Elizabeth Taylor: A Consistent Supporter of Israel

Elizabeth Taylor at the Western Wall in Jerusalem circa 1982

Elizabeth Taylor & Eddie Fisher

Elizabeth Taylor, 1932-2011 -Benjamin Ivry

Few, if any conversions made the lasting impact of the ceremony at Hollywood’s Temple Israel on March 27, 1959, at which a 27-year old Elizabeth Taylor took the Hebrew name Elisheba Rachel and converted to Judaism.

After studying for about nine months and attending synagogue regularly, Taylor did convert, shortly before her May 12, 1959, wedding to [Eddie] Fisher. 
[The Forward]
[Hat Tip: Alan G]
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Elizabeth Taylor and Israel, a lasting love -Nathan Burstein

The world lost an icon with the death of Elizabeth Taylor — and Israel lost one of its best friends in Hollywood. In a life famously shared with seven husbands, Taylor’s relationship with Israel was one of her longest.

It began in 1959, when Taylor, then a recent convert to Judaism, purchased Israel Bonds in such volumes that her films were boycotted in Arab nations.

Eight years and two Oscars later, Taylor canceled a visit to Moscow to protest the U.S.S.R.’s condemnation of Israel in the Six Day War. She would later sign a letter denouncing the United Nations’ odious “Zionism is racism” resolution, and in 1976, she offered to trade places with one of the hostages held by Palestine Liberation Organization hijackers from a flight originating in Tel Aviv.

She lent her star power to Israel with a 1982-83 visit — she met with Prime Minister Menachem Begin — and by publicly supporting the right of the Soviet Union’s trapped Jewry to emigrate there.

[B]y and large, gone are the days of advocacy like Taylor’s, of stars aligning publicly and treating Israel as a cause.

In 1977, the actress and her sixth husband, soon-to-be-senator John Warner of Virginia, were honored in Beverly Hills for their work with the Jewish National Fund (JNF), an organization that had transformed Israeli deserts into forests. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a news service, reported that a section of forest near Jerusalem would be named in their honor.
[The Washington Post]
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