SHKOLNIK Origin of surname

Levi Eshkol (1895-1969), labour leader, Israeli statesman and third Prime Minister of Israel, born Levi Shkolnik in the Ukrainian village of Oratovo (near Kiev) (then part of the Russian Empire). He received a traditional Jewish upbringing and education which continued when he entered a Hebrew high school in Vilna at the age of 16. In Vilna, Lithuania, he joined the Zionist group, "Tzeirei Zion" ("Youth of Zion"). In 1914, at the age of 19, he emigrated to Palestine, at that time part of the Ottoman Empire, where he worked as an agricultural laborer. During World War I, he joined the Poalei Yehuda Federation on behalf of the Hapoel Hatzair socialist party and fought for the economic welfare of Jewish farmers who suffered hardship as a result of the war. Later he volunteered for the Jewish Legion of the British Army.

In 1920 Eshkol was a member of the group which founded the settlement of Degania Beth kibbutz. He participated in the establishment of the Histadrut, the National Federation of Jewish Laborers in Israel, and later joined its agricultural center. In 1930 he participated in the founding of the Mapai political alignment. During the 1930s he was sent on several long missions to Nazi Germany on behalf of the Jewish Agency. He was active in the "Ha'avara" project. The project helped Jews emigrate from Germany, while forcing them to give up most of their possessions to Germany before departing. Those assets could later be “reclaimed” when they were transferred to Palestine as German export goods. Indirectly therefore it raised capital and equipment for Jewish settlement in the land of Israel. In 1937 Eshkol participated in the establishment of "Mekorot", the Jewish Community's water utility, and served as its chief executive until 1951.

In 1940, he became a member of the Haganah command in which capacity he was in charge of purchases, equipment and mobilization and in 1947 he organized the recruiting drive for what became the Israel Defense Forces. At the end of 1944 he was elected Secretary of the Laborers Council in Tel Aviv, a post which he held until 1948. With the establishment of the State he became the first Director-General of the Ministry of Defense, in effect the supplier of the material which kept the Israeli army in the field. He also became the head of the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency's Settlement Department in 1948. He initiated the establishment of approximately 400 new settlements in the first four years of the State, and from 1949-1952 served as the Jewish Agency treasurer. In 1951 Eshkol was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Development and from 1952 until 1963 he served as Minister of Finance. He remained Chairman of the WZO/JAFI Settlement Department until 1963. In his various positions Eshkol was therefore largely responsible for obtaining funds to develop the country, absorb massive immigration waves and equip the army.

In 1963, following Ben-Gurion's retirement, Eshkol assumed the post of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. He consolidated Israel's relations with the United States, and supplied the IDF with a large quantity of American weaponry. He also established full diplomatic relations with West Germany. He also attempted to mend relations with the Soviet Union. Eshkol founded the Ma'arach, a merger between Mapai and Achdut Ha'avoda parties, and was head of the united party in its 1965 election victory.

The high point of his premiership was the Six Day War of June 1967. When Egypt and Syria precipitated the crisis, Eshkol established a Government of National Unity, relinquishing the Defense portfolio to Moshe Dayan and bringing Menachem Begin of Herut into the cabinet. Eshkol found other sources of military supplies for the Israeli armed forces, particularly in the United States, after France began its military boycott of the Jewish state after the 1967 war. The war itself was a vindication of his efforts at the Ministry of Defense to provide the IDF with the best equipment available. In just six days, Israel succeeded in liberating Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights and capturing the Sinai peninsula. Immediately after the war, Jerusalem was reunified and its boundaries were expanded. After the war, Eshkol worked for the establishment of the Israel Labor party.

Throughout his political career he was noted for his skill as a negotiator and his ability to retain friendly relations even with his political opponents. On the other hand his critics accused him of hesitancy. Eshkol died in office of a heart attack in February 1969.

Enrique Shcolnik (1914-2010), industrialist, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, two years after his parents emigrated to Argentina from Russia in 1912. His father set up a packing factory. Son Enrique graduated in law, but preferred to join the family business which developed into a large company closely associated with modern marketing methods.

He was the first Latino president of the World Packaging Organization (WPO), President of the International Corrugated Case Association (ICCA) in 1970, and President of the Association of Pulp and Paper. In 1964 he established the Scholnik Foundation to promote the study, training and development of the field. In 2005, Costa Walnut Publishing published the book "The Legend of Packaging" which reflects the life of Dr. Henry Schcolnik as one of the most prominent figures in the development of the packaging industry.