Rosen, Shelomo

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ROSEN, SHELOMO

ROSEN, SHELOMO (1905–1985), Israeli politician. Rosen was born in Moravska-Ostrava, Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1926. There, he was a founder of Kibbutz Sarid. While secretary of Ha-Kibbutz ha-Arẓi from 1944, and a member of Mapam's political committee, he was recognized as that movement's foremost economist expert. He maintained that a prosperous settlement cannot be based only on agriculture, and he fostered the development of kibbutz industry. In 1965 he was elected to the Sixth Knesset and was deputy speaker in the Seventh. Chairman of the Knesset's Social Services Committee, he became chairman of the subcommittee of the finance committee which dealt with state comptroller's reports. Appointed deputy minister of absorption in 1972, he became minister in March 1974, and sought to eliminate the confusing overlapping of functions between his ministry and the Jewish Agency. Subsequently he was named minister of housing. He continued to serve until the elections of May 1977.