david bruder
David was born in Be’er Sheva, Israel, to Moshe and Miriam Bruder. He had three younger brothers, Adam, Daniel, and Joshua. His only sister was named Ruth. His father chose their names because these men and women played important roles in the history of the Jewish nation. David was named after King David, the fabled and heroic king of Israel. His parents moved to Tel Aviv when he was three. David’s mother died of cancer when David was five. His father never remarried.
Moshe Bruder was a tyrant, and David idolized him. Moshe Bruder was not only a great man but also a great Zionist. A man deeply rooted in the 3,000-year-old beliefs unified by the fundamental idea of Jewish self-determination. Moshe was a successful attorney who later became a judge and a prominent member of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (IJL). He ruled his home as he did his courtroom, with an iron fist. David learned early on that he was to be a man of destiny. His father made sure of that. Hour upon hour, he drilled the long and laborious history of the Jewish faith into his firstborn son. With each lesson, he demanded complete and unquestioned fidelity. The only way to maintain the future of the Hebrew nation was to learn from its past. And the only way to learn it was to have it seared into his consciousness. And it became David’s lot in life to maintain that heritage at all costs.
David attended an Orthodox grade school, Horev Elementary, known for its high standards of religious education and for catering primarily to devout Orthodox communities. He graduated from high school at the Cheder Ziiberman, an exclusive Zionist institution specializing in rigorous Torah study. Its core principle of learning utilized a unique, intensive method of learning Tanach and Mishnah by heart from a very young age, with zero downtime.
At the age of 15, David’s father was arrested in what became known as the “Dollar Account Affair.” Mosher Bruder was providing legal counsel for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was charged with mismanagement of funds in an offshore account. Rabin resigned. Bruder went to jail for three years, but his career in law was over. He held a group of anti-Zionist investigators responsible for his fate. So did his son David.
David never married. He had several affairs with both single and married women, but chose to remain a bachelor in his pursuit of riches. Upon his father's advice, he wisely invested in precious metals and mining as a young man. His wealth grew exponentially in the following years. Soon, he approached billionaire status, which only served to fuel his narcissistic personality.
David first met Elijah Kaufman while facing an investigation involving a diamond mine he owned in South Africa. The mine was located in the Limpopo Province and was his most profitable venture. A vocal human rights activist charged that Bruder was guilty of crimes of human trafficking and labor exploitation. David has long known of an underground network of Mossad-trained operatives who specialized in clandestine operations to deal with such issues. It was in this network that David found Eli and gave him his assignment: Stop the investigation. Two weeks later, the human rights activist was found deceased in his car, an apparent victim of suicide. The investigation went no further. David and Eli’s long-term relationship had begun.
Over the next decade, Eli contracted with Eli to dispose of two fellow competitors and a woman who made the mistake of trying to extort David, claiming she bore his illegitimate son. She demanded monthly payments of $25,000, or she would take her story to the press. One month later, the woman disappeared. Her body was never found. David made no payments.
David created the Bruder Archaeological Foundation to recover significant relics from Jewish history. His many finds were housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum near the Old City, and the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. It was while attending a symposium on first-century relics from the Sea of Galilee that he first noticed a young college student, Nava Meir. She was bright, well-spoken, and beautiful. Everything he desired in a woman. He offered her a position within a week of meeting her. She declined. He persisted. Finally, two years later, he made her an offer she couldn’t refuse: Chief Director of Antiquities. She accepted and quickly hired her college roommate, Rachel Hirsch. Several years later, she hired her brother Jakob Hirsch.
Time marched on for David. As his wealth increased, so did his desire to insert himself into the legacy of great men of Jewish history. He was not a great man, however. He lacked the moral integrity, but made up for it with a driving ambition for success. All to the detriment of his health. At age 40, he was first diagnosed with a premature ventricular contraction (PVC). While common and typically harmless, it was a symptom of an underlying heart condition. He drank heavily and was warned by his cardiologist to reduce his alcohol consumption. David, of course, ignored him. He was later diagnosed with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Time and again, his physicians cautioned him to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Time and again, he ignored their counsel. No one was going to tell David Bruder how to live. He often said that if he couldn’t live life on his terms, he didn’t care to live at all. He got his wish.