Meir David Loewenstein (; 1 June 1904 – 15 August 1995) was an Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence.

Biography

Born in

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in 1904, Loewenstein studied at a business school in

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and a rabbinical

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.Meir-David Levenstein
Knesset During his youth he became involved in the European Agudat Yisrael youth movement, of which he later became chairman. After emigrating to

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 1934, he remained active in Agudat Yisrael. As a prominent member of the organisation, Loewenstein became a member of Moetzet HaAm (later the Provisional State Council), and signed Israel's declaration of independence in 1948. However, he later claimed:

It ignored our sole right to Eretz Israel, which is based on the covenant of the Lord with
Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
, our father, and repeated promises in the Tanach. It ignored the aliya of the Ramban and the students of the Vilna Gaon and the Ba'al Shem Tov, and the ights ofJews who lived in the 'Old Yishuv'.

He was elected to the Knesset in the country's first elections in 1949 as a member of the United Religious Front, an alliance of the four major religious parties. However, he lost his seat in the 1951 elections. Loewenstein rejected the idea of a constitution for Israel, stating:Perpetual Dilemma: Jewish Religion in the Jewish State
S. Zalman Abramov, pp 139

If it contradicts the
Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
of Israel, it is a revolt against the Almighty; if it is identical with the Torah, it is superfluous. A constitution will lead to an uncompromising fight... a Kulturkampf.

In 1972 Loewenstein became chairman of the Committee for Spiritual Salvation. He died in 1995.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loewenstein, Meir David 1904 births 1995 deaths Danish emigrants to Israel Danish Jews Israeli people of Danish-Jewish descent Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence United Religious Front politicians Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah