Politicsיצחק רפאל עציון

Izaak Holcberg

Yitzhak Refael Etzion (Izaak Holcberg) was an educator and Mizrachi movement activist who received the Israel Prize for education in 1979.

1885 to 1981Israel Prize for education, 1979Leading religious education stream inspectionYavne schools in TelšiaiMember of the Lithuanian Seimas

Died: 20 October 1981, Israel
Occupation: politician, educator
Education: National University of Kharkiv

Izaak Holcberg was born in 1885 in Kaunas

Etzion was born in 1885 in Kaunas. His mother was a daughter of Rabbi Chaim Simcha Soloveitchik, a brother of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. As a young man he studied general subjects and Talmud privately.

In 1920 he began working at the technological institute in Kharkiv while studying at the university there. He completed studies in mathematics and biology at Kharkiv University in 1921. He also held a doctorate.

Back in Lithuania, he headed Jewish schools from 1921 to 1933, including the Yavne girls' gymnasium and the Yavne teachers' seminary in Telšiai. He also founded a girls' gymnasium in Kaunas. From 1923 to 1925 he represented Orthodox Jewry in the Lithuanian Seimas.

He moved to the Land of Israel in 1933 and worked in Mizrachi schools in Jerusalem. In 1943 he became chief inspector of the religious education stream for the Jewish National Council, a role he kept under the Ministry of Education until 1953. He helped found Bet Ha'ulpana for Torah and science and wrote many articles and books for teachers.

He died on October 20, 1981.