Yitzhak Ben-Zvi - Biography

Biography

Born in Poltava in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Ben-Zvi was the eldest son of Zvi Shimshelevich, who later took the name Shimshi. Shimshi was a leading Zionist activist and one of the organizers of the first Zionist Congress in 1897. In 1952, he was honored by the first Israeli Knesset with the title "Father of the State of Israel".

Ben-Zvi 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 Rehavia high school in the Bukharim neighborhood of Jerusalem together with Rachel Yanait.

Following his studies at Galatasaray High School 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 died in Arab–Israeli War, defending his kibbutz, Beit Keshet.