Jacob Gil

Jacob Gil was born in 1908 in Tiberias

Jacob Gil was born Jacob Lipshitz in Tiberias in 1908. He studied at yeshivas in Tiberias and at the Etz Chaim yeshiva in Jerusalem, where he was ordained as a rabbi. At the Hebrew University he studied Bible and Semitic and classical linguistics, and he earned a doctorate in 1942.

From 1931 to 1933 he headed the Ohel Yaakov and Degel Torah yeshiva in Tiberias and sat on the city's rabbinical court. He then became rabbi of Nes Tziona. He wrote articles, gave talks across the Land of Israel and was active in the Mizrachi movement.

In 1942 he volunteered for the British Army and later became chief rabbi of the Jewish Brigade. After the war he worked with Holocaust survivors in Europe, and he left the army in 1946. In 1947 he returned a British decoration in protest over the return of Exodus passengers to Germany.

In late 1947 he founded the Unity of the Nation movement, which merged with the General Zionists in 1948. He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 and sat on the Labor and Public Services committees. He was not placed on the party list for the next election.

In 1954 he qualified as a lawyer, but from 1956 he faced proceedings to revoke his license, and his appeals were rejected. He moved to Haifa, taught at the Gordon Seminary and lectured on the Bible. He died on 22 October 1990.