Arieh Simon

Arieh Simon was born in 1913 in Mainz

Arieh Simon was born in 1913 in Mainz, Germany. His father served as an officer in World War I and his mother was ill, so he was raised by his grandparents, who gave him Jewish values. He went to the humanist gymnasium in Mainz and joined the Zionist youth movement Kadima.

He studied law at Heidelberg and Freiburg. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, he moved to the University of Basel to study classical languages and philosophy. In 1935 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and finished his studies at the teachers' seminary in Beit HaKerem.

In 1937 he joined the teaching staff of the Ben Shemen youth village. During World War II he served in the Jewish Brigade, and later held intelligence posts in the Haganah and the IDF. He was part of Israel's delegation to the armistice talks with Egypt in Rhodes.

In 1952 he became the first head of the education department of Beersheba. From 1953 to 1964 he was the Education Ministry's supervisor for the southern district, and he initiated the founding of Kaye College. He coined the Hebrew term for culturally disadvantaged, which the ministry adopted as a criterion for aid.

In 1964 he returned to Ben Shemen, rebuilt the youth village and created a matriculation track there. He served as its director until 1978 and then moved to Tel Aviv. He wrote books on education, the Bible and Jewish thought, and died in 2002.