Yehoshua Rabinovitz

Yehoshua Rabinovitz was born in 1911 in Višnieva

Rabinovitz was born in 1911 in Vishneva in the Russian Empire, today in Belarus. He went to a Hebrew high school and trained as a teacher in Vilnius. He worked as a teacher and school principal and was active in the HeHalutz movement.

He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1934 and joined Mapai. He was active in the Histadrut and in its consumer cooperative union, and he took part in the Haganah. In 1938 he married Geula Melnik.

He was elected to the Tel Aviv city council in 1955 and served as deputy mayor from 1959 to 1969. He became mayor in 1969 and held the post until 1974. As mayor he advanced the development of the beaches and promenade, began work on Yarkon Park and the Ayalon highway project, and founded the Kiryat Atidim employment center.

In 1974 he became Minister of Housing and then Minister of Finance in the government of Yitzhak Rabin, serving until 1977. As finance minister he led an income tax reform and introduced an employers tax and value added tax. Inflation rose during his term, and the government adopted a policy of gradual devaluation.

In 1977 he was elected to the Knesset for the Alignment but left the cabinet when Likud formed a government. He had a heart attack at a funeral in August 1979 and died soon after. Yarkon Park, officially Ganei Yehoshua, is named for him.