last word
Glenn Segal
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
G lenn Segal has not only been
passionate about Israel Bonds
for the entirety of his adult-
hood, but also the entirety of his Jewish
adulthood. In 1967, during Israel’s Six-Day War,
Segal’s father took a 10-year-old Segal
to their Wilmington, Delaware, syn-
agogue Congregation Beth Emeth,
where Segal later became bar mitzvah.

The synagogue was holding an Israel
Bonds appeal, asking congregants to
consider buying bonds to support the
budding nation-state.

“That was my first exposure to
bonds, when people were standing up
and pledging and buying bonds during
the war,” Segal said. “There was such
excitement. People wanted to help.

There was also worry; people wanted to
do what they could.”
Six years later, the now-65-year-old
Chabad Lubavitch of Montgomery
County member bought his first Israel
bond at a similar appeal event at Reform
Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins
Park. The bond was for $1,000.

“That was probably my whole life
savings,” Segal said.

Forty-nine years later, Segal’s passion
for Israel Bonds hasn’t waned.

He’s the Israel Bonds chair for the
Philadelphia region, where he’s served
for the last 15 years, and a board mem-
ber of Israel Bonds on the national
level, a position he’s held for nearly
two decades. In addition to his board
positions, Segal is the president of
closeout remarketing company Glenn
Distributors Corp.

Since being involved in Israel
Bonds, also called the Development
Corporation for Israel, Segal has vis-
ited Israel about 30 times, he said.

He’s hosted numerous prime minis-
ters at his Huntingdon Valley home;
Bibi Netanyahu attended his children’s
b’nai mitzvahs. Since coming of age,
Segal’s six children have also bought
Israel Bonds.

32 Growing up in a Conservative Jewish
family in Northeast Philadelphia, Segal
was used to his father talking about the
Holocaust and the need for a Jewish
state, but Segal’s father did not become
passionate about Israel until he recog-
nized the volatility of the young Israel.

“In the Six-Day War, he really woke
up to Israel,” Segal said.

Segal’s father’s views transformed
from seeing Jews as defenseless during
DECEMBER 8, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
the Holocaust to becoming heroic
through the growth of the nation-state.

“Nobody came to our aid during the
Holocaust,” Segal said. “And then he
would contrast that with the [Battle of]
Entebbe, when Jews were captured in
the middle of Africa: Nobody came to
their aid, but nobody needed to come
to aid because the long arm of the
[Israeli Defense Forces] was there.”
Since the age of 16, when Segal
bought his first Israel bond, he has
continued to buy bonds, initially using
money he earned selling wares at flea
markets. Though $1,000 was all he
could contribute at the time, others
at the Keneseth Israel bonds appeal
offered $100,000 — the equivalent of
about $670,000 today, according to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Segal didn’t have to pay that sum to
feel like he was making a difference. At
21, he joined the board of Israel Bonds
in Philadelphia.

“From that day onward, I always
encouraged people to buy bonds,” he
said. After his initial investment, Segal
felt swells of pride during moments
of Israeli history, especially when the
Israeli Air Force airlifted Ethiopian
Jews to Israel as part of Operation
Solomon. During a recent trip to Israel, Segal
visited an air force base and met with
a 21-year-old woman who was an F-16
fighter pilot; her grandmother was a
survivor of Auschwitz.

And he recently donated a Torah to
the IDF in his father’s memory.

Along with Israel’s success, Israel
Bonds has experienced success as well.

Last year, the national goal for Israel
Bonds was $1.1 billion; the Philadelphia
region’s goal was $80 million. Both met
their respective goals, which has hap-
pened every year in Segal’s experience.

During 2020, because of the pandemic,
Israel raised its requisition for bonds
from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion; buyers
rose to the occasion.

Changing times have meant that the
bonds appeals process has changed,
too. No longer campaigning at syna-
gogues or community centers, Israel
Bonds forms affinity groups among
real estate agents, health professionals,
young professionals and women. This
year, the real estate group raised $42
million. “We’re the backbone of Israel,” Segal
said. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Glenn Segal
SHOWS LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL BONDS