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Vaad Leumi (Hebrew language: ועד לאומי), also known as the Jewish National Council (JNC) or Jewish People's Council was the main national institution of the Jewish community (yishuv) within the British Mandate of Palestine.

History

Vaad Leumi was established in 1920, the same year as the Histadrut and the Haganah were founded, in order to conduct Jewish communal affairs. Its first chairman was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.

The organization represented almost all major Jewish factions, however a few smaller groups at first objected to the creation of centralized leadership. Notably, Agudat Israel joined only in 1935. The members of the Vaad Leumi also participated in meetings of the Zionist General Council.

Role in the establishment of Israel

The Political Department of the Vaad Leumi was responsible for relations with the Arabs, ties with the Jewish Agency and negotiations with the British government. As the yishuv grew, the Vaad Leumi adopted more functions, such as education, health care and welfare services, internal defense and security matters, and organized recruitment to the British forces during World War II. In the 1940s, departments for physical training, culture and press and information were added.

The report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry issued in 1946, stated:

"The Jews have developed, under the aegis of the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi, a strong and tightly-woven community. There thus exists a virtual Jewish nonterritorial State with its own executive and legislative organs..."

When the State of Israel was established in 1948, this departmental structure served as a basis for the government ministries. On March 2, 1948, Vaad Leumi decided to form an interim government and on May 14, 1948, (the expiration day of the British Mandate), its members gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and ratified the proclamation declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The members of Vaad Leumi formed the provisional government of the nascent State of Israel.

Departments

• The Political Department
• The Education Department
• The Health Department
• The Communities Department
• The Rabbinate
• The Social Welfare Department

Presidents

• 1920-1929 David Yellin
• 1929-1931 Pinhas Rutenberg
• 1939-1944 Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
• 1944-1948 David Remez

References

1. The report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry Ch. VIII. The State Within the State.

See also

• History of Israel
• Jewish Agency for Israel
• Zionism
• Henrietta Szold

External links

• Vaad Leumi at JVL
• Country Studies Program, at the Library of Congress
• Facts About Israel-History at MFA
• The Cry of the Children in Palestine
• Between the World Wars

• History of Israel
• Organizations based in Israel
• Jews in Ottoman and British Palestine