Benny Chefetz

Benny Chefetz was born in 1965 in Rishon LeZion

Benny Chefetz was born on October 28, 1965, and grew up in Rishon LeZion. His parents are Pua (née Malevsky) and Eliezer Chefetz.

He served in the Artillery Corps as a battery commander. He earned all his degrees at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture, a bachelor's in soil and water sciences in 1992 and a doctorate in environmental chemistry in 1998. From 1998 to 2000 he was a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University.

In 2001 he became a lecturer in environmental chemistry at the Faculty of Agriculture and was promoted to full professor in 2014. He headed the Department of Soil and Water, served as vice dean and was dean from 2017 to 2022. He then became founding director of the university's Center for Food Systems, and in May 2024 he became head of the Volcani Institute.

His research studies how organic pollutants behave in the environment, with a focus on human medicines that reach farm fields through irrigation with treated wastewater. He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers. He is married to Michal, has 3 children and lives in Moshav Kidron.