Lurie, Zvi

views updated

LURIE, ZVI

LURIE, ZVI (1906–1968), *Mapam labor leader in Israel. Born in Lodz, Poland, Lurie went to Palestine in 1925 and worked as an agricultural laborer in *Petaḥ Tikvah. In 1925 he joined the hakhsharah group of Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir at Ein Gannim and settled with them at kibbutz Ein Shemer in 1927. From 1929 to 1931 he was an emissary for Ha-Shomer ha-Ẓa'ir in Poland, and from 1935 to 1937 he was secretary of the world leadership of Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir in Warsaw and editor of its weekly. In the following years he was active on all the central bodies of the movement in Palestine. From 1941 to 1948 Lurie served on the Va'ad Le'ummi and on its executive from 1946 to 1948 as director of the Information Department. In 1948 he joined the Provisional Council of the State of Israel and was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Lurie was on the *Jewish Agency Executive in New York from 1948 to 1955 and was a member of the Executive in Jerusalem and head of the Organization Department from 1956. A collection of his speeches entitled Mi-Devarav appeared in 1968.

bibliography:

Zvi Lurie, le-Zikhro (1969).

[Benjamin Jaffe]