Eugen Gluck – a towering Jewish figure; a monumental loss
Eugen Gluck – a towering Jewish figure; a monumental loss

He left us at age 92. For years the name Eugen Gluck has been mentioned to those of us who write for Arutz Sheva in a tone of high reverence approaching holiness, and not only because Mr. Gluck, together with Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz, was a founder of Arutz Sheva, back in the 1980s, but because he was a visionary who saw modern-day Israel as the rebirth of a Biblical promise.

To that end, his philanthropy knew no limits when it came to re-establishing the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, and to reviving Beit El to full bloom.

Beit El is where Jacob slept and dreamed of a ladder reaching heaven, and where G-d assured him, “The land on which you rest, to you I give it, and to your seed.”

Mr. Gluck took those words as a summons to act, and with his wife, Jeanie, Ketzaleh, and others at his side, act he did. 

Today, and since the 1970s, Beit El testifies to a dream come true, thanks to the tireless high-spirited efforts of Mr. Gluck, Ketzaleh and friends.

Arutz Sheva Radio became the first conservative voice on Israeli airwaves, and the Arutz Sheva website remains the go-to site for nationalist, and world, news and opinion.

Of Judea and Samaria, Ketzaleh says, "The fact that some 800,000 Jews live today over the green line in Judea and Samaria and the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem is due in great part to this great, late leader Eugen Gluck, of blessed memory.” 

But that is not nearly the full story of a man who lived his life as if every day counted – and counted so largely for the Jewish State of Israel.

For that, please read this – but even that in but a recap. Volumes are needed to tell his story. 

Part of the story is about a Holocaust survivor who refused to be defeated, and whose vitality and strength of character mirrored that of the nation he helped rebuild.

From his base in New York City, he founded Armitron (digital) Watches.

Mr. Gluck taught his children and other relatives that wealth was meant for building, always for the next step upwards; yes, like a ladder, Jacob’s ladder that reached for the heavens.

Evidence of Mr. Gluck’s contributions to the Jewish State can be found throughout the Land, and testimonies to his name are everywhere in Jerusalem.

We mourn a loss, but celebrate a life that came to us just in time.


New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva.

He is the author of the international book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal.” His Holocaust to Montreal memoir “Escape from Mount Moriah” has been honored from page to screen at CANNES. His Inside Journalism thriller, “The Bathsheba Deadline,” is being prepared for the movies. Contemporaries have hailed him “The last Hemingway, a writer without peer, and the conscience of us all.” Website: www.jackengelhard.com