December 8, 1885
Yosef Sprinzak, who would serve as the first speaker of the Knesset and twice as interim president, is born in Moscow.
His family is forced to leave Moscow when Jews are expelled in 1891 and eventually settles in Warsaw. Sprinzak’s father is an active Zionist, and the family home in Warsaw is often a gathering place for Hebrew and Zionist writers and thinkers. Yosef Sprinzak becomes active in organizing Zionist groups throughout Poland and southern Russia and emerges as a leader among Zionists in Eastern Europe. He participates in the Eighth Zionist Congress in the Netherlands in 1907.
In 1910, while studying medicine at the American University in Beirut, he is asked by Hapoel Hatzair (the Young Worker Movement) to serve as the secretary of the organization in the Land of Israel. Sprinzak ends his studies to accept the position and makes aliyah. Upon his arrival in Ottoman Palestine, he becomes active in absorbing immigrants from Yemen and ensuring they have sufficient work. In 1911 he organizes 41 delegates to participate in the 11th Zionist Congress in Vienna. Among them are members of Hapoel Hatzair and Zeirei Zion (Youth of Zion), a socialist-leaning Zionist youth group founded by Sprinzak in 1905.
During World War I, Sprinzak remains in the Land of Israel and organizes relief and aid for unemployed Jewish workers. After the war he takes a lead role in establishing the Histadrut Labor Federation and becomes one of the most important leaders in the organization, serving as secretary-general and on the Executive Committee.
Sprinzak is elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine in 1921. He fills that role until 1928 as the head of both the labor and aliyah departments. Sprinzak plays a key role in establishing many of the important organizations in pre-state Israel that form the foundation for Israeli democracy, including the Assembly of Representatives, National Committee and Bank Hapoalim.
On July 15, 1948, Sprinzak becomes the chairman of the Provisional State Council. After the election to Israeli Constituent Assembly, later named the Knesset, Sprinzak is elected as its first speaker. He served as the speaker for three consecutive terms until his death in 1959. He also is known for his sense of humor, brevity and cigar smoking.
