Haim-Moshe Shapira was a key
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i politician in the early days of the state's existence. A signatory of Israel's declaration of independence, he served continuously as a minister from the country's foundation in 1948 until his death in 1970 apart from a brief spell in the late 1950s.
Born in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in
GrodnoHrodna or Grodno , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 325,164 inhabitants...
in what is today
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
, Shapira was educated in a Heder and a
YeshivaYeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for study of its traditional, central texts...
, where he organised a youth group called
Bnei Zion (lit.
Haim-Moshe Shapira was a key
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i politician in the early days of the state's existence. A signatory of Israel's declaration of independence, he served continuously as a minister from the country's foundation in 1948 until his death in 1970 apart from a brief spell in the late 1950s.
Background
Born in the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in
GrodnoHrodna or Grodno , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 325,164 inhabitants...
in what is today
BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
, Shapira was educated in a Heder and a
YeshivaYeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for study of its traditional, central texts...
, where he organised a youth group called
Bnei Zion (lit.
Sons of Zion). He worked in the Education and Culture department of the National Jewish Council in
KaunasKaunas Kaunas Kaunas and Vilnius-Klaipėda (A1)...
(now in
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
), and in 1919 set up the
Young MizrachiThe Mizrachi is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrachi...
, which became a leading player in the
religious zionistReligious Zionism, or the Religious Zionist Movement is an ideology that combines Zionism and religious Judaism, basing Zionism on the principles of Torah, Talmud et al...
youth movement in Lithuania. In 1922 he started work as a teacher at an
ultra-orthodoxHaredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism, sometimes referred to as Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, though the term is considered pejorative by some, is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism...
school in
VilniusVilnius Vilnius Vilnius as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the...
, and also served on the board of the Mizrahi group in the city. Between 1923 and 1924 he was active in the
Young Mizrahi group in
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
, before attending a Rabbinical Seminary in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
between 1924 and 1925.
In 1925 he was a delegate at the Zionist Congress, where he was elected onto the executive committee. In the same year he
immigratedAliyah is the immigration of Jews to Eretz Israel. It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology, and a value in almost all movements of Judaism...
to Mandate Palestine. In 1928 he was elected onto the Central Committee of the
Hapoel HaMizrachiHapoel HaMizrachi was a political party and settlement movement in Israel and is one of the predecessors of the modern-day National Religious Party.-History:...
movement, and also served as a member of the World Mizrachi committee.
In 1936 he was elected as a member of the Zionist Directorate and a Director of the Aliyah department of the
Jewish AgencyThe Jewish Agency for Israel , also known as the Sochnut or JAFI, served as the pre-state Jewish government before the establishment of Israel and later became the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora.-The Jewish Agency for Palestine:The Jewish Agency for...
, a role he filled until 1948. In 1938 he was sent on a special mission to try and save Jews in
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
following the
takeoverThe ' , also known as the ', was the 1938 de facto annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime....
by
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
.
Political career
Shapira was one of the people to sign Israel's declaration of independence, and was immediately appointed
Minister of HealthThe Health Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Health and a member of the cabinet. The current Minister of Health is Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud....
and
Minister of ImmigrationThe Immigrant Absorption Minister of Israel , known until 1951 as the Minister of Immigration , is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and a minor position in the Israeli cabinet...
in
David Ben-Gurion' was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, culminated in his instrumental role in the founding of the state of Israel...
's
provisional governmentThe provisional government of Israel was the temporary cabinet which governed Israel from shortly before independence until the formation of the first government in March 1949 following the first Knesset elections in January that year.It was formed as Minhelet HaAm The provisional government of...
.
In Israel's
first electionsElections for the Constituent Assembly were held in newly-independent Israel on 25 January, 1949. Voter turnout was 85.8%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February, 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset...
in 1949, Shapira won a seat as a member of the
United Religious FrontThe United Religious Front was a political alliance of the four major religious parties in Israel formed to fight the 1949 elections.-History:...
bloc, an alliance of
Agudat IsraelAgudat Israel began as the original political party representing Haredi Judaism in Israel. It was the umbrella party for almost all Haredi Jews in Israel, and before that in the British Mandate of Palestine...
,
Agudat Israel WorkersAgudat Israel Workers was a political party in Poland, and a political party and settlement movement in Israel. It was also known as PAI or PAGI, its Hebrew acronym .-History:...
,
MizrachiMizrachi was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day National Religious Party.-History:...
and his
Hapoel HaMizrachiHapoel HaMizrachi was a political party and settlement movement in Israel and is one of the predecessors of the modern-day National Religious Party.-History:...
party. He was reappointed to his previous ministerial posts, and also became Minister of Internal Affairs.
After the
1951 electionsElections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 74.3%.-Results:¹ Rostam Bastuni, Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction. Bastuni later returned to Mapam whilst Berman and Sneh joined Maki...
in which
Hapoel HaMizrachiHapoel HaMizrachi was a political party and settlement movement in Israel and is one of the predecessors of the modern-day National Religious Party.-History:...
ran as an independent party, Shapira was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs and
Minister of ReligionsThe Religious Services Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Religious Services and a relatively minor position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Ya'akov Margi of Shas....
. Following a
cabinetThe Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials, ministers, chosen and led by a Prime Minister. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Knesset. Under Israeli law, the Prime Minister may remove members of the Cabinet, but must do so in writing, and new appointees...
reshuffle in 1952, he lost the Internal Affairs portfolio, but was appointed
Minister of WelfareThe Welfare and Social Services Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Social Services and a position in the Israeli cabinet. The post was established in 1948 as the Minister of Welfare...
instead. Another reshuffle in 1955 saw him regain the Internal Affairs portfolio.
The
1955 electionsElections for the third Knesset were held in Israel on 26 July, 1955. Voter turnout was 80.7%.-Results:¹ Originally a coalition of Mizrachi and Hapoel HaMizrachi that ran for the election under the name National Religious Front before changing their name to Hapoel HaMizrachi-Mizrahi and then the...
saw Mizrachi and Hapoel HaMizrachi run as a combined bloc, the National Religious Front, which later became the
National Religious PartyThe National Religious Party was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement...
(NRP). Shapira was reappointed Minister of Religions and Minister of Welfare. In 1957 he was seriously injured by a
hand grenadeA hand grenade is an anti-personnel weapon that explodes a short time after release. The French military term grenade probably comes from the shape of the pomegranate fruit, which is also called grenade in French....
thrown into the
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
by
Moshe DwekMoshe Dwek is a Yemenite-Israeli most notable for throwing a hand grenade in the Knesset while it was in session on 29 October 1957 and for a failed to run for the Knesset in 1988....
, but survived. He and all other NRP ministers resigned from the cabinet in July 1958, marking the only spell he spent out of office during his time in Israel.
Following the
1959 electionsElections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November, 1959. Voter turnout was 79.5%.-Results:¹ The General Zionists and the Progressive Party merged to form the Liberal Party...
, Shapira returned to the cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs. After the
early electionsElections for the fifth Knesset were held in Israel on 15 August 1961. Voter turnout was 79.0%.-Results:¹ Rafi broke away from Mapai² Herut and the Liberal Party merged to form Gahal...
in 1961, he re-added the health portfolio to his roles.
After
elections in 1965Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1965. Voter turnout was 80.4%.-Results:¹ Rafi and Mapam joined the Alignment, though David Ben Gurion of Rafi disagreed with the merger and remained a single MK...
Shapira became just Internal Affairs Minister, a role he retained again after the
1969 electionsElections for the seventh Knesset were held in Israel on 28 October, 1969. Voter turnout was 77.8%.-Results:¹ Meir Avizohar defected from the National List to the Alignment² Shaki left the National Religious Party and remained a single MK...
. He died in office on 16 July 1970.
External links