Shlomo Zalman Shragai Explained

Office:Mayor of Jerusalem
Term Start:1951
Term End:1952
Predecessor:Daniel Auster
Successor:Yitzhak Kariv
Birth Date:31 December 1898
Birth Place:Gorzkowice, Russian Empire
Death Place:Jerusalem, Israel
Party:Hapoel HaMizrachi

Shlomo Zalman Shragai (Hebrew: זלמן שרגאי, 1899–1995) was an Israeli politician and Jerusalem's first elected mayor.

Biography

Shlomo Zalman Shragai was born into a Polish Orthodox Jewish family in Gorzkowice in 1899. He then became active in the religious Zionist movement and settled in Palestine in 1924,[1] already playing an important political role before Israel's founding in 1948.

Political career

In 1950, Shragai was elected mayor of West Jerusalem, a position he held for two years.[2] He then became the head of immigration of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. This was a time of extensive immigration to Israel from Muslim countries, so he often went on clandestine trips to these countries to obtain the release of the Jews living there. He served as honorary world president of Hapoel HaMizrachi movement.[1] Shragai was particularly active in encouraging religious Jews to move to Israel and was among the prime movers behind the establishment of Kiryat Sanz in Netanya, Kiryat Mattersdorf and Kiryat Itri in Jerusalem, and Kiryat Sassov near Ramat Gan.[3]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: OBITUARY : Shlomo Shragai. September 7, 1995. The Independent.
  2. News: Shlomo Zalman Shragai, 96, a former mayor of Jerusalem and.... 27 April 2013. Baltimore Sun. 4 September 1995.
  3. https://mizrachi.org/hamizrachi/when-mizrachi-leaders-built-charedi-neighborhoods-in-israel/ When Mizrachi Leaders Built Charedi Neighborhoods in Israel