Michael Freund () is an American-born Israeli political activist and non-profit executive who advocates on behalf of individuals and communities with Jewish ancestry, including descendants of the Lost tribes of Israel,

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 Spani ...

, hidden Jews and Jews forcibly assimilated under Communist rule, and seeks to assist them to reconnect with their roots. With this aim in mind, he founded the organization Shavei Israel in 2004. He is also a veteran syndicated columnist and feature writer for The

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...

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. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

of Manhattan and attended the

Ramaz School The Ramaz School is an 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 Manhatta ...

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

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 studied in parallel. The stu ...

and working part-time for the concert pianist and journalist David Bar-Illan, who at the time was the Oped Editor of the Jerusalem Post. Freund returned to New York and was appointed at the age of 23 to be the speechwriter and assistant to the Israeli Ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, then went on to earn a graduate degree in business administration from Columbia University. At the age of 16, Freund became religiously observant and he later made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

to Israel in 1995. Freund is the son of Harry Freund, co-founder of the merchant-banking firm Balfour Investors and grandson of Miriam Freund-Rosenthal, a former President of

Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jews, American Jewish volunteer List of women's organizations, women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is one of the largest international Jewish organi ...

Early career

Freund worked for a year with a short-lived NGO called Peace Watch, a right-of-center group monitoring the Oslo Accords. When Peace Watch closed, he took a job with the Sapanut Bank in Tel Aviv, work he did not enjoy. In 1996, at the age of just 28, he was appointed to serve as the Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning under Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. After Netanyahu lost the 1999 election to

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

, Freund took a job with Ruder Finn, a Jerusalem public relations firm. At some point, 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 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 was founded in 1975 to help "lost" Jews "return" to Israel, splitting with him to found Shavei Israel in 2002. He became the largest funder of Shavei Israel. According to Freund, welcoming the Bnei Menashe and similar groups who sincerely wish to embrace Judaism and Jews identity is essential for the Jewish future. "Yes, we must redouble our efforts to keep Jews Jewish, but we must also open the doors and pave the way for groups such as the Bnei Menashe to return. The fact is that we need more Jews in the world, not less. Our vitality, and our future, depend on it,” he has argued. For his work with Shavei Israel, Freund has been awarded a number of prizes, including the Moskowitz Prize for

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and the Jerusalem Prize. Shavei Israel was sued in Israel by Freund's former spouse, Sarah Green, after the couple split in a contentious divorce. Sarah Green’s father, Pincus Green, was a partner with billionaire commodities trader

Marc Rich Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodity, commodities Trader (finance), trader, financier, and businessman. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later indicted in the ...

who was indicted on multiple counts for tax evasion and later pardoned by

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 2001 during his final day as president.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freund, Michael American emigrants to Israel American male non-fiction writers American nonprofit chief executives American activists American speechwriters Businesspeople from New York City Columbia Business School alumni Israeli bankers Israeli Jews Israeli non-fiction writers Israeli activists Jewish American activists Jewish American bankers American bankers Jewish American non-fiction 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