Shlomo-Yisrael Ben-Meir ( he, שלמה-ישראל בן-מאיר, born Shlomo-Yisrael Rosenberg; 13 August 1910 – 4 April 1971) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset from 1952 until his death.

Biography

Born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(today in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

), Ben-Meir was educated at the Yitzchak Elchanan

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

, before studying at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. He was certified as a rabbi, and was awarded a doctorate in law. He worked as a lawyer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

until 1940, when he became rabbi of

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Between 1937 and 1941 he was a member of the board of directors of the American branches of the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

and

Keren Hayesod Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal ( he, קרן היסוד, literally "The Foundation Fund") is an official fundraising organization for Israel with branches in 45 countries. Its work is carried out in accordance with the Keren haYesod Law-5 ...

. In 1950, he made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. In the same year he became world chairman of the Mizrachi movement, and in Israel was chairman of the national council. He was given a place on the list of the organisation's political branch for the 1951 elections, but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 14 August 1952 as a replacement for the deceased

David-Zvi Pinkas David-Zvi Pinkas ( he, דָּוִד־צְבִי פִּנְקָס, 5 December 1895 – 14 August 1952) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. A signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence, he was the country's third Minister of Tra ...

, and on 5 January 1953 was appointed Deputy Minister of Welfare, serving until the government resigned on 26 January 1954. He worked towards a merger of Mizrachi and

Hapoel HaMizrachi Hapoel HaMizrachi ( he, הַפּוֹעֵל הַמִּזְרָחִי, lit. '' Mizrachi Workers'') was a political party and settlement movement in Israel. It was one of the predecessors of the National Religious Party and the Jewish Home. History ...

, which was partially achieved when the party ran a joint list for the 1955 elections (in which he retained his seat), and fully achieved when the two merged to form the

National Religious Party The National Religious Party ( he, מִפְלָגָה דָּתִית לְאֻומִּית, ''Miflaga Datit Leumit'', commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Mafdal, ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist moveme ...

in 1956. The chairman of the party's political section, he served as Deputy Minister of Welfare again between 13 January and 1 July 1958. He retained his seat again in the 1959 elections, and was appointed Deputy

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

in the ninth government. He was re-elected again in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, serving as a Deputy

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs from 18 February 1963 onwards, and also as Deputy

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

from 24 March 1965 until the government left office on 12 January 1966. After re-election in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

and

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, he remained Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs until his death on 4 April 1971. His seat was taken by his son Yehuda,Knesset Members in the Seventh Knesset
Knesset website who served as a Knesset member until 1984.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Meir, Shlomo-Yisrael 1910 births 1971 deaths People from Warsaw Governorate Jews from the Russian Empire 20th-century Polish Jews Yeshiva University alumni New York University alumni Polish emigrants to the United States Israeli Orthodox rabbis National Religious Party politicians Mizrachi (political party) politicians Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974) Deputy ministers of Israel Deputy Speakers of the Knesset American emigrants to Israel Jewish Israeli politicians Rabbinic members of the Knesset