David Bar-Rav-Hai (; 11 July 1894 – 15 July 1977) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for

Mapai Mapai (, an abbreviation for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', ) was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in January ...

from 1949 until 1955, and again from 1956 until 1965.

Biography

Born David Borovoi in

Nizhyn Nizhyn (, ; ) is a city located in Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine along the Oster River. The city is located north-east of the national capital Kyiv. Nizhyn serves as the capital city, administrative center of Nizhyn Raion. It hosts the ...

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 ...

(today in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), Bar-Rav-Hai joined the Zionist Students Organization in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

. In 1911, he moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, but returned to Russia in 1918 and joined the Young Zion movement, becoming secretary of the Jewish community in Odessa until the Soviet authorities closed it down in 1920. Afterwards he joined the Zionist underground and was arrested in 1922. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was released after 15 months and expelled from the country. In 1924 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 ...

, where he joined

Hapoel Hatzair Hapoel Hatzair (, "The Young Worker") was a Zionist group active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. It was founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Aharonovich, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda. Hapoel Hatzair was a ...

. He became a member of the workers councils in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

and

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 ...

, and was sent to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

as an emissary. In 1933 he established a law office in Haifa. He was joined by his son, Meir, who studied law in the last class under the British Mandate. Between 1932 and 1948 Bar-Rav-Hai was a member of the

Jewish National Council The Jewish National Council (JNC; , ''Va'ad Le'umi''), also known as the Jewish People's Council and the General Council of the Jewish Community of Palestine was the main national executive organ of the Assembly of Representatives of the Jewis ...

, after which he was an alternate member of the

Provisional State Council The Provisional State Council (, ''Moetzet HaMedina HaZmanit'') was the temporary legislature of Israel from shortly before independence until the election of the first Knesset in January 1949. It took the place of His Majesty's Privy Council, ...

. As chairman of the election committee in October 1948, he wrote that the need to hold elections within a short period of time made it impossible to create voting districts, resulting in the elections being held using proportional representation with a single nationwide constitutuency. He argued in favor of delaying writing a formal constitution and drafting it "step by step...chapter by chapter," with the

Israeli Declaration of Independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war phase and ...

as its cornerstone. In the 1949 elections Bar-Rav-Hai won a seat on the Mapai list. He was re-elected in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, but lost his seat in the 1955 elections. However, he re-entered the Knesset on 24 October 1956 as a replacement for Senetta Yoseftal. He was re-elected in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, serving until 1965. He was placed 115th place on the

Alignment Alignment may refer to: Archaeology * Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks * Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones Biology * Struc ...

list in the 1965 elections.Alignment list
Israel Democracy Institute Bar-Rav-Hai died in 1977 at the age of 83. A street in

is named after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bar-Rav-Hai, David 1894 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Russian Jews Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jews from Mandatory Palestine Mapai politicians Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine) Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) People from Nizhyn People from Chernigov Governorate Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Soviet Jews Immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah