Shepard Broad OF BLESSED MEMORY
Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation
Shepard Broad OF BLESSED MEMORY
Amidst all of his accomplishments Shepard said that “working secretly for Israel was the important thing he ever did.” In 1945, Broad received a top- secret letter from the American Zionist leader Rudolf Sonneborn. Sonneborn had agreed with David Ben Gurion — who would become Israel’s first prime minister — to organize a group of American men who could help Jews in Palestine form a Jewish state. “My grandfather was one of those men,” said John Bussel, Shepard’s grandson,
and President of the Shepard Broad Foundation. The group convened just once, in Sonneborn’s New York apartment. “Ben Gurion was there, and would later say that the State of Israel was born in that meeting,” Bussel said. “The Jews of Europe had lost everything. The only ones who could help were in America.” Broad raised funds to buy two American cargo ships, and docked them in the Miami River. He told authorities they would sail to South America to bring bananas back to the United States. “What they really did was head east and pick up
Holocaust survivors from Europe and brought them to British Mandate Palestine,” said Bussel. “Many people here have no idea that Miami played such an important role in making this miracle of a country possible.” About 5,000 Holocaust survivors were on Broad’s three ships, the Hatikva, Geula, and the The Jewish State. Yet due to British restrictions on Jewish immigration at the time, they were considered illegal migrants. The British sent one of Broad’s ships back to a refugee camp in Cyprus. Jewish
immigration only became legal once the British Mandate ended and the State of Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. Shepard Broad passed away on November 6, 2001. His legacy continues through the Shepard Broad Foundation and his two children (Morris Broad, of blessed memory, and Ann Bussel), five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
Shepard upon his arrival in Montreal from Europe in August 1920 with his sponsor and HIAS volunteer, Adolph Stark, who found Shepard in detention in Quebec City.
Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation
Temple Beth Am AND Rambam Day School
Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation
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