Yitzhak Ben-Zvi

1884 - 1963

Journalist; Labor Zionist leader; second president of Israel, 1952 - 1963.

Born in Poltava, in the Ukraine, into a family active in Zionism, Yizhak Ben-Zvi served as second president of Israel until his death. He assumed the role of chief theoretician of Labor Zionism from his arrival in Palestine in 1907.

As a childhood friend of Ber Borochov, BenZvi had attended the founding conference of the Poʿalei Zion (Workers of Zion) movement in Russia in 1906. He lived near the center of Russian revolutionary activities and the site of major pogroms. Committed to socialism and Zionism, Ben-Zvi's intellectual and political activities had one overwhelming purpose - to bridge the gap between Labor Zionist theory and conditions in Palestine. One of the founders of the Poʿalei Zion Party in Palestine, he also organized a clandestine Jewish defense society called Bar Giora (a name associated with one of the Jewish leaders fighting the Romans in 66 - 70 C.E.). Bar Giora's members aimed at replacing the Arab guards usually hired to secure outlying Jewish agricultural settlements. Hoping to raise class consciousness among Palestine's Jews, Ben-Zvi edited his party's newspaper and opened a small school in Jerusalem with a curriculum appropriate to the needs of a modern Jewish society.

With the restoration of the Ottoman Empire's constitution after the Young Turk revolution in 1908, Ben-Zvi and one of his closest friends and party comrades, David Ben-Gurion, traveled to Constantinople (now Istanbul) to study law as an avenue of entry into Ottoman politics. With the outbreak of World War I in Europe, he and BenGurion returned to Palestine but were unable to remain. Exiled by Ottoman authorities as potential troublemakers, Ben-Zvi and Ben-Gurion lived and lectured, on behalf of the Poʿalei Zion movement, in the United States. Ben-Zvi returned to Palestine as a soldier in the Jewish Legion.

Ben-Zvi's commitment to the fundamental principles of Labor Zionism never wavered. The possibilities opened by the advent of British rule altered the perspective of many Labor Zionists and the positions adopted by the political parties and institutions. Ben-Zvi maintained his close personal friendship with Ben-Gurion despite the latter's departure from such Labor Zionist strictures as the inevitability of class struggle. As Ben-Zvi saw it, only a clear Labor Zionist ideology and program would unify Jews in Palestine and create the foundations for a humane society. Sensitivity to the differences between Zionist and Palestinian national interests led Ben-Zvi to devote considerable effort to uncovering the history of Ottoman Palestine. As a prolific journalist, he also undertook research of ancient and remote Jewish communities.

Elected to the Jerusalem municipality several times, he established ties with the council's Arab representatives. He participated in the Vaʾad Leʾumi (National Council), first as a member and then later as its chair. He became a link between the British mandate government and the organized Labor Zionist leadership. He founded the Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the Middle East, later renamed the Ben-Zvi Institute. As president of Israel until his death in 1963, he lived in a simple house in a quiet Jerusalem neighborhood, personifying the original egalitarian impulse of Labor Zionism. He is the author of The Jewish Yishuv in Peki'in Village (1922), Eretz-Israel under Ottoman Rule (1955), The Exile and the Redeemed (1957), and The Jewish Legion: Letters (1969).

Bibliography

Ben-Zvi, Yizhak. Eretz-Israel under Ottoman Rule: Four Centuries of History. Israel: Bialik Institute, 1955.

Ben-Zvi, Yizhak. The Exile and the Redeemed, translated by Isaac A. Abbady. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1957.

Frankel, Jonathan. Prophecy and Politics. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Halpern, Ben, and Reinharz, Jehuda. "The Cultural and Social Background of the Second Aliyah." Middle Eastern Studies 27 (July 1991): 487 - 517.

— DONNA ROBINSON DIVINE

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi יצחק בן צבי
2nd President of the State of Israel
In office 16 December 1952 – 23 April 1963
Preceded by	Chaim Weizmann
Succeeded by	Zalman Shazar
Born	24 November 1884(1884-11-24) Poltava, Russian Empire
Died	23 April 1963 (aged 78) Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality	Israeli
Political party	Mapai
Spouse(s)	Rachel Yanait

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (Hebrew: יצחק בן צבי‎, born 24 November 1884, died 23 April 1963) was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, and the second and longest-serving President of Israel.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Political career 3 Presidency 4 Research 5 Awards 6 Commemoration 7 Family 8 References 9 External links 10 See also

Biography

Born in Poltava in the Russian Empire (today in 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 Poale Zion Zionist political party. He was a representative in the Zionist Congress 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.

Upon returning to Palestine in 1918, Ben-Zvi married Yanait. They had two sons: Amram and Eli. Eli later died in Arab-Israeli War, defending his kibbutz, Beit Keshet.

Political career

Ben-Zvi served in the Jewish Legion together with Ben-Gurion. In 1919, he helped found the Ahdut HaAvoda party, and became increasingly active in the Haganah. He was later elected to the Jerusalem City Council and president of the National Council, the shadow government of the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine. According to a book published in 1985, Ben-Zvi allegedly ordered the 1924 political assassination of Jacob Israël de Haan,^[1] who had turned into an anti-Zionist.^[2]

Presidency

When Israel gained its independence, Ben-Zvi was among the signers of its Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948. He served in the First and Second Knesset for the Mapai party. He was elected President of Israel on 8 December 1952, a position he retained until his death.

Ben-Zvi believed that the president should set an example for the public and his home should reflect the austerity of the times. For over 26 years, he and his family lived in a wooden hut in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem. The State of Israel took interest in the adjacent house, build and owned by Nissim and Esther Valero, and purchased it, after Nissim's death, to provide additional space for the President's residence.^[3] Two larger structures in the yard were used for official receptions.

Research

In 1948, Ben-Zvi headed the Institute for the Study of Oriental Jewish Communities in the Middle East, later named the Ben-Zvi Institute in his honor. The Ben-Zvi Institute occupies Nissim Valero's house.^[4] His main field of research was the Jewish communities and sects of Asia and Africa, including the Samaritans and Karaites.

Awards

• In 1953, Ben-Zvi was awarded the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought.^[5]

Commemoration

Today Ben-Zvi's photo appears on 100 NIS bills. Many streets and boulevards in Israel are named for him. In 2008, Ben-Zvi's wooden hut was moved to Kibbutz Beit Keshet, which his son helped to found, and the interior is being restored with its original furnishings. The Valero house in Rehavia neighborhood was designated a historic building protected by law under municipal plan 2097 for the preservation of historic sites. ^[6]

Family

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi's father, Zvi Shimshi (Shimshelevitz), was a leading Zionist activist in the 19th century. A member of the B'ne Moshe and Hoveve Zion movements in Ukraine, he was one of the organizers with Dr. Theodore Herzl of the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in the fall of 1897. At this Congress, the World Zionist Organization was founded, and the intention to re-establish a Jewish state was announced. Shimshi was the only organizer of the first Zionist Congress to live to see the birth of the modern State of Israel in 1948. On 10 December 1952, Zvi Shimshi was honored by the first Israeli Knesset (parliament) with the title, "Father of the State of Israel."

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi's brother was the famed Jewish author, Aharon Ruveny, and his brother-in-law was the renown Israeli archaeologist, Prof. Benjamin Mazar. ^[7]

References

1. ^ Shlomo Nakdimon; Shaul Mayzlish (1985) (in Hebrew). דה האן : הרצח הפוליטי הראשון בארץ ישראל Deh Han : ha-retsah ha-politi ha-rishon be-Erets Yisraʼel / De Haan: The first political assassination in Israel (1st Edition ed.). Tel Aviv: Modan Press. OCLC 21528172. 
2. ^ Neturei Karta - Jews Against Zionism Zionism-Israel
3. ^ Shimshelevitz Family
4. ^ Ben Zvi Institute
5. ^ "List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933-2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website". http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf. 
6. ^ Joseph B. Glass; Ruth Kark (2007). Sephardi entrepreneurs in Jerusalem : the Valero family 1800-1948. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 9789652293961. OCLC 191048781. 
7. ^ [Dan Mazar (1994) Jerusalem Christian Review]

External links

• Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

See also

• List of Bialik Prize recipients

v • d • e Heads of State of Israel Chairmen of Provisional State Council David Ben-Gurion (1948) • Chaim Weizmann (1948 – 1949) Presidents Chaim Weizmann (1949 – 1952) • Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (1952 – 1963) • Zalman Shazar (1963 – 1973) • Ephraim Katzir (1973 – 1978) • Yitzhak Navon (1978 – 1983) • Chaim Herzog (1983 – 1993) • Ezer Weizman (1993 – 2000) • Moshe Katsav (2000 – 2007) • Shimon Peres (2007 – present)

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