Yehuda Ben-Meir

Born Yehuda Rosenberg in New York City in 1939, the son of Shlomo-Yisrael Rosenberg, Ben-Meir studied at the Yishuv HaHadash yeshiva in Tel Aviv, Yeshiva University, and Columbia University, earning a doctorate in psychology. He made aliyah to Israel in 1962, and worked as a lecturer in psychology at Bar-Ilan University until 1968.

One of the leaders of the Gesher youth faction of the National Religious Party (NRP), he was director of the party's youth bureau, a member of its actions committee and directorate (which he also chaired), as well as being a member of the world secretariat of Mizrachi and Hapoel HaMizrachi.

He was on the NRP list for the 1969 elections, but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 4 April 1971 as a replacement for his deceased father.[1] He was re-elected in 1973, 1977, and 1981. In August 1981, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In May 1984, he and Zevulun Hammer left the NRP to establish Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre, though both returned to the NRP two weeks later. He lost his seat in the July 1984 elections.

After leaving the Knesset, Ben-Meir became a senior lecturer, and also studied law, later becoming a practising lawyer. In 1988, he left the NRP again, and was amongst the founders of Meimad, a left-wing religious Zionist party.

• Yehuda Ben-Meir on the Knesset website