Zalman Aran

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Zalman Aran
Date of birth March 1, 1899(1899-03-01)
Place of birth Yuzovka, Russian Empire
Year of Aliyah 1926
Date of death September 6, 1970 (aged 71)
Knesset(s) 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
Party Alignment
Former parties Mapai
Gov't roles
(current in bold)
Miniser of Transportation
Minister without Portfolio
Minister of Education

Zalman Aran (Hebrew: זלמן ארן‎, born Zalman Aharonowitz on 1 March 1899, died 6 September 1970) was a Zionist activist, educator and Israeli politician.

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[edit] Biography

Aran was born in 1899 in Yuzovka in the Russian Empire (now Donetsk, Ukraine), and received his religious education in a Heder. He later studied agriculture in Kharkov.[1] In his Youth, he was active in the "Youth of Zion" Party. In 1917, he became a member of the “Self-Defense Organization Committee” of the Movement. He worked as a teacher and a statistician from 1918 to 1923. In 1920, after the party split, he joined the Zionist Socialists and was a member of its secret Central Committee from 1924 to 1925.

In 1926, he immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, where he joined the Labour Unity Party. He worked in building and road construction. In 1930, after the establishment of Mapai, he was appointed their General Secretary in Tel Aviv. From 1936 to 1947 he worked in the Histadrut Executive Committee as Treasurer and Director of the Information Department, and was one of the founders of the “School for Histadrut Activists”. He also became a member of the Zionist Executive Committee in 1946 and a member of its Presidium in 1948.

In 1949, he was elected member of the first through sixth Knessets. He was chairman of the Foreign Affairs & Defense and member of the House Committee. In 1953 he served as Minister without Portfolio and in 1954 has Miniser of Transportation. From 1955 to 1960 and again from 1963 to 1969, he was Minister of Education and Culture.

As Israel's Minister of Education, he introduced "Jewish Identity" and Jewish tradition into the curriculum and promoted the expansion of technical education. In 1955, the Knesset accepted his reform program for the Israeli education system and his demands for a secondary education diploma,[1] as well as extension of Israel's compulsory education Law to the ages of 14 to 16.[2] He also promoted the "Integration" of children from different backgrounds into the same schools to accelerate Israel's melting-pot ideal and cut down socio-economic gaps in the Israeli society,[3] including recreational activities for development town residents.[4]

As a government minister in 1967, he initially supported the majority position which sought a diplomatic solution to Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran, rather than a pre-emptive strike, which he also felt posed a great risk to the home front and the Israeli Air Force.[5] He also opposed the occupation of East Jerusalem.[6]

He died in 1970. The Tel Aviv University School of History and the central library of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev were named after him, as were several schools in Israel.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Trials of Education and implementation (1971) (Hebrew)
  • Autobiography (1971) (Hebrew)
  • Front and the appearance (1972) (Hebrew)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Zalman Aranne (1899 - 1970). Jewsih Agency for Israel. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  2. ^ Facts and Statistics - Zalman Aran. cms. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. (Hebrew)
  3. ^ Cidor, Peggy. "Not making the grade", Jerusalem Post, 2006-09-07. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. 
  4. ^ Yanow, Dvora (1992). "Silences in Public Policy Discourse: Organizational and Policy Myths". Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (2): 399–423. 
  5. ^ Oren, Michael B. (2003). "Levi Eshkol, Forgotten Hero". Azure (14). 
  6. ^ Benziman, Uzi. "Oh, Jerusalem!", Haaretz, 2007-06-02. Retrieved on 2008-02-16. 

[edit] External links

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