Shlomo Lavi

Shlomo Lavi was born in 1882 in Płońsk

Shlomo Lavi was born Shlomo Levkovich in Płońsk in 1882 and received a religious education. As a young man he was active in the Ezra youth movement with David Ben-Gurion, and the two taught Bible and Hebrew to poor children.

He moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1905, during the Second Aliyah, and attended the founding convention of Hapoel Hatzair that year. He worked as a farm laborer in Petah Tikva and Sejera, helped set up Hashomer in 1909, and served as a watchman. He was among the founders of the Histadrut in 1920.

Lavi proposed moving from the small kvutza to the larger communal settlement, and in 1921 he helped found Kibbutz Ein Harod, where he lived until his death. He was a member of the Haganah, and during World War II he volunteered for the British Army as a driver. His two sons, Yerubaal and Hillel, were killed in Israel's War of Independence.

He was elected to the first Knesset for Mapai in 1949 and again in 1951, and lost his seat in 1955. In 1954 his vehicle struck and killed a road worker. He asked to have his immunity lifted, was tried, and was convicted of causing death by carelessness and fined.

Lavi wrote books on the kibbutz movement, stories, and an autobiographical novel that won the Ussishkin Prize. He died in 1963 and was buried at the foot of Mount Gilboa beside his wife Rachel.