Yitzhak Navon
Yitzhak Navon · Heroes of Israel
5th President of Israel (1978-83), the first Sephardi Jew and first Jerusalem-born president; playwright, Ben-Gurion's bureau chief, Minister of Education.
9 avril 1921, Jérusalem — 6 novembre 2015, Jérusalem
Jérusalem
Yitzhak Navon is recognized among Israeli contributors to Heroes of Israel — 5th President of Israel (1978-83), the first Sephardi Jew and first Jerusalem-born president; playwright, Ben-Gurion's bureau chief, Minister of Education.
Origins and early life
Yitzhak Navon was born on 9 April 1921 in Jerusalem, to a veteran Jerusalemite family: on his father Yosef's side, Sephardi Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 who reached Jerusalem by way of Turkey in 1670; on his mother Miriam's side, the ibn Attar family of Morocco, the line of the eighteenth-century kabbalist Chaim ibn Attar.
Work and career
In the 1948 war he headed the Haganah's Arab intelligence unit in Jerusalem, then served as a diplomat in Argentina and Uruguay. From 1951 to 1963 he was bureau chief to prime ministers Moshe Sharett and David Ben-Gurion, then a Knesset member, Minister of Education and Culture, and Deputy Prime Minister. A Ladino playwright whose folk works held the stage for decades, he carried Sephardi Jerusalem into Israeli letters.
Later years
In 1978 the Knesset elected him, unopposed and with eighty-six votes, fifth President of Israel — the first Sephardi Jew and the first Jerusalem-born citizen to hold the office; he served until 1983 and died in his city on 6 November 2015.
Verify and go deeper with these external references.
Source: Presidency of Israel ; Israel State Archives ; Wikipedia
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5th President of Israel (1978-83), the first Sephardi Jew and first Jerusalem-born president; playwright, Ben-Gurion's bureau chief, Minister of Education.
Source: Presidency of Israel ; Israel State Archives ; Wikipedia
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