Lawמשה זמורה

Moshe Smoira

Moshe Smoira was an Israeli jurist and the first President of the Supreme Court of Israel, serving from 1948 to 1954.

1888 to 1961First President of Israel's Supreme CourtLabor law practice for the HistadrutTeaching at the Mandate law school

Born: 25 October 1888, Königsberg
Died: 8 October 1961, Jerusalem
Occupation: judge, lawyer, jurist
Education: University of Giessen, Kneiphof Gymnasium
Wars: World War I

Moshe Smoira was born in 1888 in Königsberg

Smoira was born in 1888 in Königsberg, in the German Empire. His parents were immigrants from Russia of Hasidic background. As a young man he learned Hebrew and was drawn to Zionism.

He studied law at several German universities, including Heidelberg, and earned a doctorate in law. During the First World War he served in the German Army and was wounded. After the war he set up Hebrew courses in Berlin and studied Semitic languages.

He moved to the Land of Israel in the early 1920s and opened a law practice in Jerusalem, where Pinchas Rosen was among his partners. He lectured at the Mandate law school in Jerusalem and served as lawyer for the Histadrut. He specialized in labor law.

In the 1930s he headed the Court of Honor of the World Zionist Organization and the Association of Jewish Lawyers. In 1948 he was appointed President of the Supreme Court. He did not view the Declaration of Independence as legally binding.

He retired in 1954 because of illness and was succeeded by Yitzhak Olshan. He died in Jerusalem in 1961. In 1989 Israel issued a stamp in his honor.