Rabbi Samuel Mohilever, 1824-1898

Born in Lithuania and ordained at the Volozhin yeshiva, Mohilever was a founder of the Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) movement in Russia and served as its president in the 1880s. He helped launch Religious Zionism. At the First Zionist Congress, he pushed for Jews to leave Europe for development towns in Palestine and to purchase land wherever possible there.

Photo: Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia