DR.

AVRAHAM AVI-HAI
Biographical Notes

Dr. Avraham Avi-hai’s career in Israel spans working with the founders of Israel until his own
leadership role in the Jewish world as World Chairman of Keren Hayesod-United Israel
Appeal. Dr. Avi-hai was privileged to work in the shadow of Israel's great leaders, Prime
Minister David Ben-Gurion and his successor, Levi Eshkol. Dr. Avi-hai was recruited to
Government service by the man who later became Jerusalem’s legendary Mayor, Teddy
Kollek and served as Director of the Overseas Division in Ben-Gurion’s Prime Minister’s
Office, and then Secretary for Public Affairs to Prime Minister Eshkol. He organized the
Jerusalem Economic Conferences (1968-1971) which laid the foundation for Israel’s entry into
hi-tech.

For a decade he was World Chairman of United Israel Appeal - Keren hayesod, and a
prominent member the Executives of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization,.
In that period (1978-1988), he initiated, together with the late Phil Granovsky of Toronto, the
World Board of Trustees, and Project Renewal. During his tenure, he placed special
emphasis on Young Leadership and the Women’s Division, stressing that Keren Hayesod was
a family, and should activate individual families as well.

In the early 1970s, Dr. Avi-hai was founding Dean of the School for Overseas Students of
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and also acted as its Provost. He has been Visiting
Professor at the University of Rochester in the US and at York University in Canada. He is a
Member Emeritus of the Hebrew University's Board of Governors, on which he served for
over two decades. He was also founding Associate Chairman with Sam Rothberg (Chairman)
of the Board of Overseers of the Rothberg International School of Hebrew University, as the
Overseas School was later named.

He 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). Previously he had studied at the University of Toronto and at Yeshiva University,
New York. In his earlier years in Israel, Avi-hai was a reporter for The Jerusalem Post, and a
correspondent for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In addition to English and Hebrew, he
speaks Yiddish and French, and has a working knowledge of a number of other European
languages. (German, Italian, Spanish) and has studied Ancient Greek and Latin,

His book Ben-Gurion -- State Builder has appeared in English, Hebrew, French, and
Spanish. His DANGER! Three Jewish Peoples, is a controversial analysis of spreading rifts in
Jewish peoplehood. In recent years he has devoted most of his time to studying and writing.
His novel, A Tale of Two Avrahams, combines the genre of a modern thriller with an historical
novel, was published by Gefen and Amazon in 2014. The Hebrew version appeared a few
years earlier..

For the last five years, The Jerusalem Post has published his column “The POSTman Knocks
Twice.” He also has a column in The Jerusalem Report by the name of “How It Really Was!”
He has had opinion pieces published in Hebrew in Haaretz, Yediot Aharanot and Maariv, as
well as academic articles in various journals.

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. He is the
father of three daughters and his wife Henrietta is mother of two sons. The clan today
reaches down to the fourth generation.

April, 2018