Joseph Niego (1863–1945) also known as Yosef Niego was born in Adrianople (modern-day

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

). Joseph Niego was one of the leading figures in the creation of the state of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He was instrumental in the political, agricultural, and economical roots of the foundation of the Jewish State. Niego was sent to France to the Faculty of Agriculture in order to help

Mikveh Israel Mikveh Israel ( he, מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, 'Hope of Israel') is a youth village and boarding school in the Tel Aviv District of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first Jewish agricultural school in what is now Israel ...

cultivate the land. Thanks to different methodologies, including the

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

trees he imported to the Holy Land, he dried the swamps that prevented agricultural development. He then served for over 15 years as the General Manager of Mikveh Israel. In 1891, Baron Moritz de Hirsch founded the

Jewish Colonization Association The Jewish Colonisation Association (JCA or ICA, Yiddish ייִק"אַ), in America spelled Jewish Colonization Association, is an organisation created on September 11, 1891, by Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigratio ...

(JCA) in order to help the

Russian Jews The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

who were suffering from antisemitism. In 1896 Baron Hirsch appointed Niego as the advisor of JCA in Palestine. Aware of the unemployment and integration problem of the Russian Jewish immigrants, Joseph Niego decided to build economically viable "work-farms" which was a primitive form of a modern-day

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

. In 1898, Joseph Niego introduced and arranged a meeting between

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...

and

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern p ...

in Palestine, at Mikveh Israel. In 1911, Joseph Niego founded the

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

Grand Lodge District XI that covered all Ottoman lands. The B'nai B'rith lodge in Israel is named after him in order to recognize and honor a life of service to the Jewish causes. In 1914, Niego founded the first Jewish High School in Turkey and became its first General Manager. In 1923, Joseph Niego was employed by the

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization i ...

(JDC) as head of a fund that offered loans to the small and medium Jewish businesses. The impact of this association helped the Jewish community of Turkey to flourish economically. This system is seen by many people as one of the precursors of

microfinance Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...

. In 1945, after more than five decades of service, Joseph Niego died at 82 years old.

References

Sephardic Studies
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niego, Joseph 1863 births 1945 deaths People from Edirne Turkish Sephardi Jews Jewish scientists Zionist activists