In 1979, Prof. David Maier – then director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center – invited New York retina specialist Dr. Morty Seelenfreund to come for a one-year sabbatical to assist in establishing the hospital’s retina clinic.
He came the following year and never went back, retiring in 2019 as one of the longest-practicing doctors in the history of the hospital.
Over the course of those nearly 40 years, Seelenfreund helped to train 80 resident eye doctors and treated thousands of Jerusalemites – Sabras, immigrants, rabbis, politicians, artists and performers, gap year American students, and even members of the Jordanian royal family. He continues receiving patients in his private practice.
“My first visit to Israel was in 1956 with the Jewish Agency summer tour. I toured Israel and worked on Kibbutz Hafetz Haim for two weeks. That summer experience planted the bug in me to come and live in Israel,” said Seelenfreund, who was born in Borough Park, Brooklyn, in 1939.
An eye for aliyah
Trained in retinal surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Retina Foundation, he practiced ophthalmology at three major Manhattan hospitals with a partner from 1970 to 1980.
“Practicing in Manhattan was exciting and challenging,” he said, but he found that his contact with Israel was limited to occasional short visits, going to the annual Israel Day Parade and buying Israel bonds.
“I came to the point that I felt that I was living at a time when Israel existed as a vibrant Jewish country, and that if I really wanted to give my family and myself an opportunity to contribute to Israel’s growth, plus live in a more religiously observant atmosphere, I really should bring my family to live there.”
That was made possible by Maier’s invitation.
SEELENFREUND AND his wife, Debbie, arrived with four children – two of whom were in high school, one in elementary school, and one in kindergarten.
“It was quite difficult, to say the least. For the first few years, we had many tutors for the various subjects, but slowly over time the children managed to learn and study and advance in their respective grades,” he said.
Today, Seelenfreund has many Israeli grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Debbie died five years ago, and he is now married to “a wonderful lady named Zehava, who is a private English tutor and also has children and grandchildren living in Israel.”
While his grown children went into diverse professions, a healthcare thread runs through the family. One son-in-law is a pediatric ophthalmologist in Jerusalem; one grandson is a family practitioner in the Tel Aviv area; and another is in his fifth year at Hadassah Medical School. He has a granddaughter who supervises speech therapists, and another granddaughter in a premed program in high school. “She wants to be the first female doctor in our family,” her grandfather reported.
Seelenfreund also has a proud military service history.
“I had served in the US Army reserves as a doctor for six years, and when I moved to Israel I asked to join the IDF because I felt it was necessary to show my children and grandchildren the importance of giving service to this country.
“I was a reserve medical officer in the IDF for 10 years, at first serving on different army bases and then working in the Induction Center in Jerusalem.”
All of his children, and those grandchildren old enough, have served or are now serving in the army or in Sherut Leumi (National Service), he added.
“In 1999, one of my patients, Lydia Gumbel, asked me to set up a fund to assist soldiers and other members of our security services who were blinded in the course of their service. She left a large sum of money to help these soldiers,” he said.
Over a 12-year period, he and a lawyer friend, Shmuel Hirsch, worked with the Defense Ministry to use this fund to help 76 soldiers obtain computer programs for the blind, make necessary changes and repairs in their homes, pay for help with their education, purchase equipment for their businesses, and even purchase special bicycles for blind riders.
Bike riding and other physical activities are high on Seelenfreund’s priority list. He participated in ALYN Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Center’s Wheels of Love for five years. He plays tennis, and hiked the entire Israel National Trail last year with a group of friends.
“I often tell members of my family that you can always find a good reason not to exercise: too hot, too cold, too early, too late, too tired, too many aches and pains. However, no matter what, they still have to try to get out and exercise,” he said.
In 1986, he wrote Joggers Guide to Jerusalem, published by Carta.
“The book was written for people who visit Jerusalem and want to spend an hour or so running and seeing some of the interesting sites.
“The forward was written by [then Jerusalem mayor] Teddy Kollek, on whom I had operated a few months before I wrote the book. I told him that he had been ‘running’ Jerusalem for so many years, so it was appropriate for him to write the forward to a book on running in Jerusalem.”
He also has written about 40 medical articles, several articles relating to biblical events that have to do with vision, and two children’s books co-authored with two different grandchildren: Curly Curly and Bye Bye Buddy. He also is a licensed, though nonpracticing, Israeli tour guide.
LIVING IN the German Colony, Seelenfreund said he has enjoyed watching Emek Refaim grow into a leisure destination. In the early days, there was little more than a grocery store and a pizza parlor.
“Most of my years in Israel have been peaceful and full of satisfaction in seeing how both my family and this country have grown and been productive,” he said.
“At present, we are all going through the most trying times both mentally and physically. We do not have any idea how long these difficult days and months will last. But, in spite of all these problems, we will eventually get back to some sense of normalcy and again enjoy our lives in this blessed land full of incredible people.” ■
Dr. Morty Seelenfreund, 84 From Englewood, New Jersey to Jerusalem, 1980