(1876-1962)
Israeli rabbi and leader of Mizrahi. He was born in Bessarabia, where he served as a rabbi and became active in the Zionist movement. In 1913 he moved to Palestine. After World War I he arranged for the executive of the World Centre of Mizrahi to be based in Palestine and became its head. He was a member of the executive of the Jewish Agency from 1935 to 1948, and Israeli minister for religious affairs from 1948 to 1951; concurrently he was a Mizrahi delegate to the Knesset (1949-51). He wrote on folklore, and talmudic and Zionist subjects. He was also the director of the Mosad ha-Rav Kook which he initiated.
Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Dan Cohn-Sherbok.