The World Jewish Congress mourns the passing of veteran Israeli diplomat Mordechai Arbell.
Arbell was for a long time chairman of the World Jewish Congress Research Institute in Jerusalem and in addition a founding board member of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations ICFR). He passed away on Monday in Jerusalem at the age of 87.
Mordechai Arbell was born in Bulgaria and moved to Israel with his family during World War II. After studies at Hebrew University and the University of Paris (France), he joined Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served in posts as consul in Bogota, Colombia, and as Israeli ambassador to Panama and Haiti. He was a non-resident ambassador to Haiti from 1972 to 1975 and visited Haiti on several occasions for community projects.
Arbell devoted much of his life to documenting the story of Jews in the southern part of the New World. Arbell was a research fellow at the Ben-Zvi Institute and served as chairman of Sefarad, an organization for the preservation of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish heritage.
He published books and research papers on Sephardic history in the Americas, Austria, Albania, Croatia, Philippines and India, including 'The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean' and 'The Portuguese Jews of Jamaica'.
ICFR Director Dr. Laurence Weinbaum, who worked with him for over 20 years, said, “Mordechai was a Jewish Renaissance man who had a boundless fascination with, and encyclopedic knowledge of, Jewish history, especially the civilization of Sephardic Jewry.
"A tireless advocate for smaller, far-flung Jewish communities, he was a mesmerizing speaker who brought to life the heritage of Spanish-Portuguese Jewry. Arbell was also a passionate Zionist who made manifold contributions to the success of Israeli diplomacy. He earned a place in the pantheon of heroic, modern-day sons and daughters of the Jewish people."
Mordechai Arbell was awarded the WJC's Nahum Goldmann Medal in 2008 for his contribution to universal humanitarian causes and actions benefiting the Jewish people.
May his memory be a blessing.
Photo: Andres Lacko
