Yeshayahu Folman

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Yeshayahu Folman (ישעיהו פולמן) (January 14, 1934 – August 3, 2022) was a professor of biology and agriculture at the Hebrew University, the director of the Animal Institute at the Volcanic Institute for Scientific Research,^[1] and the Chief Scientist at the Israel Ministry of Agriculture.^[2][3] He was a survivor of the Auschwitz extermination camp. Folman authored the book “The Story of the Security Fence: Life Forsaken, Indeed?” (“סיפורה של גדר ההפרדה, האמנם הפקרת חיים?”).^[4][5][6]

Early life[edit]

Folman was born in 1934, to Rachel (Rooja) Pitowski and Aharon Folman in Piotrków, Poland. With the outbreak of World War II, Folman moved from one hiding place to another in the Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto, the first ghetto in Poland. In 1943, at the age of 9, he was captured and sent to a forced labor camp. He was later sent by the Nazi regime to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. At Auschwitz, a number was tattooed on his arm, and he became prisoner B-1367. His son, Ron Folman, later had the number B-1367 precisely tattooed on his own arm.^{[7] [8]} In January 1945, after falling ill, Yeshayahu Folman was sent on a death march. In 1947, when he was 14 years old, he immigrated to Israel on his own during the exodus of Jewish youth survivors and joined the Ben Shemen Agricultural Boarding School. He was illiterate. After the war of independence, he started studying at a night high-school while working during the day. It is at this high-school that he met his future wife, Ahuva Folman. Although Folman came from a very religious family, he was an atheist. In 1952, he completed his high school studies and enlisted in the IDF. As a reservist, Folman participated in several battles in Gaza. At the close of the war, he signed a manifesto calling on the Israeli government to return Gaza to the Egyptians.

Upon his release from the IDF, he began studying agriculture at the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University. In 1959, he completed his master's degree, and in 1963 he was awarded a doctorate in Animal Cultivation, specifically, sheep, and cattle. He later completed a post-doctorate in England.

Science and Professional History[edit]

In 1959, Folman began his professional career at the Agricultural Research Station in Rehovot (subsequently renamed the Volcanic Institute), later becoming a senior researcher. Between the years 1973 and 1983, he served as the director of the Department of Cattle Physiology and Nutrition. In 1985, he was appointed a full professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University.

Folman served as the Director of the Animal Institute and Chairman of various committees. In 1991, he was appointed by the then Minister of Agriculture, Raphael Eitan, as the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Agriculture.^[9][10]

Prof. Folman is known as the person who completely reformed the criteria by which budgets are distributed so that excellence would become the main criterion.^[11] In 1995, with the end of his tenure as Chief Scientist, he returned to the Volcanic Institute where he remained until his retirement. In 1995, Folman worked at the United Nations Center in Vienna.^[12] From there, he traveled to Africa to guide communities in raising animals, with the intent of improving food production. From 1964 until his retirement, Folman served as a lecturer in the Faculty of Agriculture, and during his sabbatical years conducted research in Australia, Massachusetts, and California.

During his career, Folman was a member of many boards and committees: the Hapoel Committee, the Administration Board, the Scientific Training Committee, the Center Farm Management, the Advisory Committee for the Kemach Fund, the Management Team of the World Bank Project, and the National Outline Committee.

In 1999, Folman retired^[13] and on August 3, 2022, he passed away at the age of 88. The Learning and Deliberation Garden was established in his honor in the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot, and an annual excellence award for ecological conservation was also established in his name.

Publications[edit]

Folman published over 100 scientific articles.^[14][15] His main work revolved around the relationship between nutrition, the level of milk production, and fertility in high-yielding dairy cows.^{[16] [17]}His research was published in prestigious journals and the methods he developed following his scientific discoveries gained worldwide attention. When he became the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture, he expanded his expertise to all branches of the agricultural economy in the State of Israel. His extensive overview of the Israeli agricultural economy can be found, among other publications, in the book “Israel’s Jubilee” ("יובל לישראל") edited by Haim Yavin.^[18][19]

Folman was also a social and political activist. In 2004 he wrote the book “The Story of the Security Fence: Life Forsaken, Indeed?”. He also published opinion articles in the press, primarily focusing on the pursuit of peace.^[20] Even though he was a Zionist through and through and was convinced that the people of Israel should know how to defend themselves, he nevertheless believed that the holocaust did not entitle the people of Israel to violate the human rights of another people, and in any case, he believed that control over another people was not sustainable.

His family[edit]

His father, Aharon Folman, died right after World War II, and is buried in the city of Lodz near Warsaw. His brother, Aharon (Ron) Folman, born in 1946, lives in Israel. Another brother, Shlomo Folman, was born in 1938 and was murdered by the Nazis in Treblinka. Most of Folman's family was murdered in the Holocaust. His wife, Dr. Ahuva (Luba) Gordon, whom he met in 1949 worked as a dentist in the city of Rehovot. The couple had 3 children, Michal Hayutin, Ron Folman, and Orna Folman, as well as seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Ever since 1964, Folman lived with his family in Rehovot, where he is also buried.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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