Born Yisrael Idelson in
Konotop, in the
Chernigov Governorate of the
Russian Empire (present-day
Sumy Oblast,
Ukraine) in 1895, Bar-Yehuda attended an Academic High School and the Mine Engineering Institute in
Ekaterinoslav. During that time he was the mathematics tutor of the future
Lubavitcher Rebbe, when the later was 17 years old. In 1909 joined
Tze'irei Zion (later to be merged into
Hashomer Hatzair) and was made a member of its central committee in Russia in 1917. He was Secretary of the Central Committee of the "Socialist Zionists", where he met and married
Beba Idelson (whom he would later divorce). In 1922 they were arrested by the
Soviet authorities and exiled to
Siberia. In 1924, thanks to an intercession by
Maxim Gorki's wife, their banishment was converted to deportation to
Mandate Palestine. He was a delegate to the
Assembly of Representatives and a member of the Constituent Assembly. He was one of the leaders of the "B" faction in
Mapai and one of the leaders of the
Ahdut HaAvoda after the split in 1944. From 1960 to 1962 he was secretary general of Ahdut HaAvoda. He was elected to the first and second
Knessets for
Mapam and for Ahdut HaAvoda to the third through fifth. He was a member of the House, Constitution, Law and Justice, Foreign Affairs & Defense, Constitution, Law and Justice, Labor, and Finance Committees, as well as Chairman of the Subcommittee for
Basic Laws. Bar-Yehuda was also Deputy
Speaker of the third Knesset. He was
Minister of Internal Affairs from 1955 to 1962 and then
Minister of Transportation until his death in 1965. The "Bar-Yehuda" neighborhood in Petah Tikva is named after him as well as
Bar Yehuda Airfield and the road from Yagur to the
Krayot intersection. ==References==