Rafael Bash

Rafael Bash was born in 1913 in Latvia

Rafael Bash was born in 1913 in the Russian Empire, in what is today Latvia. In 1930 he began working as a counselor in the Zionist youth movement Netzach in his town of Rezekne.

He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1938 and joined kibbutz Kfar Blum, where he stayed a member until 1956. In 1944, while serving as the kibbutz treasurer, he took part in a Histadrut study month in Rehovot.

In 1950 he became head of the Mapai youth department, a post he held until 1953. He was on the Mapai list in the 1949 election but did not win a seat. He entered the Knesset in May 1951 in place of Yosef-Michael Lamm and lost the seat in the July 1951 elections.

He was General Secretary of Mapai from 1954 to 1956 and secretary of its Tel Aviv district from 1962 to 1966. He sat on the Histadrut central committee and chaired its Culture and Education center from 1966 to 1977. He wrote articles for Davar and Hapoel Hatzair and published a book in 1975. He died in 2000.