Teddy Kollek Is Born
Teddy Kollek, Zionist leader and long-time mayor of Jerusalem, is born in Nagyvázsony, Hungary.
First Kibbutz in Israel Is Established
Degania Alef is established as the first Kibbutz in Israel. The idea for a communally operated agricultural settlement in the land of Israel did not, however, originate with the founders of Degania Alef.
Tel Aviv Is Founded
Sixty-six families gathered on the sand dunes outside of Jaffa and selected lots for property in a new neighborhood called Ahuzat Bayit (“Homestead”) that became the first modern Jewish city, Tel Aviv.
Moshe Sneh Is Born
January 6, 1909 Moshe Sneh, known for his left-wing politics and resistance to British rule in Palestine, is born Moshe Klaynboym in Radyzn, Poland. Sneh serves as the chairman of the Yardinia Zionist student group…
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.
Lehi Founder Avraham Stern Is Born
December 23, 1907 Avraham Stern, who becomes one of the leading fighters against British rule in Palestine, is born into a Zionist family in Suwalki, Poland. He immigrates to the Land of Israel in 1925…
David Ben-Gurion Arrives in Jaffa
David Gruen, who in 1910 would change his name to David Ben-Gurion, and his girlfriend Rachel Nelkin arrive in Jaffa with a group of other young adults from Plonsk, Poland.
Kibbutz Pioneer Yitzchak Ben-Aharon Is Born
July 17, 1906 Yitzchak Ben-Aharon, a pioneer of the kibbutz movement, is born Yitzhak Nussboim in Bukovina, Romania, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He joins several Zionist organizations as a teenager, then walks and rides a…
Theodor Herzl Dies
July 3, 1904 Theodor Herzl, the “father of modern Zionism,” dies of cardiac sclerosis at age 44 in the village of Edlach, Austria. His will calls for no speeches, flowers or pomp at his funeral,…
Herzl Meets with Pope Pius X
During a two-week trip to Italy, Theodor Herzl meets with Pope Pius X in an effort to gain his support for the Zionist cause.
Max Nordau Is Victim of Assassination Attempt
While attending a Hanukkah Ball arranged by Mevasseret Zion, a Paris Zionist Society, Max Nordau is the victim of an assassination attempt. Nordau, who together with Theodor Herzl had co-founded the World Zionist Organization, escapes unharmed.
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.
British Make the Uganda Proposal
British Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain and Theodor Herzl meet to discuss Jewish settlement. At this meeting, Chamberlain proposes that the Jewish state be created in Uganda.
Jewish National Fund Is Founded
At the Fifth Zionist Congress, after the delegates again vote to table the idea of a national fund, Theodor Herzl delivers an impassioned address to the delegates, urging them to act immediately. The motion passes by a vote of 105 to 82.
Labor Politician Aharon Zisling Born
February 26, 1901 Aharon Zisling, one of Israel’s founding fathers, is born in the Russian Empire in Minsk, now the capital of Belarus. He immigrates to Palestine in 1914 during the Second Aliyah and emerges…
Politician Ya’akov Hazan Is Born
June 4, 1899 Ya’akov Hazan, a leader in socialist politics through Israel’s first four decades, is born in Brest Litovsk, Russia. He is a founder of the Hashomer Hatzair scouting movement in Poland in 1915…
Israel Museum Founder Eliyahu Dobkin Is Born
December 31, 1898 Eliyahu Dobkin, a signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the founder of the Israel Museum, is born in Bobruysk, Belarus. Dobkin is raised in a religious Zionist family. His father,…
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.
Golda Meir Is Born in Kiev
Born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev, Russia, Meir’s family immigrated to the United States in 1906, settling in Milwaukee.
Gershom Scholem Is Born
Gershom Scholem, the pre-eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism, is born in Berlin. He immigrates to the Land of Israel in 1923.
First Zionist Congress Opens
August 29, 1897 Spearheaded by Theodor Herzl, the First Zionist Congress opens in Basel, Switzerland, for three days of meetings with roughly 200 attendees. Herzl invites allies in the Zionist cause — Jews and non-Jews…
Theodor Herzl’s The Jewish State Is Published
“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.
