History

History and the present*

Judaism and Actuarial Science:

Jewish sources contain several references to insurance in general and actuarial science in particular. Starting with the Talmud, one can find a wealth of practical examples, some of them no longer relevant but others still highly applicable to our day. The well-known medieval philosopher and talmudic explicator, Maimonides, dealt with insurance and actuarial science, and centuries later the Code of Jewish Law compiled rules for actuarial calculations. Religious rulings by famous rabbis throughout the ages have touched on a variety of subjects related to the insurance field. In contrast to Christianity and extremist Islamic sects that inveighed against insurance, the Jews assisted in its development as far back as the 16th century. The first book on the subject was written in Portuguese in 1516 by a converted Jew.

Over the next five centuries, many Jews found ways to integrate Judaism and insurance, and in recent generations they have taken it upon themselves to advance the business of many insurance companies although, with the exception of one large Italian estblishment, they were not among the owners of these companies. The Jews were always agents; nevertheless, some of them became very established and well known. In the past 200 years, actuarial science has become a broad field of activity for hundreds of Jews, who brought to it innovation and helped creating an important mathematical discipline.

The Start of Insurance in Israel:

In the second half of the 19th century, there were already more than a few insurance agencies operating in Palestine. As Jews began to stream into the country, they brought with them gold and silver, household furniture etc. All this traffic – of ships, cargo, ports, unloading, loading, transshipments, portage – required that goods be insured. The agents in Palestine represented large European insurance agencies.

Until the end of World War I, there were no insurance companies operating in Palestine, only insurance agencies. Of the ten largest ones, the best known agency was the one that represented Generali. This company, established in 1830 in Trieste by ten Jewish families who were engaged in shipping and sent representatives throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. Every large city in the Middle East, Palestine included, had its Generali agents.

Starting in the early 1920s (the beginning of the British Mandate) and until the late 1950s (or some ten years after the establishment of the State), the Israel insurance market could count some 75 foreign insurance companies, most of which operated for short periods of time.

The real revolution in the Israeli insurance market came with the establishment of the first Israeli insurance companies: Hasneh, Yehuda, and Migdal. Their establishment and that of other Israeli insurance companies signaled the start of activity in the field of Israeli actuarial science.

Actuarial Science in Israel:

The first actuaries in Israel arrived toward the end of the 1920s and in the early 1930s. They emigrated from Europe, mostly from Austria and Germany, not necessarily as actuaries but as academics, most of them with a doctorate in mathematics or physics. Some held advanced degrees in applied mathematics. Most knew nothing about the insurance field and were certainly unaware of the lively insurance world that existed in Palestine in the midst of realizing the Zionist enterprise. They joined the exact science departments of the fledgling Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem. The vicissitudes of history turned some of these scholars into statisticians and actuaries, and it was this generation of professionals who laid the foundations on which Israeli actuarial science rests to this present day.

Actuarial Science at the University of Haifa:

After years during which the field of actuarial science was not taught in Israel, in 1989 the University of Haifa opened a diploma program to train actuaries. The curriculum was based on the model of the British Institute of Actuaries, and the program was under its supervision. In the decade that followed, graduates of the program have enriched the Israeli actuarial profession.

The significance of the programs contribution can be gauged by the number of members in the Association of Israeli Actuaries, which increased from 50 in 1989 to 371 in 2016. It should be mentioned however that the number of actuaries relative to Israel’s population is lower than the corresponding figures in Western Europe and the U.S.

The University of Haifa opened the country first M.A. degree in actuarial science in the 1999/2000 academic year. The program is offered within the Department of Statistics.

In the course of the 1990s, a group of researchers in the field of actuarial science gathered at the University. It is the largest research group in the field in Israel. These researchers constitute the dynamic nucleus that provides the impetus for the activities of the Actuarial Research Center.

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* This section is adapted from a commemorative volume issued on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Actuaries in Israel.