. In 2016, he was nominated by ''

'' Magazine as #57 at "Israel's 100 Most Influential People". In 2014, Hurvitz was appointed by the Israeli government as member of the National Board of Education, in 2019, he joined the Global Advisory Board of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, in 2022, he was nominated as a member of a Public Committee to expand the high-tech sector in Israel, and in 2024, he was elected as chairman of the Israel Forum of Philanthropic Foundations.

Op-Ed Articles

# Eli Hurvitz
Young People are Experiencing Intellectual Decline - Opinion
Jerusalem Post, Dec. 24th, 2023 # Eli Hurvitz
In This Crisis, A Golden Chance to Reimagine Education
Times of Israel, Dec. 24th, 2020 # Eli Hurvitz
Report: Next Government Must Focus on Middle-School Reform
Jerusalem Post, Feb. 4th, 2019

References

External links

*Eli Hurvitz
A Startup Nation at Risk: Israel's Quest for Excellence
in K-12 Mathematics Education in Israel, World Scientific Publishing, 2018 *Eli Hurvitz
Videocasts on Education: Restart and Relevance
2022 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurvitz, Eli 1970 births Israeli businesspeople Israeli educators Businesspeople from Jerusalem Living people Israeli philanthropists