Yaakov Litzman

Who is Yaakov Litzman?

Yaakov Litzman is an Israeli politician and Deputy Government Minister. A follower of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, he heads the Agudat Yisrael part of the United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset.

Litzman was born in 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, and continued his Torah studies.

Litzman is married, has five children, and lives in Jerusalem. He is quoted as saying that, "in some respects, I envy the low profile the Haredi community in the United States has been able to retain by staying out of politics". He also said that, in Israel, the media attention makes for misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the Haredi community.