Yechiel Michel Pines ( ) (; 18 September 1824 – 15 March 1913) was a Russian-born religious Zionist

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, writer, and community leader in the

Old Yishuv The Old Yishuv ( he, היישוב הישן, ''haYishuv haYashan'') were the Jewish communities of the southern Syrian provinces in the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of Wor ...

. Yechiel Michel Pines was born at Ruzhinoy, near

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

. He was the son of Noah Pines and the son-in-law of Shemariah Luria, rabbi of

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bo ...

. He received both a religious and secular Jewish education, and was mentored by Rabbi Mordechai Gimpel Jaffe, an early leader of Ḥovevei Zion. He later became a merchant, giving lectures at the same time in the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

of his native town. He was elected delegate to a conference held in London by the association Mazkereth Moshe, for the establishment of charitable institutions 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 J ...

in commemoration of the name of Sir

Moses Montefiore Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, afte ...

. In 1878 he settled in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, at the home of his relative Yosef Rivlin, to establish and organize such institutions. At the end of his life, Pines was an instructor in

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...

at the Hebrew Teachers' Seminary in Jerusalem.

Legacy

There is a street named after Pines near Davidka Square in Jerusalem, as well as streets in

Rehovot Rehovot ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת ''Rəḥōvōt'', ar, رحوڤوت ''Reḥūfūt'') is a city in the Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu movement ...

Ra'anana Ra'anana ( he, רַעֲנָנָּה, lit. "Fresh") is a city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where an important ...

and Petah Tikvah. The Israeli religious moshav

Kfar Pines Kfar Pines ( he, כְּפַר פִּינֶס, ''lit.'' Pines Village) is a religious moshav in northern Israel. Located to the north-east of Hadera, adjacent to Pardes Hanna-Karkur and Ein Iron, it falls under the jurisdiction of Menashe Regiona ...

is named after him.

References

1824 births 1913 deaths 19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire 19th-century rabbis in Jerusalem Ashkenazi rabbis in Ottoman Palestine Religious Zionist Orthodox rabbis People from Pruzhany District {{Rabbi-stub