Yeruham Zeisel (; 1909 – May 26, 1987) was the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

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 ...

from 1975 to 1978. Yeruham Zeisel was born in 1909 in Tarnov, Galicia, (then

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, today

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 ...

). Zeisel was raised in 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 ...

home, and already in his youth was a member of

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 a counselor for a group of youths in the "Pioneer" movement. In 1932 he made

Aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

and 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 ...

Ein HaMifratz. He also worked as a porter in the Post of Haifa, and worked in the digging of fish pools in the area of the swamps of the Ne'eman Valley. In 1933, Zeisel moved to

, and began work as an electrician for the Israel Electric Corporation. Zeisel was a member of the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

, and served as the metalworkers secretary. In 1936, he moved to Kiryat Chaim. Zeisel was elected to the Haifa city council in 1961, and eight years later, in 1969, he was elected to the position of vice-mayor. Due to the illness of then-mayor Moshe Flimann, Zeisel was appointed substitute mayor. With Flimann's subsequent death, Zeisel remained in office, and served in that capacity until the election of Yosef Almogi in 1974. Almog's term didn't last long: in 1975 he was chosen to be the chairman 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 ...

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 ...

. It was then that Zeisel was elected as mayor of Haifa, and he served until 1978. During his time in office, construction of the promenade in Bat Galim began. In 1979, Zeisel was chosen to serve as the head of the secondary council of Kiriyat Chaim; he held that post until the day he died.

See also