Yosef Ba-Gad (; born 10 February 1932) is an Israeli former

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

and politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1992 and 1996.

Biography

Ba-Gad was born in the

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 ...

neighbourhood of Motza during the Mandate era. He attended Yeshivat Kfar HaRoeh and Yeshivat Hebron and gained an MA from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

, before working as head of a yeshiva. In 1955 he established the

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva (, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established in Mandatory Palestine in 1929, advocating the values of Torah and labor. Bne ...

-affiliated Nehalim yeshiva. He also served as director of the Center for Religious Education and was a member of the Council for Religious Education. In

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

he was elected to the Knesset on the

Moledet Moledet () was a minor right-wing to far-right political party in Israel. History Moledet was established by Rehavam Ze'evi in 1988. It won two seats in the Knesset elections later that year, taken by Ze'evi and Yair Sprinzak. It joined Yi ...

list. However, on 12 March 1996 he left the party to sit as an independent. He established a new party named Moreshet Avot (Heritage of the Fathers), and planned to run in the 1996 elections, though the party pulled out and Ba-Gad lost his seat. He had also planned to run in the election for Prime Minister, but failed to gather the 50,000 signatures necessary. Ba-Gad decided to run again in the 1999 elections, but was disqualified by the

Central Elections Committee The Israeli Central Elections Committee (, ''Va'adet HaBehirot HaMerkazit'') is the body charged under the Knesset Elections Law of 1969 to carry out the elections for the upcoming Knesset. The committee is composed of Knesset members (and deleg ...

after it was discovered that at least one-third of the 61,000 signatures he submitted were suspected to be fraudulent. Moreshet Avot remained on the ballot for the Knesset elections, but won only 1,164 votes, the lowest of any party, after Ba-Gad called on his supporters to vote for the

National Religious Party The National Religious Party (, ''Miflaga Datit Leumit''), commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew abbreviation Mafdal (), was an Israeli political party representing the interests of the Israeli settlers and religious Zionist movement. Formed ...

. In 2005 he was indicted on charges of aggravated forgery, conspiracy to committing a crime, suborning perjury and attempted fraud, all relating to his 1999 election campaign, in which he allegedly offered businessman Meir Manor NIS 100,000 to fraudulently collect 30,000 signatures. He was eventually convicted as part of plea bargain in 2007 and sentenced to six months in prison.

Family

Ba-Gad's granddaughter,

Rinat Gutman Rinat Gutman (Hebrew language, Hebrew: ; born 1980) is an Israeli Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish rapper, singer, and songwriter. One of the first religious female rappers in Israel, she has also performed in the United States, England, and In ...

, is a professional rapper and singer in Israel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ba-Gad, Yosef 1932 births Living people Bar-Ilan University alumni Israeli educators Israeli politicians convicted of fraud Jewish Israeli politicians Jews from Mandatory Palestine Members of the 13th Knesset (1992–1996) Moledet politicians People from Jerusalem Rabbis convicted of crimes Yeshivat Kfar HaRoeh alumni Hebron Yeshiva alumni