Isaac Leib Goldberg (, 7 February 1860 – 14 September 1935)
was a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

leader and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

in both Ottoman

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, and one of the principal founders of Rishon LeZion, the first Zionist settlement founded in the Land of Israel by the

New Yishuv The Yishuv (), HaYishuv Ha'ivri (), or HaYishuv HaYehudi Be'Eretz Yisra'el () was the community of Jews residing in Palestine (region), Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The term came into use in the 1880s, whe ...

. An early member of the Hovevei Zion movement (1882), he also founded the Ohavei Zion society. Goldberg was a delegate to the

First Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress () was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization (ZO) held in the Stadtcasino Basel in the city of Basel on August 29–31, 1897. Two hundred and eight delegates from 17 countries and 2 ...

and the founder of two

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

newspapers, Ha'aretz (today Israel's oldest daily newspaper) and Ha'am.

Biography

Isaac (Yitzchak) Leib Goldberg was born on 7 February 1860 in Szaki,

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

(present-day Šakiai,

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

) to Alexander Sander HaLevi Goldberg and Liba Segal. His brother was Boris Goldberg. In his early years, Goldberg studied at Kovno Yeshiva and settled in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. His wife was Rachel Pinnes and they had five children, Hannah Tolkowsky (wife of Shmuel Tolkowsky), Shulamit Hochfeld, Samuel Goldberg, Yehudit Klibanov, and Binyamin Zeev Goldberg. In 1903 the first plot of land for the Jewish National Fund was given as a gift by Goldberg for growing olives in Israel. In 1908 he purchased the first plot of land on

Mount Scopus Mount Scopus ( ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or "Mount Syenite") is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Jerusalem. Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

for the future Hebrew University. Isaac Leib Goldberg also helped create the Geulah Company for private land acquisition and sale in Israel, and the Carmel Company for sale of kosher wine. In 1919 he co-founded the newspaper ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' in Jerusalem. His son Binyamin Zeev was killed in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

in the 1929 Palestine riots. Ramat Gan's Tel Binyamin neighborhood was named in his honor. Upon his death, in Switzerland on 14 September 1935, Goldberg bequeathed one half of his estate to the Jewish National Fund for the promotion of Hebrew language and culture. This donation, known as the Isaac Leib and Rachel Goldberg Fund, amounted to roughly $30 million by today's standards. Goldberg was buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery in

, Israel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Isaac Leib 1860 births 1935 deaths People from Šakiai Lithuanian Jews Lithuanian Zionists Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery Hovevei Zion Delegates to the First World Zionist Congress Immigrants of the First Aliyah

Biography

See also

References