The Jewish National Council (JNC; , ''Va'ad Le'umi''), also known as the Jewish People's Council and the General Council of the Jewish Community of Palestine was the main national executive organ of the Assembly of Representatives of the Jewish community (

Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, when there were about 2 ...

) within

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 ...

. Its responsibilities included education, culture, local government, welfare, healthcare, religious service, security and defense. Since 1928 it was also the official representative of the Yishuv to the British Mandate government. Established in 1920, it operated until 1948, when its functions were passed to the newly-established state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

History

The JNC, established in 1920 in order to conduct Jewish communal affairs, was created along with the Assembly of Representatives, whose members selected from among themselves the members of the National Council. The first Assembly consisted of 314 elected Representatives. The first chairman of the JNC was

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...

. 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 ...

and 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 ...

were also founded in 1920. Jewish communal affairs were generally conducted through a hierarchy of representative organizations, including the JNC. The members of the JNC also participated in meetings of the Zionist General Council. The organization represented almost all major Jewish factions, however a few smaller groups at first objected to the creation of centralized leadership. Notably,

Agudat Israel Agudat Yisrael (; Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party representing Haredi Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement in Upper Silesia. It later be ...

joined only in 1935. It was announced only in 1946 that the Sephardic Jews and the Zionist Revisionists, would stop refusing to participate in the JNC.

Role in the establishment of Israel

The Political Department of the JNC was responsible for relations with the Arabs, ties with 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 negotiations with the British government. As the Yishuv grew, the JNC adopted more functions, such as education, health care and welfare services, internal defense and security matters, and organized recruitment to the British forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In the 1940s, departments for physical training, culture and press and information were added. The report of the

Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry was a joint British and American committee assembled in Washington, D.C., on 4 January 1946. The committee was tasked to examine political, economic and social conditions in Mandatory Palestine and the well ...

issued in 1946, stated:

"The Jews have developed, under the aegis of the Jewish Agency and the JNC, a strong and tightly-woven community. There thus exists a virtual Jewish nonterritorial State with its own executive and legislative organs..."The report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
Ch. VIII. The State Within the State.

When the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

was established in 1948, this departmental structure served as a basis for the government ministries. On March 2, 1948, the New Jewish Council:

" Begins work on organization of Jewish provisional government"

On May 14, 1948, (the expiration day of the British Mandate), its members gathered at the

Tel Aviv Museum of Art The Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art both from Israel and around the world. History The Tel Aviv ...

and ratified the proclamation declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The members of the JNC formed the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

of the nascent State of Israel.

Departments

* The Political Department * The Education Department * The Health Department * The Communities Department * The Rabbinate * The Social Welfare Department

Presidents

* 1920–1929

David Yellin David Yellin (; March 19, 1864 – December 12, 1941) was an educator, a researcher of the Hebrew language and Hebrew literature, literature, a politician, one of the leaders of the Yishuv, the founder of the first David Yellin College of Educat ...

* 1929–1931

Pinhas Rutenberg Pinhas Rutenberg (, Pyotr Moiseyevich Rutenberg; ; 5 February 1879 – 3 January 1942) was a Russian businessman, hydraulic engineer and political activist. In Russia, he was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and fled due to the Octo ...

* 1931–1944

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963; born Izaak Shimshelevich) was a historian, ethnologist, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving president of Israel. He was 1952 Israeli presidential elec ...

* 1944–1948

David Remez David Remez (; 23 May 1886 – 19 May 1951) was an Israeli politician, the country's first Minister of Transportation, and a signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence. Biography Remez was born David Drabkin in the village of Kopy ...

References

External links

Country Studies Program
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...