Prof. Morris Hartstein, MD, FACS, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at TAU School of Medicine, Director of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Shamir Medical Center, and the Founding Director of “Operation Ethiopia.”

In 2014, at his children’s suggestion, their family of six went to volunteer in the Jewish community of Gondar, Ethiopia. Shocked by the abject poverty and lack of medical care, Prof. Hartstein returned to Ethiopia the next year, and over a dozen times since, to personally provide eyecare to the Jewish community and beyond. He has examined and treated 7,000 patients, overseen 700 sight-restoring cataract surgeries, and distributed thousands of eyeglasses and medications. Prof. Hartstein has brought 18 Ethiopian Ophthalmologists to Israel for advanced training. Together with SSEJ, he established a feeding program for over 500 malnourished children in the Gondar Jewish community.

Prof. Hartstein was invited to join President Rivlin’s delegation of the first Israeli Presidential visit to Ethiopia in 2018 and has addressed several Knesset committee meetings regarding humanitarian suffering in Ethiopia. In 2020 Prof. Hartstein joined Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata on a Diplomatic Mission to Ethiopia and accompanied new Olim back to Israel on the first Aliyah flight of Operation “Tzur Yisrael”.

A pioneer in his field, Prof. Hartstein lectures internationally, publishes widely, and his broad practice serves patients throughout Israel, including terror victims, Gazans, Hasidic leaders, Sudanese refugees, and more. Prof. Hartstein is married to Elisa, and they have four children, including three IDF soldiers.

Prof. Morris Hartstein, MD made Aliyah from Missouri in 2004.