Aryeh Sheftel (; 1905 – 28 September 1980) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

and mayor of

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

Biography

Born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, Sheftel was educated in a

heder A ''cheder'' (, lit. 'room'; Yiddish pronunciation: ''khéyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. L ...

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 studied in parallel. The stu ...

and high school in his home city, before attending a Teachers Seminary, after which he worked as a teacher in the Tarbut school system in Vilnius. In 1921 he joined the Borochov Zionist Youth Movement, and was also a member of

HeHalutz HeHalutz or HeChalutz (, lit. "The Pioneer") was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel. It became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movements. History Before W ...

. In 1925, he joined

Poale Zion Poale Zion (, also romanized ''Poalei Tziyon'' or ''Poaley Syjon'', meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire at about the turn of the 20th c ...

. During the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, he continued to work as a teacher in the

Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered . During the approximately two years of its existen ...

. In 1943 he was involved in organising an uprising in the Ghetto. He was later moved to concentrations camps in Estonia and other countries. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

ended he was involved in helping organise Jews in Poland and edited a

Yiddish language Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

newspaper between 1946 and 1947. In 1947 he

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset. However, he resigned from it on 12 February 1951 and was replaced by

Yisrael Yeshayahu Yisrael Yeshayahu Sharabi (; 20 April 1908 – 20 June 1979) was an Israeli politician, minister and the fifth Speaker of the Knesset. Biography Born in Sadeh, Yemen, to a Jewish weaver by trade, he was sent to Sana'a at an early age where he s ...

.Knesset Members of the First Knesset
Knesset He was also secretary of the

Workers Council and mayor of the city for three separate terms; 1951, 1960 to 1962 and 1965 until 1969. He died in 1980.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheftel, Aryeh 1905 births 1980 deaths Politicians from Vilnius Poale Zion politicians Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Lithuanian Jews Lithuanian schoolteachers Lithuanian Zionists Jewish concentration camp survivors Mayors of Rishon LeZion Mapai politicians Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) 20th-century Polish journalists Vilna Ghetto inmates