Eli Hurvitz and the creation of Teva Pharmaceuticals: An Israeli Biography

by Yossi Goldstein

  “I recall my parents being called in to school because of the incident,” Eli recounted years later. “And that was the worst punishment possible.”

  During his eight years at the Carmel elementary school, this was the only occasion Eli was seriously reprimanded.

  Eli was a good, disciplined student and was popular among his teachers and classmates alike. Dr. Ben Yosef even praised Eli’s knowledge of the Bible. His teacher for the subjects of math and literature, Avraham Assaf, regarded him as a prodigy, which is not surprising. At a very young age, Eli began helping his father issue bills to customers of his plastering business. In school, he mastered the material he was taught in math and science with relative ease. These were his favorite subjects and he excelled in them. He also enjoyed other subjects to varying degrees, such as history and literature. He regarded some classes as little more than novelties, memorable primarily because women taught them. One such class was sewing, which was taught by a professional actress who had retrained as a teacher to make ends meet.

  “I really enjoyed her lessons,” Eli recounted. “She was a wonderful storyteller.”

  His cooking teacher and gymnastics teacher, whose feminine figure was legendary among Carmel’s students, were also deeply ingrained in his memory.

  ••

  When he was in fifth grade, Eli joined Kehila, the local troop of the Tzofim (the Scouts movement), which met in a hut on Melchett Street. In his free time, he studied, read, and arranged his stamp collection which, over the years, grew to considerable proportions. But most of the time, Eli played with his friends, including some he kept in touch with for the rest of his life. He also devoted a great deal of time to his family; he would spend vacations with his father’s brother Shmuel Yitzhak, who lived in Tel Aviv’s Hatikvah neighborhood. Eli and his sister Ruth loved the large pool of water in Shmuel Yitzhak’s yard that was meant to supply drinking water for the neighborhood’s residents. His uncle’s spacious home, the nearby attractions, and the warmhearted hospitality with which the Hurvitzes were always welcomed led Eli to remember these visits fondly.

  When Eli reached adolescence he sought out other sources of stimulation, as teenagers tend to do. The Scouts were one such source. At first, he preferred the blue work shirt of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement since many of his closest friends were members. Its secular Zionist-socialist ideology also may have appealed to him.10 Zvi, however, did not approve, as the education he had received in Hapoel Hamizrachi as well as the ideals in which he believed ran completely counter to those of Hashomer Hatzair. Zvi was even more concerned about the movement’s completely secular values.

  Although Eli was opinionated and did not always agree with his father, he accepted his father’s position on this issue. And although he maintained close contact with his friends in Hashomer Hatzair throughout his life, following their activities and frequently expressing admiration for their views, he became a loyal member of the Scouts. The Kehila troop became a distinctive social framework that helped shape his life from that point onward.

  In the years that followed, Eli developed a strong attachment to the Scouts movement, first as a young rank-and-file member and later as a counselor. He often found the weekly activities, which addressed issues ranging from current events to other aspects of life, intellectually challenging. Above all else, the Scouts were a social outlet. It was there that many teenagers developed meaningful friendships and even romances. And it was there that Eli, who was an attractive youth, met his first girlfriend.

  •••

  World War II broke out just as Eli was beginning fourth grade. He lived the war, fighting its battles in his imagination. Using the rudimentary means at his disposal, he followed international developments, particularly on the battlefield. He spread out a map in his room and used thumbtacks to mark the battles underway. He acquired information from Davar, the daily newspaper affiliated with Mapai, the largest and most important political party in the Jewish community. He and his father would read the newspaper every morning. Later they bought a radio, from which he was able to glean additional information. The battles were discussed in detail in school as well. His teachers spoke openly about the dramatic events occurring around them. This was unavoidable as the advance of Rommel’s armies toward Egypt caused widespread fear. Reports that the Jewish community was preparing for a German invasion engaged the minds of children and parents alike.11 Many assembled supplies at home in an effort to be prepared in case the war reached them. News of Rommel’s retreat brought a major sense of relief.

  Information about the Holocaust was reported sporadically. At first, it was not clear what was taking place. Rumors regarding the murder of Jews spread through Eli’s school and home, but during the first years of the war they were understood simply as the product of war. Later, well-founded, clear-cut reports on the Holocaust in progress resulted in an overwhelming sense of shock. Eli understood the major significance of the events at the inherently limited level of an eleven-year-old boy. Concern for the wellbeing of Zvi and Zippora’s parents, siblings, uncles and aunts, cousins, and childhood friends in Europe now began to have an impact on the Hurvitzes’ daily lives.

  Ominous reports from Europe now flowed into the country on a daily basis, resulting in a steadily increasing sense of shock. The rumors, the stories, and the frightening accounts of the deaths of many close relatives arrived sporadically, including news that Eli’s grandmother and grandfather, Gittel and Hanoch apparently died of starvation in the ghetto.

  Eli finished elementary school as World War II was ending. A few months before the conclusion of the war, he was recruited into the Haganah (the underground military arm of the Jewish Agency that would become the Israel Defense Forces). He later recalled being in no rush to take part in the fighting. Still, for him, joining the underground just a few months before his thirteenth birthday was symbolic. He was moved by the oath-of-allegiance ceremony and delighted by the special status joining granted him. For Eli, the Holocaust, the world war that had just reached an end, and the widespread belief that fighting would soon break out between Jews and Arabs all made joining the Haganah seem like the right thing to do.

  •••

  An excellent student, Eli was accepted to study at the Balfour Gymnasium, which subsequently became the first municipal school in the city. Only a few of his friends were admitted to the prestigious school. Eli was also awarded a scholarship that covered his living expenses and tuition. At the time, the Tel Aviv municipality was seeking to encourage outstanding students and Eli fit the bill. His teachers at Carmel Elementary School had recommended him without reservation. Eli was not particularly interested in studying at Balfour, of all places, and would have preferred to attend one of the agricultural schools, which at the time were considered to be just as prestigious as the schools in Tel Aviv. At first, he wanted to attend the agricultural school in Pardes Hanna and then considered the Kadoorie agricultural school in the Lower Galilee.

  Eli’s parents, especially Zvi, were not thrilled by this idea. After serious discussion, they convinced Eli to change his mind. Together with his parents, Eli chose the Balfour Gymnasium. More than anything else, the choice was based on financial considerations. Had they made a concerted effort, his parents most likely would have been able to manage the financial burden of sending him to an agricultural school. After all, they lived well, their relatively spacious home lacked nothing, and his father even managed to save some money. Eli, however, believed in modesty and this swayed his decision.

  •••

  The school Eli attended for the next four years had been established in 1931 by Dr. Alexander Koller as a gymnasium, a secondary school, with a strong emphasis on academics. Located on Mazeh Street in Tel Aviv, the Balfour Gymnasium, as it was known at the time, quickly emerged as a selective and prestigious academic institution. Soon after Eli enrolled, the school was acquired by the Tel Aviv municipality, which changed its nam
e to Ironi Aleph (Hebrew for Municipal School A). Despite this change, the school’s elitist outlook remained firmly in place. In most ways, Eli’s high school experience did not differ significantly from his elementary school one: both schools strove for excellence, and in both schools he excelled and was popular among his teachers and classmates alike.

  The major difference between these two periods was the views he absorbed, some of which he carried with him into adulthood and older age. One figure who had a great influence on him was Pesach Lipovetsky (Ben-Amram), a well-known author who was Eli’s teacher throughout his four years of high school. He had gained renown for his biography of Joseph Trumpeldor,12 and was different from Eli’s other teachers. The literature and home-room classes he taught provided students with a unique “Guide for the Perplexed.” His teaching method appeared to be simple. He would select a subject from a book or the daily newspaper and attempt to interest his students by discussing it. However, by the end of each lesson, he always ended up getting to the heart of the matter and exploring the topic in question in all its complexity.

  One example was a discussion of an article from the Haaretz daily Hebrew-language newspaper headlined, “Revenge for the Blood of a Small Child – Even the Devil Has Not Yet Devised (a verse from Bialik’s poem ‘On the Slaughter’).” In this lesson, which reverberated in Eli’s thoughts for years to come, Lipovetsky first focused on more simplistic aspects of the subject, such as the horrifying story of the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jewish children, the Holocaust and its manifestations, the wickedness of the Nazis, the essence of evil, and the essence of revenge. He then raised the more complex and contradictory question of whether in the wake of such injustice a person had the right to embark upon a campaign of revenge. In the discussion that followed, Lipovetsky acknowledged the natural instinct for vengeance that is awoken in all humans who are victims of injustice and addressed the anger such experiences cause. But he rejected the notion that revenge is the only possible answer. After all, it too encompasses wickedness. How, he asked, is it possible to differentiate one instance of wickedness from another? The underlying principle of Lipovetsky’s approach to teaching was that people should not be satisfied with a simplistic understanding of complex issues. Indeed, in his classes, discussions inevitably focused on the complexity of the issue under consideration.

  From that point on, Eli embraced this approach:

  The basis of my philosophy is that the world is a complex place with complex issues… If there is one thing I use on an almost daily basis it is the conviction, which I articulate to myself repeatedly, that complexity is not a reason to “flee the battlefield.” On the contrary, it is within this complexity that we must seek out opportunity. Without a doubt, that is the main thing I learned from having Pesach Lipovetsky as a teacher.

  Another fundamental principle that Eli internalized at home and that Lipovetsky reinforced at school was the precedence of human life over ideologies and faiths. To illustrate this, the teacher reexamined heroic legends that fell within the general consensus of the Jewish community, such as Trumpeldor’s death in battle (when he is believed to have uttered the famous words, “it is good to die for our country”), the suicide of the besieged Jews at Masada,13 and the overwhelming failure of the Bar-Kochba Revolt.14 In a clear act of educational courage, Lipovetsky rejected the heroic version of all three, even though they had become important symbols and sources of inspiration in the Jewish community. Life, he maintained, took precedence over all else. Therefore, he concluded, it should not be sacrificed for the homeland, for honor, or for anything else. Eli was in complete agreement with this position.

  Another subject Eli enjoyed (in addition to Bible studies and the plastic arts), and in which he demonstrated an interest after school hours, was the history of economic movements, particularly economics as an aspect of human development and related social ideologies. His family owned a thick volume bearing the title, History of Economic Doctrines, which he read from cover to cover. Of special interest to him were different types of economic doctrines and the differences between them.

  “I was an expert on ideologies,” Eli boasted on a number of occasions.

  Studies dominated Eli’s adolescent years. However, he also took part in a full array of social and cultural activities. Although he was a well-behaved student, Eli enjoyed participating in an occasional prank and skipping school from time to time. On such occasions, he would sit in on court proceedings or go to the beach. Of course, such mild misbehavior was normal among children his age. In his case, however, it happened much less frequently because he liked school.

  Under the direction of Principal David Rakabi, the teachers at his school took into account the fact that their students tended to be obedient. This is one of the reasons they allowed them relative freedom and accepted their mischief. This was perhaps best illustrated by the story of how Eli and his friends hauled a car (a Baby Ford) belonging to their teacher, Dr. Hirsch, to the top of a water tower located near the school, left it there, and returned to class. According to Eli, the teacher “walked calmly into three classrooms and said, ‘you, you, and you – climb up and put the car back.’ He knew more or less who had hauled the car to the top of the water tower without anyone telling him.” Yet, he did not punish the perpetrators. Instead, he accepted it as a practical joke and took the matter no further. When asked why he reacted as he had and did not punish those responsible, he answered dismissively: “They did it to me once. They won’t do it a second time.” The school administration responded in the same spirit.

  •••

  As he grew older, social activity became a larger part of Eli’s world. It centered on his school, where an entire social network gradually emerged. After school hours, however, the activity moved to the homes of students, where Eli and his classmates would typically gather later in the day. His closest friend at the time was Zvika Levanon, whom Eli had befriended on his first day at Carmel Elementary School and who subsequently became a permanent fixture at the Hurvitz household. Sometimes Eli and his friends met at the Hurvitzes’ home. On other occasions, they could be found at movie theaters or walking barefoot on the beach.

  Slowly but surely, their social circle expanded to include members of the opposite sex and couples started to form. Although Eli was shy and took his time in this area, he eventually found his queen. Kusha, as everyone called her, was a smart, perceptive girl and a good match for Eli. Their natural meeting place was the local Scouts chapter. As time passed and the two went their separate ways, Kusha was followed by Hedva who was followed by Chaya and finally by Dalia.

  The activities of the Kehila troop gradually became the focal point of Eli’s life, especially after he and his friends from the movement formed a settlement group (gar`in). After graduating from high school, they planned to undergo practical training as a group at a kibbutz, a unique form of collective settlement first established by Jewish Zionist pioneers in 1909. The kibbutz was based on the idea of complete equality among its members, collective ownership of all kibbutz property, the division of labor according to the abilities of each member, and equal division of the fruits of production. The underlying principle of the kibbutz was, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” “Serving the homeland,” as they put it, was their common path and ultimate goal. Eli’s parents were supportive of his decision and encouraged him in their own quiet manner. After all, they too once wanted to be pioneers.

  Eli also aspired to instill the movement’s ideology in the younger members under his leadership. This may have been why conducting educational activities became a more important part of his life. In the Scouts, he encouraged younger members to follow the same path, through discussions of social, cultural, and ethical dilemmas, everyday issues, and current events. In his eyes, the younger members in his charge constituted the next generation of agricultural settlers who would follow in his footsteps to establish new pionee
ring communities.

  As a counselor Eli spoke with the younger members about the importance of establishing Jewish agricultural communities whose members performed all the necessary labor themselves; how each youth could find personal fulfillment as a pioneer; and how the agricultural communities contributed to society in general and the Jewish community in the Land of Israel in particular. He also attempted to endow them with a spirit of volunteerism and public service.

  “When it was necessary to repair or paint the shack and volunteers were needed,” Eli recounted, “I always volunteered … and I pulled others along with me.”

  From a biographical perspective, Eli’s activities in the movement were important for another reason: the role they played in shaping the leadership skills that would later constitute a prominent part of his character. Members of his family, and his father in particular, had reinforced the qualities that were so important in this side of his personality. The Scouts further refined them and provided a context in which he was able to exercise them and bring them to life. It was in the movement that he became a leader. That was how he behaved and that was his image among his peers.

  Chapter 3

  A Kibbutznik from Tel Katzir

  November 29, 1947, shook the foundations of the Jewish community in the British Mandate of Palestine. The United Nations General Assembly was scheduled to determine that day whether two states – one Jewish and one Arab – would be established west of the Jordan River within the territory of the mandate, as recommended by a majority of the members of the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). Like the rest of the Jewish community in the mandate, the Hurvitzes anxiously awaited the vote. A few hours before the UN addressed the issue, Eli made his way to the radio station on Allenby Street. He was known for clearly explaining the heartfelt feelings of his peers so had been asked to share his views with listeners in a special radio program for youth. As he walked out of the building after the broadcast, he could hear the General Assembly session being broadcast live over a loudspeaker. The program’s editors had told him earlier that it appeared possible, and perhaps even probable, that the General Assembly would approve the resolution. But now, listening to the broadcast while surrounded by an anxious crowd, he felt less confident. Like many Jews in the mandate, he feared that the resolution would be rejected.