Aryeh Deri

Aryeh Mahlouf Deri (Hebrew: אריה דרעי‎, born 17 February 1959) is an Israeli politician. The leader of Shas, he is currently a member of the Knesset, Minister of the Interior and Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee. He had previously held ministerial positions in the 1980s and 1990s, but was implicated in a corruption scandal at the start of the 21st century and served two years in prison. He was reinstated as leader of Shas on 16 October 2012 after a thirteen-year hiatus.

Early life

Deri was born in 1959 to a wealthy secular Jewish family in Meknes, Morocco, where he lived the first nine years of his life.

After making Aliyah to Israel, his mother sent him to a religious boarding school, in order to escape the poor conditions of the housing estate where they had been settled.

He studied at the famous Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where he excelled in Torah studies and was discovered by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Politics

Deri became involved in Israeli politics at a young age while studying in a yeshiva, and early on aligned himself with the Mizrahi-Sephardi Shas party under the tutelage of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Aryeh

Aryeh (Persian: اريه‎‎) is a village in Firuzeh Rural District, in the Central District of Firuzeh County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 221, in 54 families.

References

Aryeh (name)

Aryeh is Hebrew for "lion". People so named include: