Haim Barak

Haim Barak was born in 1945 in Soviet Union

Haim Barak was born Haim Berliner in 1945 in Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union. His family immigrated to Israel in 1949 and settled in Kfar Shalem, where his father worked as a carpenter. He attended the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium and then the military boarding school at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa.

He joined the IDF in August 1964 and volunteered for the Armored Corps. He fought in the Six-Day War and commanded Battalion 82 in the Yom Kippur War, where he was wounded. He later commanded Brigade 211 and served as commander of the Central Command home front from 1985 to 1987.

In 1984 he completed a bachelor's degree in economics and business administration at Bar-Ilan University. He also chaired the residents' committee of Alfei Menashe.

After his discharge he led several companies, including Oceania Structures. In 2002 he became head of the Kirya project administration at the Defense Ministry, and in May 2005 head of the training bases city administration. He also led the construction of the Carmel Tunnels, and as of 2015 headed a pumped storage project on Mount Gilboa.