Politicsיוסף אפרתי

Joseph Ephrati

Yosef Efrati was an Israeli politician who served as a Mapai member of the Knesset from 1949 to 1965.

1897 to 1975Mapai member of the KnessetDeputy Minister of AgricultureLeading role in the Agricultural Center

Born: 19 February 1897, Pinsk
Died: 8 February 1975, Israel
Occupation: politician
Party: Mapai, The Young Worker

Joseph Ephrati was born in 1897 in Pinsk

Efrati was born Yosef Greiber in Pinsk, then in the Russian Empire, to Mordechai and Dvora. He studied in a heder, and from 1913 at a reformed heder, a Russian city school and a private gymnasium. He was active in the Zionist youth group Pirchei Zion.

In 1914 he moved to the Land of Israel and studied at an agricultural school in Petah Tikva. He joined Hapoel Hatzair and in 1917 joined the group that resettled Be'er Tuvia. From 1923 to 1925 he worked at the agricultural research station at Ben Shemen, and in 1925 he moved to Geva.

He was active in Hapoel Hatzair and later in Mapai, and was one of the heads of the Agricultural Center. In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset on the Mapai list and served on the Finance Committee throughout his tenure. In 1951 he became Deputy Minister of Agriculture under Pinhas Lavon.

He was re-elected in 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1961, and lost his seat in the 1965 elections. He married Haya Reizkind, and they had 3 sons and a daughter. His eldest son Mordechai was killed in the battles of Latrun in 1948, and Efrati died in 1975 and was buried in Geva.