Eliyahu Elyashar ( he, אליהו אלישר, 10 October 1899 - 30 October 1981) was an Israeli politician and writer.

Biography

Elyashar was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

at a time when it was part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. His father, Yitzhak Shemaya Elyashar, was the grandson of rabbi

Yaakov Shaul Elyashar Yaakov Shaul Elyashar (1 June 1817 – 21 July 1906), also known as Yisa Berakhah, was a 19th-century Sephardi rabbi in Ottoman Syria. He became Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1893. Biography and rabbinic career Yaakov Shaul Elyashar was ...

through his father and rabbi

Raphael Meir Panigel Raphael Meir ben Yehuda Panigel (1804–1893) was the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire. Panigel was born in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, but his family emigrated to the Land of Israel when he was a child. In 1828 and in 1863, he was a ...

through his mother. Elyashar's mother Rosa was the daughter of

Yosef Navon Yosef Navon (; 1858–1934) was a Jerusalem businessman and the man principally responsible for the construction of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. For his effort, Navon was awarded the Légion d'honneur from the French government, and the Medjidie ...

and his wife Guishe Frumkin, the sister of

Israel Dov Frumkin Israel Dov Frumkin ( he, ישראל דב פרומקין; 29 October 1850 – 10 May 1914) was an author and pioneer of Hebrew journalism. Family He was born into a Chabad family in Dubrovno, in the Russian Empire. Frumkin's step-grandfather was ...

. He had several siblings, including a younger brother, Menashe Elyashar, who became a businessman and public figure. Elyashar studied medicine at the University of Beirut, as well as law in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and Jerusalem.Eliahu Eliashar: Particulars
Knesset website During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served as a junior medical officer in the

Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

. After the British took control of Palestine, he started working for the Mandate government in 1922, eventually managing the Trade Bureau in the Department of Customs and Trade. In 1935, he left the civil service and went into business.Eliahu Eliashar: Public Activities
Knesset website In 1938, he became a member of the Sephardi Community Committee in Jerusalem, and also served as a member of its presidium. In 1942, he was elected its president. In the same year he started publishing and editing the weekly newspaper ''Hed HaMizrah'', which he continued to do until 1952. A member of the

Jewish National Council The Jewish National Council (JNC; he, ועד לאומי, ''Va'ad Le'umi''), also known as the Jewish People's Council was the main national executive organ of the Assembly of Representatives of the Jewish community (Yishuv) within Mandatory Pale ...

, he was amongst the leadership of the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

in Jerusalem and served as a member of the Defence Committee of the

Provisional State Council The Provisional State Council ( he, מועצת המדינה הזמנית, ''Moetzet HaMedina HaZmanit'') was the temporary legislature of Israel from shortly before independence until the election of the first Knesset in January 1949. It took the ...

after Israeli independence. In the first Knesset elections in 1949 he was placed second on the

Sephardim and Oriental Communities Sephardim and Oriental Communities ( he, סְפָרַדִּים וְעֵדוֹת מִזְרָח, ''Sfaradim VeEdot Mizrah'') was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the Likud party. History The Sephardim and Oriental Commun ...

list, and became a Knesset member when the party won four seats. He headed the party for the 1951 elections, in which it won two seats. Shortly after the elections the party merged into the

General Zionists The General Zionists ( he, הַצִיּוֹנִים הַכְּלָלִיים, translit. ''HaTzionim HaKlaliym'') were a centrist Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. The General Zionists supported the leadership of Chaim Weizmann an ...

. Prior to the 1955 elections Elyashar was amongst the party members who broke away to reform Sephardim and Oriental Communities. He again headed its list for the elections, but it received only 0.8% of the vote, failing to cross the 1% electoral threshold, resulting in Eliashar losing his seat. In 1974, Elyashar was one of the founders of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Elyashar later published two books; ''Living with the Palestinians'' in 1975, and ''Living with the Jews'' in 1981. He died in October that year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eliashar, Eliyahu 1899 births 1981 deaths People from Jerusalem Ottoman military personnel of World War I Haganah members Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Israeli political writers Sephardim and Oriental Communities leaders General Zionists politicians Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Sephardi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Sephardi Jews in Ottoman Palestine