Yitzhak Peretz (politician born 1938) explained

Birth Date:1938 3, df=yes
Birth Place:Casablanca, Morocco
Office1:Ministerial roles
Suboffice1:Minister without Portfolio
Subterm1:1984
Suboffice2:Minister of Internal Affairs
Subterm2:1984–1987
Suboffice3:Minister without Portfolio
Subterm3:1987–1988
Subterm4:1988–1992
Office5:Faction represented in the Knesset
Suboffice5:Shas
Subterm5:1984–1990
Suboffice6:Moria
Subterm6:1990–1992
Suboffice7:United Torah Judaism
Subterm7:1992

Rabbi Yitzhak Haim Peretz (Hebrew: יצחק חיים פרץ, born 26 March 1938) is a former Israeli politician who held several ministerial portfolios during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Biography

Born in Casablanca in Morocco, Peretz made aliyah to Israel in 1950. He studied at the Yeshiva High School, "Noam", in Pardes Hana, at the Hebron Yeshiva, Jerusalem, and at the kollel in Petah Tikva; he was ordained as a rabbi at Yeshivat Hazon Ovadia. He served as chief rabbi of Ra'anana from 1962 until 1984.

In 1984, Peretz became the leader of the new Sephardic Haredi Shas party,[1] and in the elections that year, he won a seat in the Knesset. The party joined the national unity government, and Peretz was appointed Minister without Portfolio. On 24 December 1984, he became Minister of Internal Affairs, a post he resigned two years later, in January 1987, in protest against the Supreme Court ordering him to recognise as Jewish a woman who underwent a conversion to Judaism with a Reform rabbi, a controversial procedure from the Haredi point of view, stating that "The High Court of Justice demanded that I list a non-Jew as a Jew".[2] On 25 May, he rejoined the government as a Minister without Portfolio.

Following the 1988 elections, he was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption. On 25 December 1990, he left Shas and founded a new religious faction, Moria, though he remained a member of the cabinet.

Prior to the 1992 elections, he joined United Torah Judaism (UTJ), and was placed second on the party's list, in order to attract voters from Shas, with the agreement that he would resign from the Knesset if his presence did not significantly increase the alliance's vote share. The elections saw UTJ win only three seats, a reduction from the seven won by the two parties running separately in 1988, and Peretz resigned three days after the Knesset term started.

Peretz was elected to the Chief Rabbinate in 2002, and was re-elected in 2008. He is currently the City Rabbi of Ra'anana.[3]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=838459&ct=1105463 The World of Shas
  2. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEEDC1F3CF932A35752C0A961948260 Israeli Interior Minister Quits to Protest Ruling
  3. http://www.bhol.co.il/6779/%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%9F.html הרבנות הראשית: הרב אליטוב במקום הראשון