Zalman Shazar

Zalman Shazar (Hebrew זלמן שז"ר, born Schneiur Salman Rubashov; born October 6, 1889 in Me, near Minsk, Russian Empire; † October 5, 1974 in Jerusalem) was an Israeli politician and the third president of Israel.

His initials SchSR later formed his Hebrew name.

Life

Shazar grew up in a world characterized by Hasidic family, from which he turned away, however. At the age of 18, he spent two months in a Russian prison because of his activities for the Zionist Organization Poale Zion. He studied Jewish History in Saint Petersburg, Strasbourg and Switzerland and from 1912 in Berlin, his main interest was in the history of the Jews in Eastern Europe, but also of Biblical criticism. Alongside he also wrote for Yiddish newspapers in Russia, the United States and for the Jewish Review.

In 1924 Shazar emigrated to Palestine. He was one of the founders of Mapai and worked as an editor for the Histadrut Journal Dawar (1944 editor in chief ). He was still active as a writer of poems, essays, autobiographical novels, biographies, and scientific texts. His main research work was a history of biblical criticism, together with M. Soloweitschik. In 1947 he was a member of the delegation of the Jewish Agency at the UN negotiations and was instrumental in the creation of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

Shazar in 1949 a member of the first Knesset (up to 1963) and was in the years 1949 and 1950 Minister of Education. From 1963 to 1973 he was finally the third President of Israel.

1966 honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he was awarded. In 1968 the honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University.