Ervin’s Story of Resilience
Originally from Czechoslovakia, young Ervin survived the Holocaust, but most of his family did not. After The War, at age 19, he was a group leader on Exodus, the ship that brought Holocaust survivors to the Land of Israel in 1947 but was returned to Europe. Ervin then moved to the U.S., became a Rabbi, and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University. In 1970, he finally fulfilled his dream by immigrating to Israel with his family. In his pioneering Zionist spirit, they settled in a town in the Negev Desert called Sde Boker—the same place where Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, lived. There, Ervin led a high school for English-speaking youth. Today, 93-year-old Ervin is the proud grandfather of 10, including Gal and Shai, who defend him and the people of Israel in the IDF.
28.04.22
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Shai is on the left and Gal on the right with their grandfather Ervin
“Be proud of your uniform.” – Ervin Birnbaum
Before being drafted to the IDF, Corporal Shai received a beautiful letter from her grandfather. Shai said that when she read the letter, it brought tears to her eyes. “My twin sister, Gal, and I are very proud of our grandfather’s history.” Corporal Shai currently serves in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, and Second Lieutenant Gal is an officer in the Israeli Navy—the same navy where their father served as a submarine executive commander.
The letter written by Ervin to his granddaughter, Shai, before she was drafted to the IDF.
Ervin Birnbaum, a Proud Zionist
Ervin Birnbaum was born in 1929 in the city of Kosice, Czechoslovakia. He was the youngest of three boys. At the beginning of Nazi deportations, he hid in an attic. After being blackmailed to leave his hiding place, he fled to Budapest with false papers, linked up with the underground resistance, and was eventually liberated by Soviet armed forces in May 1945. After his liberation, Ervin was determined to reach the Land of Israel. He led a group of young people from the Zionist ‘Hashomer Hatza’ir’ youth movement. He was one of the passengers on the Exodus in 1947 when the British Army seized the ship and forcibly boarded it. Following the failed attempt to reach the Land of Israel, Ervin joined family members who had immigrated to the U.S. after the war. There, he met his wife, Hadassa, and he studied Public Law and Government at Columbia University. He also graduated from the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 1958.
In 1970, he finally moved to Israel with Hadassa and their three boys: Aiton, Liel and Dani. They settled at the College of the Negev at Sde Boker, where, at Ben Gurion’s request, he founded an English Language College Preparatory School. In 1978, the family moved to Netanya, where Ervin became the National Educational Superintendant for Foreign Language Programs of Youth Aliyah in Israel. He also became the Rabbi of the Bet Israel Masorti Congregation of Netanya. In 1989, he founded a unique NGO, “Shearin Netanya”, which offers multiple programs that assist Jews from the former Soviet Union with their absorption into Israeli society.
In addition to his inspiring career, Ervin published many articles and books, including “In the Shadow of the Struggle” (1990), which discusses Zionism, Aliyah, and the history of Israel. His own testimony of survival through the Holocaust is recorded in the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation Institute. In 2019, he published his remarkable autobiography, “Turning Obstacles into Stepping-Stones”, which also tells of his personal struggles with faith following the Holocaust.
Today, Ervin and Hadassa live in Netanya. Their ten grandchildren all live in Israel and all served in the Israel Defence Forces. This Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, the IDF pays tribute to Ervin’s resilience and his will to follow his dream of living in the State of Israel.
