Eliahu Eilat

Eliahu Eilat was born in 1903 in Snovsk

Eilat was born Ilya Epstein in 1903 in Snovsk, in the Russian Empire, now Ukraine. His father Menachem was a timber merchant, and his mother Rivka came from a family of rabbis. As a gymnasium student during the Russian Revolution he joined the Zionist youth movement Tzeirei Zion.

He studied medicine at Kiev University and continued underground Zionist work. In 1922 he was arrested at a secret Zionist conference, and after his release he moved to Moscow and joined the Russian center of HeHalutz.

In 1924 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and later worked with Jewish construction workers in Ma'an and Amman. He studied at the Hebrew University's Institute of Oriental Studies, took an interest in the Bedouin, and then studied at the American University of Beirut.

In 1934 he joined the Jewish Agency's political department, heading its section for neighboring countries. From 1945 he represented the agency in Washington, where President Harry Truman informed him of American recognition of Israel. He became Israel's first ambassador to the United States and served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1959.

From 1962 to 1968 he was president of the Hebrew University, which also granted him a doctorate. He published books and dozens of articles. He died in 1990.