1921 - 1972
Israeli scholar and diplomat.
Born in Dublin, Yaʿacov Herzog was the son of Rabbi Izhak Halevi Herzog, who was chief rabbi of Ireland and, from 1936 to 1959, of Palestine and later Israel. Herzog grew up in a home imbued with learning and tradition. From an early age he excelled in his studies in yeshivot in Jerusalem and fulfilled a number of official missions aiding his father. In 1949 his scholarship and erudition attracted the attention of both Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett and Premier David Ben-Gurion. Herzog joined the Foreign Ministry in 1949 and headed the Jerusalem and Christian Affairs Department, later heading the North America Division. During the 1956 Arab - Israel War he served as Ben-Gurion's principal political adviser. From 1957 to 1960 he was minister plenipotentiary at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and from 1960 to 1963 ambassador to Canada. His reputation was enhanced due to a much-publicized public debate with British scholar Arnold Toynbee, who had argued that Jews were fossils with no right to a national homeland. Herzog's soaring reputation brought an offer to serve as chief rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, which he declined. From 1965 until his premature death he was director general of the Prime Minister's Office under Premiers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir. As their key political adviser, he was the first senior Israeli official to meet King Hussein ibn Talal of Jordan in 1963 and establish this diplomatic channel. Many other secret meetings, mainly in London, followed.
Bibliography
Eban, Abba. Abba Ebban: An Autobiography. New York: Random House, 1977.
Herzog, Chaim. Living History: A Memoir. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1997.
Louvish, Misha, ed. A People That Dwells Alone: Speeches andWritings of Yaacov Herzog. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975.
— MERON MEDZINI
