Zalman Shazar זלמן שז"ר |
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3rd President of Israel | |
In office May 21, 1963 – May 24, 1973 |
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Prime Minister |
David Ben-Gurion Levi Eshkol Golda Meir |
Preceded by | Yitzhak Ben-Zvi |
Succeeded by | Ephraim Katzir |
Personal details | |
Born |
Mir, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire |
November 24, 1889
Died | October 5, 1974 Jerusalem, Israel |
(aged 84)
Nationality | Israeli |
Political party | Mapai |
Spouse(s) | Rachel Shazar |
Children | 1 |
Religion | Judaism |
Zalman Shazar (Hebrew: זלמן שז"ר; November 24, 1889 – October 5, 1974) was an Israeli politician, author and poet. Shazar served as the third President of Israel from 1963 to 1973.
Shneur Zalman Rubashov (Belarusian: Шнэер За́льман Рубашо́ў; Russian: Шне́ер За́лмен Рубашо́в) was born to a Hasidic family of the Chabad-Lubavitch denomination in Mir, near Minsk, in the Russian Empire (today in Hrodna Voblast, Belarus), he received a religious education as a youth.
He remained involved with Chabad for the rest of his life, assisting Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe in founding the village of Kfar Chabad, and at his behest, allowed the religious community in Israel to set up their own educational system. He later carried on an extensive correspondence with the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and visited him on multiple occasions.
In his teenage years he became involved in the Poale Zion Movement. Shazar immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1924, and became a member of the secretariat of the Histadrut.
Shazar died on October 5, 1974. He is buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.