Rafael Bash was an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i politician who served as a member of the Knesset

Knesset

The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...

 for three months in 1951.

Biography

Born in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 in what is today Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, Bash made aliyah

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 to Mandate Palestine in 1938. He joined kibbutz Kfar Blum

Kfar Blum

Kfar Blum is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley part of the Upper Galilee in Israel. Located about southeast of the town of Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 1994 the population was 615.-History:...

, where he remained a member until 1956. He was on the Mapai

Mapai

Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...

 list for the 1949 Knesset election

Israeli legislative election, 1949

Elections for the Constituent Assembly were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset...

, but missed out on a seat. In 1950 he became director of Mapai's youth department, a position he held until 1953. He entered the Knesset on 21 May 1951 as a replacement for Yosef-Michael Lamm

Yosef-Michael Lamm

Yosef-Michael Lamm was an Israeli judge and politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1949 and 1951.-Biography:Born in Galicia, Lamm attended school and university in Vienna, where he studied international trade and law, and gained a doctorate in jurisprudence. Whilst a student he...

, who had resigned, but lost his seat in the July 1951 elections

Israeli legislative election, 1951

Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.-Results:¹ Rostam Bastuni, Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction. Bastuni later returned to Mapam whilst Berman and Sneh joined Maki. Hannah Lamdan and David Livschitz left...

.

In 1954 he became General Secretary of Mapai, serving until 1956. Between 1962 and 1966 he served as the party's secretary. He was also a member of the Histadrut

Histadrut

HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael , known as the Histadrut, is Israel's organization of trade unions. Established in December 1920 during the British Mandate for Palestine, it became one of the most powerful institutions of the State of Israel.-History:The Histadrut was founded in...

's central committee, and became director of its Culture and Education centre in 1966. He also served on the secretariat of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Workers Council. He died in 2000 at the age of 87.

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