Avraham "Avi" Wortzman ( he, אבי וורצמן, born 29 October 1970) is an Israeli politician and a former member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

for

the Jewish Home The Jewish Home ( he, הַבַּיִת הַיְהוּדִי, HaBayit HaYehudi) is an Orthodox Jewish and religious Zionist political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Moledet, and Tkuma in ...

. He also served as Deputy Minister of Education between 2013 and 2015.

Biography

Wortzman was born in

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

. He studied at the

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva ( he, בְּנֵי עֲקִיבָא, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established in Mandatory Palestine in 1929. History B ...

-affiliated Ohel Shlomo

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

in Beersheba and the

Mercaz HaRav Kook Mercaz HaRav (officially, he, מרכז הרב - הישיבה המרכזית העולמית, "The Center of Rabbi ook- the Central Universal Yeshiva") is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraha ...

yeshiva in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. During his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

he served in the Givati Brigade, and was also based at the

Hesder Hesder ( he, הסדר "arrangement"; also Yeshivat Hesder ) is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework. The program all ...

Yeshivat Or Etzion Yeshivat Or Etzion is a Hesder Yeshiva, religious high school, and religious army preparation high school. It is located in Merkaz Shapira, Israel. It was founded in 1977. Its Rosh Yeshiva is Rabbi Haim Drukman. The "Yeshiva Gavoha" roll is a ...

. After his army service he returned to Beersheba and founded the Beit Moria Garin Torani in 1993, which worked in the education sector. In 2008 Wortzman headed the United Religious List in the municipal elections in

, with the party winning three seats. He served as the deputy mayor of the city and was responsible for community and welfare. In 2008 he was a candidate for the leadership of the new Jewish Home party, but was defeated by Daniel Hershkowitz. Prior to the 2013 Knesset elections he was asked by

Naftali Bennett Naftali Bennett ( he, נַפְתָּלִי בֶּנֶט, Transliterated: , ; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the 3rd Alternate Prime Minist ...

to run for the Knesset, and was placed eighth on the Jewish Home list. He entered the Knesset after the party won 12 seats, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Education on 18 March, a position he held until 4 December 2014. He was placed tenth on the Jewish Home list for the

2015 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in the year 2015. Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burun ...

, but lost his seat as the party was reduced to eight seats. Although he returned to the Knesset on 3 December 2015 as a replacement for Yinon Magal, who resigned because of sexual harassment allegations against him, he lost his seat three days later after deciding to remain in his job at Aleh Negev, a choice that causes Bennett to resign as minister, which automatically caused him to return to the Knesset due to a recent law amendment and put Wortzman back to the top of the candidate list.Bennett to return to Knesset
The Jerusalem Post, 2 December 2015 Wortzman is married to Ilanit and the couple has four children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wortzman, Avi 1970 births Living people Ben-Gurion University of the Negev alumni Deputy mayors of places in Israel Deputy ministers of Israel Israeli Jews Israeli Orthodox Jews Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 19th Knesset (2013–2015) Members of the 20th Knesset (2015–2019) Mercaz HaRav alumni Politicians from Beersheba The Jewish Home politicians