Heshel Frumkin


Heshel Frumkin was an Israeli economist and politician.

Biography

Born in Babruysk in the Russian Empire, Frumkin was educated in a heder and yeshiva, and was a member of Tzeiri Zion and HeHalutz during his youth. In 1920 he made aliyah to Mandatory Palestine, where he was amongst the founders of the Histadrut trade union. He became a member of kibbutz Degania Bet, and worked in road construction.
He helped establish the Office of Public Works, which later became Solel Boneh, and was one of its managers. In 1933 he became a member of the Histadrut's executive committee, and was responsible for its economics department. He also served as an economic advisor to the Histadrut leadership.
In 1949 he was elected to the first Knesset on Mapai's list. However, he resigned his seat on 5 February 1951, and was replaced by Jenia Tversky. In 1953 he established the Economics Quarterly journal, and edited it until 1974, the year in which he died.
He published two books, Economic Preparedness in 1943, and Immigration and Development on the way to the State in 1971.