Yisrael Bar-Yehuda (; 15 November 1895 – 15 May 1965) was a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activist and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i politician.

Biography

Born Yisrael Idelson in

Konotop Konotop ( ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. Konotop serves as the administrative center of Konotop Raion within the oblast. Konotop is located about from Sumy, the administrative center of the oblast. It is host to Konotop Ai ...

, in the

Chernigov Governorate Chernigov Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796-1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Cher ...

of 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 ...

(present-day

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

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 ...

) in 1895, Bar-Yehuda attended an Academic High School and the Mine Engineering Institute in

Ekaterinoslav Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

. During that time he was the mathematics tutor of the future

Lubavitcher Rebbe Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

, when the later was 17 years old. In 1909 joined Tze'irei Zion (later to be merged into

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...

) and was made a member of its central committee in Russia in 1917. He was Secretary of the Central Committee of the "Socialist Zionists", where he met and married

Beba Idelson Beba Idelson (; 14 October 1895 – 5 December 1975) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. Biography Beba Idelson (née Trakhtenbereg) was born in Ekaterinoslav in the Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine) in 1895. When she was eight, he ...

(whom he would later divorce). In 1922 they were arrested by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities and exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. In 1924, thanks to an intercession by

Maxim Gorki Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an auth ...

's wife, their banishment was converted to deportation to

Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

. They traveled to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and from there to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

by way of Danzig. For the next two years in Berlin they were active in establishing the World Union of Socialist Zionists and became the Movement's Secretary. In 1926 he

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

to Palestine. He was Secretary of the

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

Workers Council and organized sentries to protect Jewish workers. He also did roadwork on the

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

-Petah Tikva road. In 1930 he joined

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Yagur Yagur () is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the northeastern slopes of Mount Carmel, about 9 km southeast of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Zevulun Regional Council. In it had a population of , making it one of the two ...

, and became its secretary six years later. During the 1936-39 Arab revolt he was among the first to call for "active defense". He was a delegate to the Assembly of Representatives and a member of the Constituent Assembly. He was one of the leaders of the "B" faction in

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 ...

and one of the leaders of the

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of List of political parties in Israel, political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of Mandatory Pales ...

after the split in 1944. From 1960 to 1962 he was secretary general of Ahdut HaAvoda. He was elected to the first and second

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 ...

s for

Mapam File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 The non-partisans (pre-state Zionist political movement), Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 ...

and for Ahdut HaAvoda to the third through fifth. He was a member of the House, Constitution, Law and Justice, Foreign Affairs & Defense, Constitution, Law and Justice, Labor, and Finance Committees, as well as Chairman of the Subcommittee for Basic Laws. Bar-Yehuda was also Deputy Speaker of the third Knesset. He was

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 1955 to 1962 and then

Minister of Transportation A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

until his death in 1965. The "Bar-Yehuda" neighborhood in Petach Tikva is named after him as well as

Bar Yehuda Airfield Bar Yehuda Airfield (; sometimes known as Masada Airfield, ), named after Yisrael Bar-Yehuda, is a small desert airfield located in the southern Judean desert, between Arad and Ein Gedi, west of the Dead Sea. Opened in 1963, it is just from the ...

and the road from Yagur to the

HaKerayot The Krayot or Qerayot (, "townships") (plural of ''Kirya'') are a cluster of four small cities and two neighbourhoods of Haifa founded in the 1930s on the outskirts of the city of Haifa, Israel, in the Haifa Bay area. The Krayot include Kiryat Y ...

intersection.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bar-Yehuda, Yisrael 1895 births 1965 deaths Ahdut HaAvoda politicians Deputy speakers of the Knesset Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Israeli trade unionists Jewish Israeli politicians Jewish socialists Jews from Mandatory Palestine Mapam 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) Ministers of internal affairs of Israel Ministers of transport of Israel People from Chernigov Governorate People from Konotop Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Soviet Jews Kibbutzniks Russian exiles in Siberia Soviet expellees Ukrainian Zionists Zionist activists Immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah