Jewish National Fund. In October 1943, Levitan married Beba Levin, a fellow community member who he met years earlier at a summer camp in Latvia. Two weeks later, he laid the cornerstone for kibbutz Kfar Blum. From 1946 to 1948, he acted as an emissary for the Habonim Dror and Hechalutz chapters in London. He returned to Israel in June 1948 to help the Yishuv during the War of Independence. After the war, he became an administrator of Kfar Blum and managed the kibbutz's economy. Soviet Jewry campaign Early work In 1953, Levitan accepted an invitation from Mossad director Isser Harel to establish contacts in the Soviet Jewish Community. This was part of an effort by a small, new clandestine agency that reported to the Prime Minister's Office. Originally known as "Bilu," it was known by the code name "Nativ" and was officially called Lishkat HaKesher, or the "Liaison Bureau." Levitan changed his name to the more Hebraic-sounding Nehemiah Levanon, as many Israelis did at the time. At the time of his posting, the Soviet Union had broken off diplomatic relations (in response to the 1953 bombing of the Soviet embassy in Tel Aviv). Levanon therefore worked in Sweden until ties were re-established later that year. Levanon and his family then moved to Moscow, where he disguised his covert activities by working as an agricultural attaché in the Israeli embassy. He told friend Richard Perle in 1970, "The Soviets thought I was interested in raising potatoes. I was interested in raising Jews." For two years, he met with Soviet Jews to pass along information, prayer books, and pictures of Israel. In 1956, however, he and two other Israeli diplomats were declared persona non grata for their ties to the Soviet Jewish community. Levanon continued his work from Israel by joining Nativ's Tel Aviv headquarters. He set up a unit called Bar, composed of Israeli diplomats in the delegations to the U.S., UK, and France. Bar was tasked specifically with encouraging the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel and even received funding from the CIA to aid its cause. After Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, the apparent desire of the Soviet government to improve its image in the West allowed Bar and Nativ to more aggressively press the cause of Soviet Jews. From 1956 to 1965, Levanon alternated his Bar activities with his administrative duties at Kfar Blum; he served three