Hammer, Zevulun

(1936-98)

   Born in Haifa, he received a B.A. in education and Jewish studies from Bar Ilan University in 1964 and graduated from the National Defense College. A founder of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, Gush Emunim, and the hes-der yeshiva system, Hammer was a strong proponent of religious Zionism. First elected on behalf of the National Religious Party to the seventh Knesset in October 1969 and reelected to subsequent

   Knessets, Hammer was a member of the Defense and Foreign Affairs and Education and Culture Committees of the Knesset. Hammer served as minister of welfare from 1975 to 1976 and became minister of education and culture in June 1977 until 1984. He was minister of religious affairs from October 1986 to December 1988 and again became minister of religious affairs in the government established in December 1988. In June 1990, he assumed the portfolio of minister of education and culture. He served as minister of education, culture, and sport and deputy prime minister from 1996 until his death in January 1998. He was respected as one of the wiliest and most pragmatic of Israeli politicians.

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