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…
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…
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…
Louis Brandeis, 1856-1941
The first Jew on the U.S. Supreme Court, Brandeis influenced many American Jews in the early 20th century to become Zionists. He persuaded President Woodrow Wilson, a close friend, to support the 1917 Balfour Declaration…
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…
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…
Tal Brody, 1943-
New Jersey native Brody was a first-round NBA draft pick out of the University of Illinois in 1965, but after visiting Israel for the first time that summer for the Maccabiah Games, he decided to…
Charles Bronfman, 1931-
Bronfman, part of the Canadian Jewish family who built the Seagram beverage company, co-founded Birthright Israel, which brings young Jewish adults from around the world to Israel for a 10-day educational visit. His foundation, Charles…
David Broza, 1952-
Haifa native Broza is one of Israel’s most successful and influential musicians, including Spanish-style guitar playing learned during his time in Madrid. His first hit was “Yihyeh Tov” (“It Will Be Good”) in 1977. He…
Martin Buber, 1878-1965
Born in Austria, philosopher Buber spoke at the Third Zionist Congress on behalf of education over propaganda to win Zionist support. He edited the Zionist weekly Die Welt for a year but left because he…
Ralph Bunche, 1904-1971
Bunche, an American diplomat, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for brokering the armistice agreements between Israel and four Arab neighbors in 1949. He served in 1947 with the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine,…
George W. Bush, 1946-
The 43rd U.S. president, Bush offered a vision for a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution in June 2002 that inspired the “Roadmap for Peace” presented by the Quartet (the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia)…
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