Yaakov Litzman Resigns from the Knesset

According to sources in Israel, MK Yaakov Noach Litzman has resigned from the Knesset, reaching a deal with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

Litzman will plead guilty to breach of public confidence over a matter, and pay a 3,000 shekel fine with a conditional prison sentence.

Litzman was born on September 2, 1948 to Polish survivors of the Holocaust, in a displaced persons camp in Germany. When he was two years old, the family immigrated to the East New York section of Brooklyn, and then to the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, where he grew up. In 1966, at age 17, he immigrated to Israel.

Litzman is married, has five children, and lives in Yerushalayim.

His first job was as principal of the Beis Yaakov girls’ school in Yerushalayim. He became active in politics under the guidance of the then-Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Simcha Bunim Alter. Over time, Litzman became known as the rebbe’s right-hand man, a role he continues under the present Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Arye Alter. In 1999, the present rebbe asked Litzman to join the Agudas Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism list for the Knesset elections that year. He was subsequently elected, and became Chairman of the Finance Committee. He headed the UTJ list for the 2003 elections, and was re-elected, again becoming the Chair of the Finance Committee. He has since served as the leader of the UTJ and Agudas Yisrael faction in the Knesset.

Litzman was re-elected again in 2006, retaining his chairmanship of the Finance Committee, and for a fourth time in 2009, after which UTJ joined the new government, in which Litzman was appointed Deputy Minister of Health.

Litzman served on the Knesset’s Internal Affairs Committee from 1999 to 2001, and as the Deputy Chairman of the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee.

{Matzav.com Israel}