Chaim Gvati

Chaim Gvati was born in 1901 in Pinsk

Gvati was born Chaim Savitz in Pinsk, in the Russian Empire, in 1901. He received a traditional and general education and finished high school in Vilnius, where he also studied at a seminary for Hebrew teachers. As a young man he was active in Zionist groups, and in 1920 he taught at a Jewish school in Sevastopol.

He moved to the Land of Israel in 1924 with the Fourth Aliyah. In 1926 he helped found kibbutz Gvat and took its name as his surname, serving as its secretary. He was a leader in HaKibbutz HaMeuhad, and after its split he helped bring about the union that formed Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim. In 1954 he moved to kibbutz Yifat.

From 1950 to 1958 he was director general of the Agriculture Ministry. He then served as secretary of Ihud HaKvutzot VeHaKibbutzim from 1959 to 1963 and of the Kibbutz Movement Alliance from 1963 to 1964.

Levi Eshkol appointed him Minister of Agriculture in 1964, before he was a Knesset member. He was elected to the Knesset for the Alignment in 1965 and again in 1969. In 1966 he initiated a law to keep farmland and water for agricultural use. He also served as Minister of Health and Minister of Development, and left the government in 1974.

In 1982 he received the Israel Prize for his contribution to society and the state in work and industry. He died in 1990.