Menachem Ussishkin (russian: Авраам Менахем Мендл Усышкин ''Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin'', he, מנחם אוסישקין) (August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in J ...

leader and head of the Jewish National Fund. Menachem Ussishkin was born in

Dubrowna Dubrowna (Belarusian Дуброўна ''Dubroŭna''; pl, Dąbrowna) or Dubrovno (russian: Дубро́вно) is a small town on the Dnieper River. The toponym originates from a Proto-Slavic term for an oak forest, which may explain the inclus ...

in the

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. In 1889, he graduated as a technical engineer from Moscow State Technical University, today known as Bauman Moscow State Technical University. Ussishkin was among the founders of the BILU movement and the Moscow branch of the

Hovevei Zion Hovevei Zion ( he, חובבי ציון, lit. '' hose who areLovers of Zion''), also known as Hibbat Zion ( he, חיבת ציון), refers to a variety of organizations which were founded in 1881 in response to the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russi ...

. He also joined the Bnei Moshe society founded by

Ahad HaAm Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am ( he, אחד העם, lit. 'one of the people', Genesis 26:10), was a Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zi ...

. In 1891, he made his first trip to Palestine. Ussishkin served as Secretary of the

First Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני הראשון) was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) held in Basel (Basle), from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attend ...

. At the Sixth Zionist Congress he opposed the Uganda plan. He was one of the Jewish delegates to the

Paris peace conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In 1919, Ussishkin made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

to what was in the process of becoming

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

on board the ship Ruslan. In 1920, he was appointed head of the Zionist Commission in Palestine. In his pamphlet "Our Program", he advocated group settlement based on labour Zionism. Under his influence, the Zionist movement actively supported the establishment of agricultural settlements, educational and cultural institutions, and Jewish polytechnic - later the Technion. In 1923, Ussishkin was elected President of the Jewish National Fund which he headed until his death. Ussishkin was behind major land acquisitions in the Hefer, Jezreel and

Beit She'an Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is b ...

valleys. On his 70th birthday, the Rehavia neighborhood council decided to change the name of the street in which he lived, Rechov Keren Kayemet Le'Israel ( Jewish National Fund) to Rechov Ussishkin, and move Rechov Keren Kayamet Le'Israel to its present location. Ussishkin died in 1941 in Jerusalem at the age of 78. He is buried in Nicanor's Cave at the botanical gardens of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus.

Gallery

File:אוסישקין עם אדולף שטנד.-JNF043067 (cropped).jpeg, Menachem Ussishkin (seated) with Adolf Stand. pre 1919 File:Beit Usishkin P8020025.JPG, Home of Menachem Ussishkin in Rehavia,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

File:ארזה - מוצא- מנחם אוסישקין נוטע עץ (ברוש אוסישקין)-JNF008311.jpeg, Menachem Ussishkin 1929 File:מנחם אוסישקין ופרופסור אלברט איינשטיין-JNF039281.jpeg, Menachem Ussishkin with

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

File:דפנה - ביקורו של אוסישקין במצודה שהוקמה על שמו-JNF039274.jpeg, Menachem Ussishkin visiting Dafna 1 May 1939

References

External links

Menachem Ussishkin
Jewish Agency for Israel *The personal papers of Menachem Ussishkin are kept at th
Central Zionist Archives
in Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A24. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ussishkin, Menahem 1863 births 1941 deaths Belarusian Jews Belarusian Zionists Hovevei Zion Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Mandatory Palestine people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish National Council members Labor Zionists Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine) People from Dubroŭna People from Jerusalem Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Russian Zionists