A story collection
Industrialists
When pioneering was measured by the plow, they understood that a country also needs electricity, water, and factories. They turned vision into industry. Read their stories here.
Edward Raphael Aghion
The Egyptian Jewish businessman behind the construction of the country's most famous villa, on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. The fascinating blend of Egyptian wealth and German architecture that gave rise to the Prime Minister's official residence.
Ellis Kadoorie
The Jewish opium merchant from Baghdad who became a legendary tycoon in the Far East and donated a vast fortune from Hong Kong to Shanghai. The surprising will he left behind led to the founding of two agricultural schools that shaped Israel's generation of leaders.
Erich Muller
The Zionist industrialist who brought European textile expertise to the young State of Israel and built the Ata factory with his own hands. The man who dressed the pioneers in simple khaki clothes and made those clothes a symbol of Sabra fashion and identity.
Gunter Friedlaender
The pharmacist who fled Europe with a bold scientific vision and established a small pharmaceutical factory in Jerusalem. How did his modest workshop become an international pharmaceutical corporation that put Israel on the map?
Dov Klimker
The brilliant chemist who recognized industrial gold in the wine-making residues of the wineries in Zichron Yaakov and Rishon LeZion. The scientist who built the Hebrew chemical industry from nothing and turned agricultural waste into a thriving manufacturing enterprise.
David Wolffsohn
The man who raised the tallit and turned it into the national flag, and revived the ancient Hebrew currency - the shekel. Herzl's successor, who saved the Zionist movement from collapse and made its symbols part of our national identity.
Baron Alfred Moritz Mond (Lord Melchett)
Until late in life, he was a British industrialist with no connection to his Jewish roots. Then a Zionist flame was kindled in him, leading him to invest his wealth in the land and leave his name there.
Hilda and Richard Strauss
The Yekke from Nahariya who started with two cows in the backyard, a few liters of milk, and an uncompromising passion for quality. The remarkable success story of the modest couple who built one of Israel's giant food companies from nothing.
Helena Kagan
The doctor who fought epidemics, ignorance, and dire poverty to save Jerusalem's children. She treated everyone without distinction of religion or nationality, and became the mother of modern medicine in the Land of Israel.
Zalman David Levontin
The young Chabad Hasid who understood that Zionism could not be built on vision and hoes alone, but also needed a sound bank balance and capital investment. The man who founded the Anglo-Palestine Bank and raised the substantial funds that made it possible to build a state from scratch.
Haim and Miriam Yaffe
The remarkable Galilean dynasty that produced fighters, rabbis, and farmers who became a living legend. The story of a clan with deep roots in the Land of Israel that inspired Meir Shalev's masterful novel Fontanelle.
Yehezkel Danin
The entrepreneur who abandoned the Diaspora surname Suchowolski, drew the first lot in Ahuzat Bayit, and established a Hebrew kindergarten. The pioneer who understood that a new land demanded a new language, advanced Hebrew education, and urban roots.
Yechiel Michel Steinberg
The snowstorm that destroyed Jerusalem's rooftops led to an architectural revolution brought straight from the Templer builders. The story of a practical man who learned the secrets of European construction and changed the skyline of the Land of Israel forever.
Jacob Elhanan Litvinsky
The bold entrepreneur who headed a dynasty that turned sand dunes into thriving cities and acquired land from Jaffa to Samaria. The fascinating story of a family of pioneering businesspeople who left an indelible mark on the map of settlement in the Land of Israel.
Isaac Leib Goldberg
The quiet Zionist philanthropist who opened his wallet and personally financed the purchase of the JNF's first plot of land. The man who acquired the land on Mount Scopus and redeemed land without seeking any glory or title for himself.
Lea Gottlieb
The woman who survived the inferno in Europe with her two daughters and turned a modest dream into the Gottex fashion empire. How did a determined Israeli designer conquer the world's most prestigious runways with swimwear?
Lord Israel Ziv
The lone refugee who built a multi-billion-pound empire through the Marks & Spencer chain, and chose to devote his entire fortune to founding WIZO, the Weizmann Institute, and the Tel Mond bloc.
Meir Rotberg
The man who sought neither honor nor authority, but believed with all his heart that simple agricultural labor was the true path to human redemption and moral betterment.
Michael Polak
The mysterious businessman who understood that a country is built not with words, but by pouring concrete and building factories and ironworks. The modest industrialist who founded Nesher in Haifa and laid the foundations for all the infrastructure of the young State of Israel.
Moshe Abarbanel
The visionary Tel Avivian who brought the magic of silent films to the city's sand dunes and founded the legendary Eden Cinema. The man who replaced streetlamps with the light of the projector and taught the Hebrew community to dream before the big screen.
Moshe Greidinger
The Haifa entrepreneur who started with a modest cinema and sparked a family dynasty that conquered the country's theaters one by one. How did one man's vision become an international cinema empire that brought Hollywood magic into every home?
Moshe Novomeysky
The engineer from Siberia who looked at the still waters of the Dead Sea and saw in them a gold mine of essential natural resources. The man who deciphered secret reports, battled British bureaucracy, and built the potash works that brought life to the wilderness.
Nahum Wilbush
The visionary engineer who founded the Shemen oil factory and the first flour mills, and laid the foundations for the modern industrial revolution in the Land of Israel.
Felix de Menashe
The baron and banker from Alexandria who acquired thousands of dunams in the center of the country to build a new Hebrew settlement there. The story of Egypt's Jewish moneyed aristocracy, which laid the foundations for what we know today as Tel Hashomer.
Pinchas Rutenberg
A daring Russian revolutionary and confidant who was involved in a political execution became the man who brought electricity to the Land of Israel. The turbulent life of the "Old Man of Naharayim," who conquered the darkness and harnessed the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers to his vision.
Reuven Hecht
The visionary Zionist who spent years battling the establishment to build the enormous Dagon grain silos at the Port of Haifa. A man who combined ensuring the country's wheat supply with a profound love of art and archaeology.
Simcha Blass
The brilliant engineer whose daring calculations everyone laughed at - until his water pipes saved besieged Jerusalem from thirst. The man who invented the global drip-irrigation revolution and proved that what sounds like science fiction is the desert's miracle cure.