 Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (Hebrew: יצחק בן צבי (November
24, 1884 – April 23, 1963) was a historian,
Labor Zionist leader, and the second and longest
serving President of Israel.
Biography
Born in Poltava, Ukraine, Ben-Zvi was the eldest
son of Zvi Shimshelevitz, who later took the
name Shimshi. He was active in the Jewish
self-defense units organized in Ukraine to
defend Jews during the pogroms of 1905, and
joined the Poalei Zion (Workers of Zion) Zionist
political party. He was a representative in the
Zionist Conference of 1907, and it was there
that he first met Israel Shochat. Ben-Zvi
emigrated to Palestine that same year, and
settled in Jaffa. "Bar-Giora", the clandestine
precursor to Hashomer, was created in his
apartment in 1907. In 1909, he organized the
Gymnasia High School in Jerusalem together with
Rachel Yanait.
Following his studies at Galatasaray Lisesi in
Istanbul, from 1912 to 1914 Ben-Zvi studied Law
at Istanbul University, together with the future
Israeli prime minister David Ben Gurion. They
returned to Palestine in August 1914, but were
expelled by the Ottoman authorities in 1915. The
two of them moved to New York City, where they
engaged in Zionist activities and founded the
HeHalutz (Pioneer) movement there. Together,
they also wrote the Yiddish book The Land of
Israel Past and Present to promote the Zionist
cause among American Jewry. |
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