Mordechai Nurock | |
|---|---|
מרדכי נורוק | |
 Nurock in 1951 | |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 1952 | Minister of Postal Services |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1949–1951 | United Religious Front |
| 1951–1955 | Mizrachi |
| 1955–1962 | National Religious Party |
| Faction represented in theSaeima | |
| 1922–1925 | Jewish National Bloc |
| 1925–1934 | Mizrachi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 November 1879 |
| Died | 8 November 1962(1962-11-08) (aged 83) Tel Aviv, Israel |
Mordechai Nurock (Hebrew:מרדכי נורוק,Latvian:Mordehajs Nuroks, 7 November 1879 – 8 November 1962) was aLatvian-bornIsraeli who served in both the parliaments of Latvia and Israel. He was also Israel's firstMinister of Postal Services, though he only held the post for less than two months.
Markus Nurock was born inTukums in theRussian Empire (today inLatvia). His father was the rabbi of Tukums andJelgava. Nurock studied under his father and was ordained as a rabbi. After finishing high school he attended universities in Russia,Germany andSwitzerland, gaining a PhD in philosophy. In 1913, he replaced his father as rabbi of Jelgava, before moving to Russia in 1915.
AZionist, he was a delegate at theSixth Zionist Congress in 1903 and helpedJewish refugees duringWorld War I. He also joined theAll-Russian Jewish Committee and established a religious Jewish group known as "Tradition and Freedom". In 1921, he returned to Latvia, by then an independent state. The following year he waselected to theSaeima, and became the leader of the minorities' bloc. He retained his seat as a member of theMizrachi party until the parliament was dissolved in 1934. Following Latvia's occupation by theSoviet Union, he was exiled toTurkmenistan due to his Zionist activities. His wife and two children were killed inthe Holocaust, and Nurockemigrated toMandatory Palestine in 1947.
After arriving in Palestine, Nurock became involved in politics, joiningMizrachi, and was elected to thefirst Knesset in 1949 on theUnited Religious Front list (an alliance of Mizrachi,Hapoel HaMizrachi,Agudat Yisrael andPoalei Agudat Yisrael). Re-elected in 1951, he became the firstMinister of Postal Services inDavid Ben-Gurion'sthird government on 3 November 1952. The following month, he stood as a candidate in thepresidential election, held after the death ofChaim Weizmann. However, he finished second toMapai'sYitzhak Ben-Zvi. Later in the month the government collapsed anda new government excluding Mizrachi ministers was established on 24 December, resulting in Nurock losing his place in the cabinet.
Nurock was re-elected in 1955 (by which time Mizrachi had merged into theNational Religious Party), 1959 and 1961, serving until his death on 8 November 1962.[1] After his death, Nurock was replaced byShalom-Avraham Shaki.
Streets inJerusalem,Netanya,Bnei Brak,Herzliya,Ashkelon andRishon LeZion were named after him.
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