Composer Leonard Bernstein Is Born
Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts to Ukrainian-Jewish parents, Leonard Bernstein is one of the most prolific composers and conductors in American history.
Balfour Declaration Is Released
In seeking official government endorsement for the Zionist cause from a great power, the leadership of the Zionist Organization successfully obtains support from the British government in 1917 by way of the Balfour Declaration.
Chaim Weizmann Joins British Admiralty
Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel, then working as a chemist in Manchester, England, is appointed to the British Admiralty as an Honorary Technical Adviser on acetone supplies.
The Joint Is Founded
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is founded with the merger of the Central Relief Committee and the American Jewish Relief Committee.
Private U.S. Aid Arrives for Jews in Palestine in WWI
Responding to a plea from Henry Morgenthau, United States Ambassador to Turkey and American Jewish leaders, led by Louis Marshall and Jacob Schiff, quickly raise $50,000 in aid for the Jewish community in the Palestine.
American Jewish Leader Max Fisher Is Born in Pittsburgh
Max Fisher is born in Pittsburgh to Russian Jewish immigrants. He dedicates much of his life to the Jewish State, raising hundreds of millions of dollars through his career as a leader in nearly every Jewish organization in North America.
Protocols of the Elders of Zion Is Published
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the most widely distributed anti-Semitic publication in history, is first published in Znamya, a Russian newspaper.
Sixth Zionist Congress Begins
The Sixth Zionist Congress, the last to be presided over by Theodor Herzl, convenes in Basel, Switzerland. It is the largest Zionist Congress held to date, with approximately 600 delegates in attendance.
Second Zionist Congress Convenes
The Second Zionist Congress convenes in Basel, Switzerland. 400 delegates, including Theodore Herzl’s father, participate in the Second Congress, which is nearly double the size of the First Congress held the previous year.
First Conference of Russian Zionists Is Held in Warsaw
Held a few weeks before the Second Zionist Congress was set to convene in Basle, Switzerland, 160 Russian Zionists from ninety-three cities and towns in Russia meet secretly in Warsaw, Poland.
Orthodox Union Is Founded, Expresses Support for Zionism
The Orthodox movement created the Orthodox Union, and adopted a constitution and by-laws at their meeting at Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York.
Theodor Herzl Publishes “The Jewish State”
“Der Judenstaat” (The Jewish State), subtitled, “An Attempt at a Modern Solution to the Jewish Question,” by Theodor Herzl is first published in Vienna. 500 copies are originally printed and distributed.
Nobel Prize-Winning Author Shmuel Yosef Agnon Is Born
Born in 1888 in Buczacz, Galicia (later part of Ukraine), Shmuel Agnon is the first Israeli to win a Nobel Prize and remains the only Hebrew writer to receive this award in literature.
Leading Zionist Nahum Goldmann Is Born in Lithuania
Nahum Goldmann is born in Visznevo, Lithuania. He is later a founder of the World Jewish Congress and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, as well as President of the World Zionist Organization.
Prime Minister Moshe Sharett Is Born
Moshe Sharett is born as Moshe Shertok in Kherson, Ukraine. Sharett’s parents were early Zionists, having been involved in the BILU movement in the early 1880’s.
Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz Is Born
August 22, 1891 Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, whose final work, “The Tree of Life,” stands outside Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, is born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz in Lithuania. Though his father wants him to…
Pregnancy Test Developer Zondek Is Born
July 29, 1891 Bernhard Zondek, the obstetrician-gynecologist who creates one of the first reliable pregnancy tests, is born in Wronke, Germany, now in Poland. Zondek moves to Berlin for his medical studies and earns his…
First Gathering of Hovevei Zion Takes Place
Delegates convene in Katowice (presently southern Poland) for the first gathering of the Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) movement.
BILU Forms, Laying Groundwork for First Aliyah
The groundwork for the First Aliyah is laid with the formation of the BILU group at a meeting in the home of Israel Belkind in Kharkov, Ukraine.
Czar Alexander II Is Assassinated
Czar Alexander II, the leader of Russia, is assassinated in St. Petersburg when a bomb is thrown into his carriage.
Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky Is Born
Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky is born in Odessa, Ukraine. He is mostly known for his revisionist attitudes towards Zionism, which serve as the ideological foundation of Israel’s Likud political party.
British Philanthropist and Zionist Alfred Mond Is Born
An early Zionist supporter in England, Alfred Mond (who would later become the first Lord Melchett) is born in England. Despite the fact that his parents were Jewish, Mond was not raised as a Jew and in fact was married in the Anglican church and raised his children as Christians.
Leo Motzkin Is Born
Raised in a traditional Jewish household, early Zionist activist Leo Motzkin is born in present-day Brovary, Ukraine.
Zionist Intellectual Max Nordau Is Born in Hungary
Max Nordau is born Simon Maximilian Sudfeld in Pest, Hungary to an Orthodox Jewish family. Nordau’s most notable contribution to early Zionism is The Basel Plan – the first official blueprint for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.
