South Africans Who Served in Machal

BACKGROUND

South African Jewry is one of the largest Jewish communities on the African continent. One of the most important facets of their history has been the commitment of many of its members to the Zionist movement. Many Jews from South Africa have gone to live in Israel, made Aliyah and served in the Israeli Defense Forces. Philip Gillon documented this history in his work, Seventy Years of South African Aliyah, A Story of Achievement, edited by the South African Zionist Federation Israel Telfed and published by Adar Publishing Ltd, Israel, 1992.

DATABASE

This database includes 645 Jews from South African who served in the Machal movement. Machal is an acronym for Mitznadev Chutz LeAretz (Volunteers from Outside the Land of Israel.)

The fields in the database are:

• Surname
• Given name(s)
• Israeli Name (when applicable)
• Service
• Unit/Duties

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book was donated to JewishGen by Naomi Schamroth Rapeport and the information contained in this database was indexed by Malka Chosnek. Additional information on individual Machal volunteers can be found at the website of the Machal movement

September 2025