Chaim Kugel

Chaim Kugel was born in 1896 in Minsk

Chaim Kugel was born in Minsk, then in the Russian Empire, to Nahum and Reizel Kugel. His parents were religious and active in the Hovevei Zion movement. In 1912 he began studying at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Jaffa.

In 1914 he visited his parents in Minsk, and the outbreak of World War I kept him from returning. He studied at universities in Kazan, Yekaterinoslav and Moscow. He later earned a doctorate in economics and philosophy at Charles University in Prague.

Kugel helped found the Hebrew Gymnasium in Munkács in 1924 and served as its director. The school faced a boycott from local ultra-Orthodox leaders, including Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira. He refused to wear a hat when giving speeches, citing freedom of conscience.

In 1931 he was elected to the central body of the Jewish Party, and later he entered the Czechoslovak parliament as its representative. In parliament he spoke about poverty in Carpathian Ruthenia and supported Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel. He later became the first head of the Holon local council and, when Holon was declared a city, its first mayor.

Kugel died on February 4, 1953. The Holon Municipality has awarded the Kugel Prize for literature and science books since 1952. His grandson Chen Kugel is a forensic physician.