Yosef Shapira, World Bnei Akiva Leader, Dies at 87
Former Israeli government minister Yosef Shapira, who was one of the founders of World Bnei Akiva, has died.
Shapira died Saturday at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv, at the age of 87.
Shapira, who was never elected to the Knesset, served as a minister without portfolio in the national unity government led by Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir between 1984 and 1988 as a member of the modern Orthodox Morasha faction. He was a member of the National Religious Party, which today is the Jewish Home party, and later founded the Religious Zionist camp, which split off from the NRP.
Prior to serving in the Knesset, Shapira was the head of the youth and aliyah department at the Jewish Agency for Israel and was also one of the founders of World Bnei Akiva, which he headed for 20 years.
He also was the founder of the Na’aleh program, which brings Jewish children from the countries of the former Soviet Union to Israel as immigrants.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
