Nahum Nir-Rafalkes (Hebrew: נחום ניר; 17 March 1884 – 10 July 1968) was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence. He was the only Speaker of the Knesset not to have been a member of the ruling party until Benny Gantz in 2020.
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Biography
Nir was born Nahum Rafalkes in Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1884. He studied at a heder in the city before studying natural sciences at university in Warsaw, Zurich and St Petersburg. He also studied law at St Petersburg and Dorpat, gaining a LL.D in 1908.
In 1903 he joined the Zionist student's organisation Kadima, and was a delegate to the Sixth Zionist Congress that year. Two years later he joined Poale Zion, and was involved in the founding of World Poale Zion. Nir also served as head of the Polish Waiter's Union, and in 1906 led what he claimed to be the world's first successful strike against tipping. That year he was sent to prison for political activities, but still attended the seventh Zionist congress the following year. In 1919 he was elected to Warsaw City Council.
He was offered the position of Commissar for Jewish Affairs but turned it down after consultation with the Central Committee of Poale Zion.
When Poale Zion split, Nir joined the left-wing faction. He served as secretary of the Left World Union of Poale Zion, and was involved in negotiations to allow it to join Comintern. In 1925 he emigrated to Mandate Palestine and worked as a lawyer. In February 1948, he was elected head of the Economic Control Office.