Joseph Eidelberg (Hebrew: יוסף אידלברג) (February 8, 1916 – August 21, 1985) was an Israeli military commander and a plant manager of large Israeli corporations. During his career he developed a hobby of exploring religions’ roots and languages. He became a linguistics researcher, a scholar speaking seven languages, an Historian explorer, and an author of three books. His research work focused on the two most puzzling mysteries in Jewish history: The Exodus, a 40-year desert travel of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, which were never found. A summary in his memory was written by his friend Colonel (ret.) Meir Pa'il (Hebrew: מאיר פעיל). A professional opinion on Eidelberg's work was detailed by Harold Goldmeier, a former Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. His research claimed to show evidence that the Exodus journey took place in North Africa including Nigeria, the land of Igbo Jews, and to have found evidence supporting the Japanese-Jewish common ancestry theory. Publications of work by Eidelberg, from 1972 to 2015, amount to "15 works, in 35 publications, in 3 languages and 153 library holdings".
Early life
Eidelberg was born to Haim and Clara in Odessa. At the age of 7, his family moved to Mandatory Palestine (now Israel), where they lived in Jerusalem and in Haifa. At age 22, he went to England to pursue engineering. Shortly after, before World War II, he returned to Palestine and volunteered for the British Army as a special security officer of the Notrim. He later joined the Haganah served as the communication officer of the Haifa district, joined "Am Lohem" (Hebrew: "עם לוחם"), (Fighting Nation) and in 1943 he headed "Am Lohem" organization. He fought in the 1947–1949 Palestine war in 1948 and continued serving as a Major in the Israeli Defense Forces for five more years.[1]
Engineering Management Career
During his military service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) (1948-1953) Eidelberg served as the Engineering Corps (Hebrew: חיל הנדסה) Base Commander in Sarafand (Tzrifin). He completed paratrooper training and graduated from the Battalion Commanders' College of the IDF with Meir Pa'il [1] . During his military service, he initiated a process of rapid clay housing construction and pre-military vocational training for young adults. After his discharge from the IDF in 1953, he went to the US to finish his Mechanical Engineering studies at Tri State College (Trine University) in Angola, Indiana. Eidelberg completed his engineering studies in 1955.
As described in Pa'il's memorial note [1], Eidelberg managed two of the largest companies in Israel at that time. In 1958, Eidelberg became the General Manager of the Dead Sea Works until 1961, reporting to the Director General Mordechai Maklef (Hebrew: מרדכי מקלף), who was a retired Chief of staff of the IDF. From 1961 to 1964, he served as the General Manager of the Israel Shipyards. Between 1964 and 1968 he became the Branch Manager of Tahal, Iran, where he started exploring the mystery of the Ten Lost Tribes. He later became the manager of the Tahal branch in the Ivory Coast (1968-1972), where he explored the mystery of Exodus. From the mid-1960s until his death in 1985, Eidelberg continued exploring and writing books about The Exodus and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.[1]