Yaakov Herzog
Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Herzog was Chaim Herzog’s younger brother.
Yaakov Herzog was born in 1921 in Dublin, Ireland, to Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog and his wife Rabbanit Sarah. He was named after the Ridbaz – Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky, who ordained his father to the rabbinate.
In his youth, he was ordained as a rabbi, completed law studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and became a lawyer. He later completed doctoral studies in law at the University of Ottawa in Canada.
Yaakov Herzog accompanied Rabbi Herzog in his diplomatic activities for the safety of Jews in Europe and was vital for the implementation of Rabbi Herzog’s initiatives for rescuing Jewish children in post-Holocaust Europe, including the ‘Rescue Train’. He later joined the ‘Hagana’ Organization and after the establishment of the state of Israel worked in the Ministry of Religion.
Afterwards, Yaakov joined the Foreign Ministry and proved his diplomatic talent. He has quickly advanced to senior positions in the ministry: He was in charge of the United States department in the Ministry and later appointed as advisor to Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Moshe Sharet. Yaakov remained as Prime Mininster’s policy advisor after David Ben Gurion’s return to Premiership and was one of the most influential officials during the Suez Crisis and The Sinai War.
In the late 1950s, he was appointed diplomatic envoy at the Israeli embassy in the United States, and in 1960, he was appointed as Israel’s ambassador to Canada. During his term as ambassador Yaakov Herzog held a well-known debate that with the British historian Arnold Toynbee, who was a critical of Israel and the Jewish history. In that debate in January 1961 which he defeated Toyenbee with amazing performance, in what is considered as a highlight in Israel’s diplomatic history.
After his service as ambassador, Yaakov returned to Israeli Foreign service. During this period he carried out secret political missions, among was the creation of secret relations with the Jordanian leadership – Yaakov was the first Israeli to conduct secret political contacts with King Hussein of Jordan in a series of meetings in London.
In 1966, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol has appointed Yaakov Herzog as Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, a position in which he took part in the decision-making discussions during the decisive days of the Six-Day War. After Eshkol’s death, Herzog continued in this role under Prime minister Golda Meir.
In 1972 he passed away due to an illness, at the age of 51. Yaakov left behind his wife Pnina (nee’ Shachor), two daughters and a son.