Eliezer Hoofien, 1881-1957

Born in Holland, Hoofien was the president of Bank Leumi L’Yisrael when it issued Israel’s first non-British currency. He arrived in Ottoman Palestine in 1912 to help run the Anglo-Palestine Bank, which financed land purchases and Yishuv economic activity. He helped stabilize the Yishuv economy and develop Tel Aviv‘s port in the 1930s. He led Bank Leumi’s shift to a private commercial bank in 1954.

Photo: Central Zionist Archives