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Itzhak Ben-Zvi

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
יצחק בן־צבי
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.jpg
2nd President of Israel
In office
16 December 1952 – 23 April 1963
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
Moshe Sharett
David Ben-Gurion
Preceded by Chaim Weizmann
Succeeded by Zalman Shazar
Personal details
Born (1884-11-24)24 November 1884
Poltava, Russian Empire
Died 23 April 1963(1963-04-23) (aged 78)
Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality Israeli
Political party Mapai
Spouse(s) Rachel Yanait
Children 2
Alma mater Istanbul University
Religion Judaism
Signature

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (Hebrew: יצחק בן־צבי‎‎ Yitshak Ben-Tsvi; 24 November 1884 – 23 April 1963) was a historian, Labor Zionist leader and the second and longest-serving President of Israel.

Born in Poltava in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Ben-Zvi was the eldest son of Zvi Shimshelevich, who later took the name Shimshi. Shimshi was a leading Zionist activist and one of the organizers of the first Zionist Congress in 1897, who, in 1952, was honored by the first Israeli Knesset with the title "Father of the State of Israel".

Ben-Zvi was active in the Jewish self-defense units organized in Ukraine to defend Jews during the pogroms of 1905, and joined the Poale Zion Zionist political party. He immigrated to Palestine in 1907, settling in Jaffa, and later the same year was a representative in the Zionist Congress at The Hague. It was there that he first met Israel Shochat. "Bar-Giora", the clandestine precursor to Hashomer, was created in his apartment in 1907. In 1909, he organized the Gymnasia Rehavia high school in the Bukharim quarter of Jerusalem together with Rachel Yanait.


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