Moshe Erem (; 7 August 1896 – 14 October 1978) 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 ...

for several left-wing parties and factions from 1949 until 1959, and again from 1965 until 1969.

Biography

Born Moshe Kazanovski in Lyady 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 ...

(now in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

), Erem worked as a high school headteacher in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. 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 1924, and worked in building and road construction. 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 ...

movement, later becoming one of its leading figures. In the same year that he immigrated he became a member of 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 ...

–

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

workers council that year, serving on it until 1935. In 1926, he was elected onto Tel Aviv's city council. In 1935, he was sent to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as a Poale Zion emissary, working there for two years. In 1937, he was invited to Spain (during the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

) by the republican government. He also served on the Zionist Executive Committee and the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

's executive committee, and worked in the Organisation department of the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

in the 1940s. In the

1949 elections Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

he was voted into the Knesset on the

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 ...

list. He retained his seat in the 1951 elections, but on 23 August 1954, left the party alongside Israel Bar-Yehuda,

Yitzhak Ben-Aharon Yitzhak Ben-Aharon (; 17 July 1906 – 19 May 2006) was an Israeli left-wing politician. He was a Knesset member from the first to the fifth Knessets and in the seventh and eighth, and a former Transportation Minister of Israel, Minister of ...

and

Aharon Zisling Aharon Zisling (), also spelled Aharon Cizling, (26 February 1901 – 16 January 1964) was an Israeli politician and minister and a signatory of Declaration of Independence (Israel), Israel's declaration of independence. Biography Born in Mins ...

to re-establish Ahdut HaAvoda - Poale Zion as an independent party. He was re-elected on the new party's list in the 1955 elections, but lost his seat 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 ...

. He failed to win a seat in the 1961 elections, but entered the Knesset on 4 May 1965 as a replacement for the deceased Bar-Yehuda.Knesset Members in the Fifth Knesset
Knesset website He retained his seat in the November 1965 elections, by which time Ahdut HaAvoda had entered an alliance with

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 ...

, known as 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 ...

. Following a formal merger of the two (with the addition of Rafi), in 1968 this became the Labor Party, and, following the addition of Mapam to the alliance, was again renamed the

in 1969. Erem lost his seat in the elections that year. He died in 1978. A street in north

is named after him

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erem, Moshe 1896 births 1978 deaths People from Dubrowna district People from Goretsky Uyezd 20th-century Belarusian Jews Belarusian Zionists Jews from the Russian Empire Jews from Mandatory Palestine Jewish socialists Israeli people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Poale Zion politicians Mapam politicians Ahdut HaAvoda politicians Alignment (Israel) politicians Israeli Labor Party 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 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Israeli trade unionists Zionist activists Imperial Moscow University alumni Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery City councillors of Tel Aviv-Yafo Immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah