Michael Freund is an American-born Israeli political activist and non-profit executive who advocates on behalf of individuals and groups who self-identify as Jews or would-be Jews, including self-described descendants of the

Lost tribes of Israel The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, As ...

crypto-Jews Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...

, hidden Jews, and Jews forcibly assimilated under Communist rule, and converts to Judaism, attempting to regularize their legal status as Jews under Israeli law and secure permission for them to immigrate to Israel under the

Law of Return The Law of Return ( he, חֹוק הַשְׁבוּת, ''ḥok ha-shvūt'') is an Israeli law, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews, people with one or more Jewish grandparent, and their spouses the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Isr ...

. He founded the organization

Shavei Israel ''Shavei Israel'' ( he, שבי ישראל, ''Returners of Israel'') is an Israel-based Jewish organization that encourages people of Jewish descent to strengthen their connection with Israel and the Jewish people. Founded by Michael Freund in 20 ...

Childhood and education

Freund grew up on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street (Man ...

of Manhattan and attended the

Ramaz School The Ramaz School is an elite American coeducational Jewish Modern Orthodox day school which offers a dual curriculum of general studies taught in English and Judaic studies taught in Hebrew. The school is located on the Upper East Side of Man ...

and Princeton. He spent a post-college year in Israel, studying in a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are stu ...

and working part-time for the concert pianist and journalist

David Bar-Illan David Bar-Illan (February 7, 1930 – November 5, 2003) was an Israeli pianist, author and newspaper editor. Biography Bar-Illan was born in Haifa during the Mandate era, and studied music at the Dona Weizman Conservatory. At age 17, he won a sch ...

. He returned to New York as a speechwriter and aide with the Israeli Mission to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

, then went on to earn a graduate degree in business administration from Columbia University. Freund made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

in 1995. Freund is the son of Harry Freund, co-founder of the merchant-banking firm Balfour Investors and grandson of

Miriam Freund-Rosenthal Miriam Kottler Freund-Rosenthal (1906 – January 16, 1999) was an American civic leader, best known for her contributions as President of the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. Personal life Freund-Rosenthal was born in Brookly ...

, a former President of

Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organizations, with nearly 300,000 members in the Un ...

Early career

Freund worked for a year with a short-lived NGO called Peace Watch, a right-of-center group monitoring the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

. When Peace Watch closed, he took a job with the Sapanut Bank in Tel Aviv, work he did not enjoy. In 1996, he became the deputy director of communications under Prime Minister

Binyamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

. After Netanyahu lost the 1999 election to

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Ja ...

, Freund took a job with Ruder Finn, a Jerusalem public relations firm. At some point, backed by family money, he left his job in public relations to devote himself to the work of "returning lost" Jewish groups to Israel.

Shavei Israel

Freund was introduced to the cause that would shape his career while working for the Prime Minister, when he read a letter from the

Bnei Menashe The Bnei Menashe ( he, בני מנשה, "Children of Menasseh", known as the Shinlung in India) is a community of people from various Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups from the border of India and Burma who claim descent from one of the Lost Tribe ...

community of eastern India, a group that claims descent from the lost Israelite tribe of Menashe. In the letter, they pleaded with the Prime Minister to enable them to make

. He became involved through the bureaucracy in arranging for large numbers of Bnei Menashe to make Aliya. Freund began to work with Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail whose organization

Amishav ''Shavei Israel'' ( he, שבי ישראל, ''Returners of Israel'') is an Israel-based Jewish organization that encourages people of Jewish descent to strengthen their connection with Israel and the Jewish people. Founded by Michael Freund i ...

was founded in 1975 to help "lost" Jews "return" to Israel, splitting with him to found

in 2002. He became the largest funder of Shavei Israel. According to Freund, the

and similar groups "constitute a large, untapped demographic and spiritual reservoir for Israel and the Jewish people.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freund, Michael American emigrants to Israel American nonprofit chief executives American political activists American social activists American speechwriters Businesspeople from New York City Columbia Business School alumni Israeli bankers Israeli Jews Israeli non-fiction writers Israeli political activists Jewish activists Jewish American bankers Jewish American writers Princeton University alumni Writers from Manhattan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from the Upper East Side 21st-century American Jews