He connected to both secular and religious (he was a descendant of Rabbi Haim Atar, the author of Or Ha’chaim, a kabbala inspired exegesis of the Pentateuch). His Sephardi background and knowledge of Ladino endeared him to Jews who hailed from Muslim countries, while his knowledge of Yiddish and close ties with the historic Labor Party, known as Mapai, meant that he had inroads to the Ashkenazi elites.
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