Avraham "Avi" Wortzman (; born 29 October 1970) is an Israeli politician and a former 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 ...

for

the Jewish Home The Jewish Home () was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish, Religious Zionism, religious Zionist and Far-right politics in Israel, far-right political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Mole ...

. He also served as Deputy

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

between 2013 and 2015.

Biography

Wortzman was born in

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

. He studied at the

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva (, , "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, advocating the values of Torah and labor. Bne ...

-affiliated Ohel Shlomo

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 ...

in Beersheba and the Mercaz HaRav Kook yeshiva in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. During his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or 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 ...

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

Hesder Hesder ( "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 allows Orthodox J ...

Yeshivat Or Etzion. 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 (, ; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician and businessman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the alternate prime minister from 1 July to 8 November 2022. Bennett was t ...

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 Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

, 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 Yinon Magal (; born 27 April 1969) is an Israeli journalist and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home for most of 2015. Magal presents the program ''"Hapatriotim, The Patriots"'' on the channel ''Channel 14 (Israel) ...

, 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 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