Heshel Frumkin

Heshel Frumkin was born in 1896 in Babruysk

Frumkin was born in 1896 in Babruysk, then in the Russian Empire and today in Belarus. He studied in a heder and a yeshiva. As a young man he was active in the Zionist socialist movements Tzeiri Zion and HeHalutz.

In 1920 he moved to the Land of Israel, joined Degania Bet and worked building roads. He was among the founders of the Histadrut and helped set up its Office of Public Works, which became Solel Boneh, and served as one of its managers.

From 1933 he sat on the Histadrut executive committee and ran its economics department. He advised the Histadrut leadership on economic matters. In 1940 he joined the board of Bank Hapoalim, and he helped lead Kofer HaYishuv, a voluntary tax to fund security.

In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset for Mapai and sat on its Finance Committee. He resigned on 5 February 1951 and Jenia Tversky took his seat. In 1953 he founded the Economics Quarterly journal and edited it until his death in 1974.