Shulamit Bat-Dori, 1904-1985

Born in Warsaw and known as Mita, Bat-Dori immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1923 and brought theater to kibbutzim as an actress, playwright and theater director. Her plays targeted political issues, such as…

Biographies|August 31, 2022

Yocheved Bat-Miriam, 1901-1980

Bat-Miriam, born in Belarus, is considered one of the four “mother poets” of modern Hebrew. Her 1937 book, “Eretz Yisrael,” examines the Land of Israel as a woman. She wrote many poems about biblical women…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

David Ben-Gurion, 1886-1973

Ben-Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister and its leading political force for two decades. Born in Poland, he arrived in Palestine in 1907. He formed socialist-leaning Mapai, the dominant political party, in 1930 and became…

Biographies|August 31, 2022

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, 1858-1922

Ben-Yehuda was born in Belarus and moved to Palestine in 1881. He championed the use of modernized Hebrew as an essential element of Zionism. He edited Hebrew newspapers, created the first modern Hebrew dictionary and…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 1884-1963

Before becoming Israel’s second and longest-serving president in 1952, Ukraine-born Ben-Zvi co-founded Yishuv self-defense groups Bar Giora and Hashomer. He became a Poalei Zion leader after immigrating to Palestine in 1907. He was prominent in…

Biographies|August 31, 2022

Chaim Nahman Bialik, 1873-1934

Bialik, recognized as Israel’s national poet, was born in Ukraine and moved to Palestine in 1924. After interviewing survivors of the 1903 Kishinev Pogrom, he wrote “Be-Ir ha-Haregah” (“In the City of Slaughter”), in which…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Elisheva Bikhovsky, 1888-1949

Bikhovsky, one of the “four mothers” of modern Hebrew poetry, often known simply as Elisheva, wrote about Zionism and antisemitism without biblical and rabbinical references. She was drawn to Hebrew as a Russian girl and…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Nathan Birnbaum, 1864-1937

An Austrian-born journalist, activist and writer, Birnbaum coined the word “Zionism” in the late 19th century. Using the pseudonym Mathias Acher, he wrote about the sociopolitical culture of European Jewry and expanded on the ideas…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Rachel Bluwstein, 1890-1931

One of the four “founding mothers” of modern Hebrew poetry, known as Rachel the Poetess or simply Rachel, Bluwstein was born in Russia and moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1909. She wrote most of her…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Max Bodenheimer, 1865-1940

An early leader of German Zionism, Bodenheimer helped establish a Jewish bank in Ottoman Palestine and the Jewish National Fund, for which he was the first chairman. Bodenheimer corresponded with Theodor Herzl, attended the first…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Dov Ber Borochov, 1881-1917

A socialist and Labor Zionist founder from Ukraine, Borochov emphasized the poor working conditions of Jews in the Diaspora. Pulling from Marxism, he combined economic theory with nationalism. At the Seventh Zionist Congress, in response…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Yosef Haim Brenner, 1881-1921

Born in Ukraine, Brenner emerged as the leading Hebrew literary figure in Palestine in the early 20th century. He joined the Bund, a Jewish socialist movement, as a young man and became a Zionist who…

Biographies|August 11, 2022

Selig Brodetsky, 1888-1954

Ukrainian-born Brodetsky engaged the Zionist movement as an undergraduate at Cambridge. He attended the Twelfth to Twenty-Third Zionist Congresses and served with the World Zionist Executive from 1928 to 1951. He was the president of…

Biographies|August 11, 2022