Ya'akov Geri (; 18 September 1901 – 18 December 1974), also known as Jack Gering, was an Israeli lawyer who served as Minister of Trade and Industry between November 1950 and October 1951, although he never was a

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

member. Born in Seda in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(today in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

), Geri later moved to South Africa. He studied law and humanities at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

and the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...

, and worked as a lawyer for several years before emigrating to

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 ...

in 1934. After arriving in Israel he initially worked for

Dov Yosef Dov Joseph (; 27 May 1899 – 7 January 1980) was an Israeli statesman. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he was in charge of Jerusalem. He later held ministerial positions in nine Israeli governments. Biography Bernard Joseph (later Dov J ...

's law firm before being appointed secretary of the Africa Palestine Investment Company in 1935. On 1 November 1950 Geri was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

's second government, a post he held until 8 October 1951. After his term as Minister he became head of a group of South African companies in Israel.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Geri, Ya'akov 1901 births South African Jews University of the Witwatersrand alumni University of Johannesburg alumni South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent South African emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Jews from Mandatory Palestine 1974 deaths 20th-century Israeli lawyers Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah