Yitzhak Ben-Zvi - Family

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 well known Jewish author, Aharon Ruveny, and his brother-in-law was the Israeli archaeologist, Prof. Benjamin Mazar.

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