Building Dreams

From the Russian pogroms and murder to the Palestine frontier to building the cities and society of a new nation, this is a sweeping memoir of persecution, poverty, struggle, smuggling, war, determination, independence and hope. It is the story of the Jewish People in the last century. Most of all, it is a love story: the love between a man and a woman, and their love for Israel.

Efraim Margolin is a prominent Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist, founder of Margolin Consultants, one of the leading employment and Merger and Acquisitions Companies in New York City. He is a native of Ukraine escaping pogroms and murders and immigrated to Palestine when he was a small child. Growing up with a father who was a local leader of the Haganah Jewish Underground Militia fighting off Arab riots, he became one of the leading young engineers during World War II working for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Iran and later, as Manager in Baharien Island constructing an airport for the British Air Force. Later he came to America for advanced engineering studies at Columbia University marrying his American sweetheart and ended up serving as a secret agent for the Mossad, the Israeli Undercover Agency, outfitting torpedo boats for the Israeli Navy. After the War of Independence, he was in charge of building the New City of Beer Sheva in the Negev Desert. Due to unexpected illness of his pregnant wife Florence, he returned to New York with no financial support for his wife and their new born son. Starting from scratch, his ingenuity and perseverance following many failures, he managed to build a striving enterprise and became active in many organizations promoting trade and cultural exchanges with Israel. He and Florence are founders of the City of Tel Aviv Foundation, City of Eilat, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, American Israeli Opera, The Boston Opera and founding benefactors of 40,000 trees in the Jewish National Fund ＂Margolin Peace Forest＂ in Keriat Gat between Jerusalem and Beer Sheva. They live in Manhattan but return to Israel frequently. For more information, please visit www.efraimmargolin.com.