A lot of North American Jewish men and women fought to help establish the state of Israel. The American Jewish Historical Society will honor these people at its annual Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award Dinner in New York City on May 4.
“We have quite a list of these people to honor,” said Toni Young, a vice president of the AJHS board. In fact two on the list are from the Overland Park area — Robert Klapper and Bill Waldberg.
The story of the “overseas volunteers,” (in Hebrew “machal”) is one of outstanding courage and commitment. At the time of their participation, many of these individuals had been only recently decommissioned from service in World War II.
They chose again to risk their lives, not to mention their citizenship, by piloting the ships that illegally transported thousands of Holocaust survivors to Palestine in the face of a determined British naval blockade. Subsequently, the “machalniks” joined all branches of the military that fought to make Israel a living reality. It was principally machalniks who created the future Israeli navy and air force; principally machalniks who transported vital arms and hardware from Czechoslovakia to the fledgling and embattled state; and principally machalniks (not just from North America but from the world over) who provided crucial air support to fend off the invading armies engulfing Israel.
Young said that while AJHS knows that approximately 1,500 American and Canadian Jewish volunteers fought in Palestine and for the newly created state of Israel from 1947-1949, they know they don’t have a record of all their names. So AJHS is asking anyone who was either a machal or is a relative of a machalnick and has information to share to contact If people want additional information, they can email Rachel Lobovsky at .
“We hope that people from all over the country will participate in this awards dinner in recognition of the fact that people from all over the country were part of creating the state,” Young said.
“Part of this story is really still unfolding. The truth is that no one has really talked about this story and a lot of the people who volunteered came back to their North American communities and didn’t talk about it because they had done something illegal. And only now are people really coming out so it could be really interesting,” Young said.
Young said these volunteers made a significant contribution to Israel, yet their achievements remain largely unheralded even to this day. The machal veterans themselves long hesitated to tell their stories for fear of endangering their legal status in their home countries, while the government of Israel was more eager to tout the deeds of its own native and adopted sons.
Yet because of the advanced age of most of these veterans, few opportunities still remain to give them a just recognition. This is why AJHS, which recently became the permanent home of the machal archives (including letters, diaries, official documents, photographs, and objects), has seized this moment to tell their story.
The AJHS intends to develop the archives so the story of the machalniks can be widely studied and grow into to an exploration of other aspects of North American involvement, like the raising of funds for the war and smuggling arms. The AJHS believes that the archives will contribute to a fuller, more accurate understanding of the truly international character of Israel’s birth.
Dan Rather will serve as master of ceremonies at the May 4 dinner. The veterans will be honored collectively and in the person of Dr. Ralph Lowenstein, the individual who painstakingly collected and preserved the historic records of their accomplishments. Previous recipients of the prestigious Emma Lazarus Award include such notable figures as George Schultz, Elie Wiesel and Beverly Sills.
