JANUARY 21 • 2021 | 39

His daughter remembers him as a fierce supporter of Jews and Israel.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hero of Israel’s Founding Dies at 96

A

aron Friedman, a
founding hero of
the State of Israel,
died Jan. 6, 2021, at the age
of 96 in the Los Angeles area,
where he lived
for many years.
Friedman helped
to smuggle Jewish
refugees from
Europe to Palestine
during the British
mandate when
immigration was
banned. He was a
lifelong friend of
David Ben-Gurion,
the founder and
first prime minister
of Israel, and served as one of
his personal bodyguards.
His daughter, Shari Lesnick,
a West Bloomfield resident,
described him as having a “big
personality. He was the life of
the party. When he walked
into a room, it was as if the
sea parted.”
Friedman was born in Jaffa,
Israel, the son of Russian
immigrants to what was
then Palestine and grew up
in what he described as a
“shantytown” near the sea.
Ben-Gurion lived nearby,
and Friedman met him as a
child. Friedman was a talented
swimmer and soon became
well known as a lifeguard on
the Tel Aviv beach, where
he met Golda Meir, Yitzhak
Shamir, Ariel Sharon and
other future Israeli leaders.
Friedman said in an inter-
view some years ago that his
concern about the Jewish
people was instilled by the

massacre of Jewish resi-
dents of Hebron in 1929. He
demonstrated his courage and
commitment when he was
only 16, lying about his age
so that he could
join the Jewish
Settlement Police
who protected
Jewish settlements
against Arabs.
In 1946, Yaakov
Dori, chief
of staff of the
Haganah, appoint-
ed Friedman to
be one of Ben-
Gurion’s person-
al bodyguards.
Friedman attributed his
appointment to his relation-
ship with Ben-Gurion and his
connections with Jewish mili-
tias, some of which he said
threatened Ben-Gurion. As
one of the youngest members
of the Haganah, he served
with Moshe Dayan and was
near him when the military
leader was injured, resulting
in the loss of one eye.
From 1946 to 1947, he was
sent by Jewish leaders to coor-
dinate the smuggling of Jewish
European refugees, especially
scientists, who were living
in displaced persons camps
on Cyprus. Britain and the
United Nations had clamped
down on immigration to
Palestine. Friedman met his
future wife, Esther Shawmut,
an American volunteer in
the Haganah, who was on a
ship near Palestine, when she
jumped overboard to avoid
capture by the British. She

wasn’t a strong swimmer and
was fortunate that Friedman,
the former lifeguard, was
nearby and rescued her. They
married four years later.
Lesnick said her father was
most proud of his service as
a bodyguard to Ben-Gurion
and for “being an integral part
of the smuggling operation.
He coordinated several runs
from Marseille.
” She says that
he spoke more often about his
life before the Israeli War of
Independence and was dis-
couraged by what he viewed as
“political squabbles” afterward.
In 1954, Ben-Gurion asked
him to go to the United States
to develop “an atmosphere
of love and support for the
State of Israel. Lay the seeds,
lay the foundation.” Friedman
then moved to the U.S. and
eventually became youth
director for the USY (United
Synagogue Youth) for the
Pacific Southwest Region. He
was responsible for dramatic
increases in the participation
of Jewish youth in USY. “He
inspired so many Jewish men
and women to become Jewish
leaders — to become rabbis,
to make aliyah, to become
emissaries for Israel. His
passion was creating Jewish
leaders,” says Lesnick.
Lesnick remembers when
Ben-Gurion was being honored
in Los Angeles in the 1960s. As
soon as Ben-Gurion spotted
her father at the large gathering
in a hotel, he immediately came
up and said “Mendela, Mendela
(a childhood name) Friedman”
and they spoke for an hour.

Friedman admired that Ben-
Gurion was committed to
all Jews, regardless of their
religious affiliation or political
views.
In the 1970s, he received an
offer from the Israeli Ministry
of Education to work with
Ethiopian Jews, and the family
moved to Israel. However,
Lesnick says, “it wasn’t a good
fit” and they returned to the
U.S. Her father maintained
a connection to the Israeli
government by participating
in the Los Angeles Israeli
Consulate Speakers Bureau.
Lesnick says that her son
Maxx Lesnick spent time in
Israel at Tel Aviv University.
She says of her son Ben that
his “grandfather gave him the
courage to speak his mind.”
Both grandsons are attorneys.
Friedman was honored
for “protecting the Jewish
homeland and people” during
Israel’s 50th anniversary cel-
ebration and was recognized
in 2015.
Aaron Friedman was the
husband of the late Esther
Shawmut Friedman and is
survived by his daughter and
son-in-law, Shari and Howard
Lesnick; grandsons Maxx
Lesnick and Ben (Amanda
Farber) Lesnick; and many
loving nieces and nephews.
Contributions may be
made to Chabad of Tarzana,
California, www.chabadoft-
hevalley.com or to a charity
of one’s choice. Interment was
at Eden Memorial, Mission
Hills, Calif. Arrangements by
Chevra Kadisha.

COURTESY OF SHARI LESNICK

Aaron Friedman c. 1940