Pinchas Lavon

Pinchas Lavon was born in 1904 in Kopychyntsi

Lavon was born Pinchas Lubianiker in 1904 in Kopychyntsi, in Galicia, then part of Austria-Hungary. He was the youngest of 6 children. His father, Rabbi Yosef Lubianiker, was a Torah scholar, and after his mother died he was raised by his sister Hava.

He attended a gymnasium in Lviv and then studied law and economics at the University of Lviv. In 1926 he joined the Gordonia youth movement and soon became one of its leaders. In 1940 he studied at the London School of Economics.

In 1929 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and joined the group that founded Hulda. He worked mainly in public life within the Histadrut and Mapai, and in 1937 became a secretary of Mapai. In 1948 he married Lucy Elshtein.

He was a Knesset member from 1949 to 1961 and led the Histadrut in 1949 and 1950. He served as Minister of Agriculture and then as Minister without Portfolio, and became Minister of Defense. He resigned in 1955 after being accused of authorizing a covert operation in Egypt, known as the Lavon Affair, and was later absolved of involvement.

He led the Histadrut again from 1956 until he was forced to resign in 1961. He retired from public life in 1964. He died in 1976 and was buried in Hulda.