Selig Soskin ( he, זליג סוסקין, 1873–26 February 1959) was an Israeli agronomist and an early member of the Zionist movement.

Biography

Soskin was born in 1873 in Crimea, then part of the Russian Empire. He was active in the Zionist movement while in Russia, and immigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1896, after studying

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

in Germany. He was one of the founders of the settlement of Be'er Tuvia (until then known as

Qastina Qastina ( ar, قسطينة) was a Palestinian village, located 38 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Location Qastina was situated on an elevated spot in a generally flat area on the coastal ...

, after the neighboring Palestinian village of the same name), and worked on the planting of eucalyptus to drain the swamps of Hadera In 1898, Soskin accompanied Theodor Herzl during his visit to Palestine, and subsequently assisted in research to examine the possibilities for agriculture in different regions in the country. In 1903, he participated in the

Sixth Zionist Congress The Sixth Zionist Congress was held in Basel, opening on August 23, 1903. Theodor Herzl caused great division amongst the delegates when he presented the "Uganda Scheme", a proposed Jewish colony in what is now part of Kenya. Herzl died the follow ...

, where he was elected to the Committee for the Study of Eretz Israel, along with

Otto Warburg Otto Warburg may refer to: *Otto Warburg (botanist) (1859–1938), German botanist *Otto Heinrich Warburg Otto Heinrich Warburg (, ; 8 October 1883 – 1 August 1970), son of physicist Emil Warburg, was a German physiologist, medical doctor, and ...

and Franz Oppenheimer. In connection with the works of the committee, he was part of a delegation to El Arish, in the northern

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

, to investigate the area at the request of Herzl. Part of his agricultural research was conducted in collaboration with Aaron Aaronsohn, with whom he became friends while in

Zichron Yaacov Zikhron Ya'akov ( he, זִכְרוֹן יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' "Jacob's Memorial"; often shortened to just ''Zikhron'') is a town in Israel, south of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Carmel mounta ...

in the early part of the twentieth century. In 1918, he was appointed Director of Settlement on the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

(the "JNF") and, following a tour of Europe, began to examine the implementation of an agricultural model. The model included intensive agriculture on small plots of land. He tried to implement this model in the Binyamina district, and it saw success with the founding of

Nahariya Nahariya ( he, נַהֲרִיָּה, ar, نهاريا) is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In it had a population of . Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton (river is ''nahar'' in Hebrew), which bisects it. Hist ...

in 1934. He also championed the use of hydroponics - the growth of plants on water; in 1944, he proposed a plan to feed liberated Europe with hydroponic vegetables. He became a supporter of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and of the Revisionist movement.

Awards and honours

* In 1958, Soskin was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, in agriculture. * A street in Nahariya is named after him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soskin, Selig 1873 births 1959 deaths People from Taurida Governorate Jews from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Jews in Ottoman Palestine Israeli Jews Israel Prize in agriculture recipients Israeli agronomists Jewish scientists Jews in Mandatory Palestine People from Nahariya People from Be'er Tuvia Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent 20th-century agronomists

Biography

Awards and honours

See also

References

External links