Samuel Mohilever (1824 – 1898), also Shmuel Mohilever, was a rabbi, pioneer of
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religiou ...
and one of the founders of the
Hovevei Zion
Hovevei Zion ( he, חובבי ציון, lit. ''hose who areLovers of Zion''), also known as Hibbat Zion ( he, חיבת ציון), refers to a variety of organizations which were founded in 1881 in response to the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian ...
movement.
Biography
![Kattowitz Conference](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Kattowitz_Conference._P._Krause._1884_%28FL38048544%29.crop.jpg)
Mohilever was born in Głębokie (now
Hlybokaye
Hlybokaye or Glubokoye ( be, Глыбокае, translit=Hłybokaje, russian: Глубокое, translit=Glubokoye, pl, Głębokie, lt, Glubokas, yi, גלובאָק, Glubok) is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, the capital of Hlybokaye Raion ( ...
,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
) and studied in the
Volozhin yeshiva
Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious Lithuanian ''yeshiva'' located in the town of Volozhin, Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Rabbi Ḥayyim Volozhiner, a stude ...
.
After the pogroms following the
May Laws
Temporary regulations regarding the Jews (also known as May Laws) were proposed by the minister of internal affairs Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev and enacted on 15 May (3 May O.S.), 1882, by Tsar Alexander III of Russia. Originally, regulations of ...
, he helped found the Hovevei Zion in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
.
Mohilever was active in the propagandist and organizational affairs as well as labors on behalf of colonization in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. In 1882 he went to Paris to meet a young
Edmond James de Rothschild
Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...
, and convinced him to take an interest in the struggling settlers in Israel and to financially support a settlement called Ekron (now
Mazkeret Batya
Mazkeret Batya ( he, מַזְכֶּרֶת בַּתְיָה) (lit. "Batya Memorial") is a local council in central Israel located southeast of Rehovot and from Tel Aviv. Mazkeret Batya spans an area of 7,440 dunams (7 km²). In it had a pop ...
).
Mohilever was made the Rabbi of
Białystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...
in 1883. He dedicated himself to promote Zionism by convincing Białystok's Jews to move to
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...
, then a struggling settlement.
In 1893 there were a series of disagreements between Rabbi Mohilever and the main offices of Chovevei L'Tzion in Odessa, which was largely secularist and directed by
Leo Pinsker
yi, לעאָן פינסקער
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Tomaszów Lubelski, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire
, death_date =
, death_place = Odessa, Russian Empire
, known_for = Zionism
, occupation = Physician, political activis ...
. This led to a decision for Chovevei L'Tzion to make another Centre under Mohilever's leadership. This new branch, was named Mizrachi, (מִזְרָחִי, a
notarikon
Notarikon ( he, נוטריקון ''Noṭriqōn'') is a Talmud, Talmudic and Kabbalah, Kabbalistic method of deriving a word, by using each of its initial (Hebrew: ) or final letters () to stand for another, to form a sentence or idea out of the w ...
(Hebrew abbreviation) of מרכז רוחני, ''merkaz ruhani'' – "spiritual centre"). Their task was to educate orthodox Jews about the concept of Zionism.
But despite the religious differences, Rabbi Mohilever made the wise decision to remain part of the Chovevei L'Tzion movement. Nonetheless, Mohilever put constant pressure on the national movement to meet with the requirements of the Orthodox Jews.
In 1884, Mohilever was elected to the presidency of the Hovevei Zion conference, with Leon Pinsker serving as chairman. Mohilever served as chairman in the 1887 and 1889 conferences. Many of his contributions were of a religious nature - Mohilever insured that Jewish farming in Palestine complied with Jewish laws and tradition by setting up a rabbinical committee to oversee it.
In 1897 Mohilever sent a message to the
First Zionist Congress
The First Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני הראשון) was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) held in Basel (Basle), from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attende ...
: 'It is essential', he wrote, 'that the Congress unite all "Sons of Zion" who are true to our cause to work in complete harmony and fraternity, even if there be among them differences of opinion regarding religion.'
Rabbi Mohilever and his colleagues continued their work, especially among Orthodox Jews, and as a result,
Mizrachi became the foundation of the religious Zionist movement. In 1902, four years after Rabbi Shmuel’s death, Mizrachi officially joined the Zionist Organization.
When in 1901 Rabbi
Yitzchak Yaacov Reines
Yitzchak Yaacov Reines ( he, יצחק יעקב ריינס, Isaac Jacob Reines), (October 27, 1839 – August 20, 1915) was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi and the founder of the Mizrachi Religious Zionist Movement, one of the earliest movements o ...
and other of Mohilever's disciples re-established the organization, they did so with the same stance, spirit and name. Mohilever had successfully inspired the amalgamation of traditional Jewish orthodoxy with practical Zionism.
[Arthur Hertzberg, ''The Zionist Idea'', (Meridian, New York, 1960), p.400-402.]
His last letter to the Jews of Russia before his death urged them to work to achieve a deep attachment to the commandment to settle in Israel, which he said is “the foundation of the existence of our people.”
The
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 ...
Gan Shmuel
Gan Shmuel ( he, גַּן שְׁמוּאֵל, ''lit.'' Shmuel's Garden) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in Haifa District, east of Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regional Council. In it had a population of . The kibbu ...
was named after Mohilever.
References
*Isidor Schalit, obituary of Shmuel Mohilever, ''Die Welt'' II/24, June 17, 1898, pp. 2–3
*David Bridger, Samuel Wolk: ''The New Jewish Encyclopedia''. Behrman House, New York (NYC/USA) 1976, , p. 326
*Yoel Yarden, ''Rabbi Shmuel Mohliver's Educational Philosophy 1873-1874'', Studies in Education, University of Haifa, No. 33, March 1982 (Hebrew)
Notes
External links
*The personal papers of Samuel Mohilever are kept at the
Central Zionist Archivesin Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A9\62-63.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohilever, Samuel
Religious Zionist Orthodox rabbis
Zionists
1824 births
1898 deaths
Hovevei Zion
Forerunners of Zionism