The Remarkable Isi Liebler

In the home where MK Yuli Edelstein, Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, grew up, there was no need for wallpaper because the walls were covered with books. He was convinced there were more books in his house than in any other – until he saw the massive collection of more than 40,000 volumes at the home of his friends, Isi and Naomi Leibler.

The late Isi Leibler and his monumental contributions to Israel and the Jewish people were warmly remembered by MK Edelstein, family, friends and the Bar-Ilan community at a special ceremony marking publication of the Hebrew version of Lone Voice: The Wars of Isi Leibler.

Originally written in English by Prof. Suzanne D. Rutland, renowned historian from the University of Sydney, and published in 2021 by Gefen Publishing Company, the Hebrew version was translated by Israeli journalist Avirama Golan and published by Bar-Ilan University Press.

Leibler was a major player on the world Jewish stage for over six decades. As a top Jewish leader in Australia, he was a key figure in placing the issue of Soviet Union Jewry on the world agenda and in establishing diplomatic ties between the State of Israel and China and India.

The event, attended by nearly 100 people, took place in the Naomi and Isi Leibler Exhibition Hall at the Wurzweiler Central Library at Bar-Ilan University and was emceed by Dr. Olga Goldin, Director of the BIU Libraries and Information Division. Bar-Ilan University Deputy President Prof. Moshe Lewenstein delivered opening remarks on behalf of University President Prof. Arie Zaban and thanked the family for their longtime support and friendship to Bar-Ilan University.

Though Leibler, whose refugee parents reached Australia in 1939, built one of the largest companies in the world, he was a man of vision whose love of Jewishness and the land of Israel were first and foremost, recalled Prof. Rutland. His books, including Soviet Jewry and Human Rights: The Case for Israel, and his involvement in endeavors against antisemitism and BDS, often predicted the future long in advance. He advocated for rescinding the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism.

Recalling Leibler’s long-time, unceasing activism on behalf of Soviet Jewry, Vera Muravitz, former Chairman of the International Friends of Bar-Ilan University, said, “It took a leader from Down Under to draw attention to the plight of our brothers and sisters in the Soviet Union.” To that end she introduced two friends and refuseniks in the audience whose freedom was secured by Leibler, Ari Volvovski and Ephraim Kholmianski, in addition to former Prisoner of Zion Edelstein. Muravitz added that the book launch event corresponded with the fifth day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz in which Ezekiel the prophet beheld a vision of the Divine "Chariot" representing the spiritual infrastructure of creation. “Isi was not a prophet, but I believe that he was a ‘seer’ like Ezekiel in many ways. He lived by example and one of his most important ideals was ensuring the continuity of the Jewish people,” said Muravitz.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Isi’s son, Jonathan Leibler, said that despite Isi’s commitment to so many endeavors and all his achievements, his family was his first priority and they never felt his absence. Isi hoped that his grandchildren would work similarly to defend their people and the family consistently works to perpetuate the values that the beloved patriarch instilled in each one of them.

In 2016 Bar-Ilan University awarded Leibler an honorary doctorate for his tireless activism on behalf of the Jewish people. Naomi Leibler, Ari Volvovski, and close friend Yossi Vardi, who also attended the book launch event, placed the ceremonial hood around Leibler’s shoulders.

The extensive Leibler Reference Collection of 40,000 volumes, covering all aspects of 4,000 years of Jewish existence in the land of Israel and in the Diaspora, will one day be housed at Bar-Ilan’s Wurzweiler Central Library Building.