There, he met Trudi née Simon, and they married in July 1946. On November 20, 1947, the young couple disembarked on the coast of Haifa, together with Trudi's mother. At the beginning of the War of Independence, Zev was drafted to the nascent Israeli army. After his discharge, the Birgers lived in Haifa and Zev was a founder of the Customs and Excise Department, and helped shape the young State's tax system. In the 1960s, Birger was given responsibility for moving the Customs Office to Jerusalem, and also moved, with his family, to the capital. In 1967, Birger joined the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry as Deputy Minister and charged with reorganizing the ministry. He divided it into professional divisions, based on the ministry's areas of responsibility, and established the Light Industries Division. He identified the relative advantage of Israel's human capital for culture and creativity, and therefore set new goals for promoting publishing, design and electronic (later, hi-tech). In this position, did much to promote Israeli cinema, establishing the Israel Film Center and helping to found Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem. After his retirement from the civil service in 1977, Zev Birger managed the Paris office of world's largest arts management firm, ICM. In 1980, Birger helped his wife Trudi Birger establish a free dental clinic for poor children in Jerusalem - Dental Volunteers for Israel, which continues to provide care for thousands of at-risk children and youth every year, thanks to volunteer dentists from around the world. Trudi and Zev's sons Doron, Oded and Gili Birger serve on DVI's Board of Directors today. In 1982, Teddy Kollek, then mayor of Jerusalem, asked Birger to help develop industry and tourism in Jerusalem. He considered this an opportunity to make Jerusalem into an international meeting place, a venue for cultural dialogue that would pave the way for tolerance and peace. As a result of this perspective, the Jerusalem International Book Fair, which Birger managed, became one of the most important international book fairs in the world, a prestigious and respected institution where authors, editors and publishers from around the world meet. Birger manager the book fair until his last day. In 1999, William Morrow published an English version of Zev Birger's memoir, No Time for Patience: My Road from Kaunas to Jerusalem. The book was translated into several languages and published in six countries. In 2000, the