Alexander Zaïd (; ; 1886 – 10 July 1938) was a prominent
Russian Zionist. He was most known for co-founding several
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
defense organizations, including
Bar Giora and
Hashomer.
Biography
Alexander Zaïd was born in 1886 in
Zima, a town in
Irkutsk Governorate, in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. His father had been deported from
Vilna to
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
due to revolutionary activity and his mother was a
Subbotnik. In 1889, the family moved to
Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
. In 1901 they returned to
Vilna, where his father remarried. Two years later, the father died, too. The orphaned teenager met Michael Helpern, a
First Aliyah pioneer sent to Vilna to promote immigration to
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
. Zaid moved to Palestine in 1904, under the auspices of the
Zionist Labour Movement. He worked at the
winery in
Rishon LeZion, where he met
Israel Shochat, as a
construction worker in
Ben Shemen and a
stonemason in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
.
In 1907, he helped establish the first Jewish watchmen's organization, the clandestine "
Bar-Giora". Two years later, in 1909, he was one of the founders of
Hashomer, a Jewish defense organization, to safeguard the Jewish agricultural settlements in Palestine.
In 1926 Zaïd moved to
Sheikh Abreik in the
Valley of Jezreel, where he worked as a watchman, overseeing the lands of the
JNF. The residents of the Arab village at the site had been evicted a few years earlier when the
Sursuk family of
Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
sold the land. The locality was known to have archaeological importance but had never been excavated. In 1936, Zaid reported that he had found a breach in the wall of one of the known caves which led to another cave decorated with inscriptions. This led to the excavation of the site and its identification as
Beit She'arim.
Zaïd survived two attacks by
Arabs
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
, but on the night of 10 July 1938, he was killed. He was ambushed by an Arab gang while on his way to meet members of kibbutz
Alonim. The killer was Qassem Tabash, a
Bedouin from the al-Hilaf tribe. In 1942, the
Palmach killed Tabash in retaliation. Zaïd was survived by his wife and four children.
Commemoration
Zaid is commemorated in the Alexander Zaid monument that was placed in 1941 near the Zaid family's pastures, near the
Beit She'arim National Park in
Kiryat Tivon. The monument is a statue of Zaid, riding his mare and overlooking the Jezreel Valley. The statue was created by the sculptor David Poulos who sculpted the mare named "Domia" after her sister. Also, the settlements
Beit Zaid and
Giv'ot Zaid, and streets throughout the country were named after Zaid.
Jezreel Valley gets it guard back
/ref>
The statue, which was made of iron mesh coated with concrete, wore out over time and was replaced in 1979 by a bronze statue made by the sculptor Dan Zaritsky. On October 5, 2007, the statue of Alexander Zeid was toppled by unknown persons, and on December 31, it was fixed (the movie "Half Ton of Bronze" was based on the incident).
The symbol of the Zaid memorial is used as a logo for the "Hashomer HaHadash" organization, as this organization also runs a leadership program for youth called the "Alexander Zaid Program".
At the point where he was shot and killed (the corner of "Jezreel" and "Hashomerim" streets in Kiryat Amal) a memorial garden was established and inside it was noted the place where Zaid was standing when he was shot as well as the place where, apparently, the murderers ambushed him. The date was set by his widow.
The poet Alexander Penn penned two poems in memory of Zaid, and both were composed by Mordechai Zeira. The most famous of them is "On the hills of Sheikh Abreik" or 'Adamah, 'Admati' ("Land, My Land"), in a Dabke rhythm. The second is called "Zaid's Song", and was performed by Ofira Gluska.
The writer Eliezer Smoli also immortalized the story of the life of Zaid and his family and the settlement throughout the Land of Israel and in Sheikh Abreik, in a number of books, among them "'Anshei Bereshit" (People of the Early Days), "Hayei Rishonim: miyomenei 'alexander zaid" (The Lives of Early Pioneers: Excerpts from Zaid's Diaries), and "Shomer Beyisra'el" (A Guard in Israel).
File:Zaid Alexander young.PNG, Alexander Zaid in his youth
File:AlexanderZaid.jpg, Monument in memory of Zaïd near Beit She'arim national park, statue by David Polus
File: Zaid Alexander1.jpg, Alexander Zaid posing for a photograph.
File: PikiWiki Israel 8074 the spot were alexander zeid was killed.jpg , The spot where Alexander Zaid was killed
External links
Rare video of Alexander Zaid's family in the 1930s
Alexander and Zipporah Zaid Collection
on the Digital collections of Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library, University of Haifa
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaid, Alexander
Russian Jews
Russian Zionists
Labor Zionists
Haganah
Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine)
Jewish socialists
1886 births
1938 deaths
People murdered in Mandatory Palestine
People from Zima (town)
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire
Deaths by firearm in Mandatory Palestine