Shmaryahu Levin (; born 1867 in Svislach,

Minsk Governorate Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...

; died 9 June 1935,

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

), was a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activist. He was a member of the first elected Russian Parliament in 1906.

Biography

Levin, originally from Svisloch,

Belorussia Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, became involved with

Hovevei Zion The Lovers of Zion, also ''Hovevei Zion'' () or ''Hibbat Zion'' (, ), were a variety of proto-Zionist organizations founded in 1881 in response to the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire and were officially constituted as a group at a conf ...

during his early years. A follower of Ahad HaAm, as a young man, he and Leo Motzkin created the union of Jewish students in Russia during their time at university in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He wrote for Hebrew publications like Ha-Shilo'ah and Yiddish ones such as Der Yud and Der Fraynd. Shmaryahu Levin served as a crown rabbi in the towns of

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

(189697) and

Ekaterinoslav Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

(Dnipropetrovsk) from 1898 to 1904. At the

Sixth Zionist Congress The Sixth Zionist Congress was held in Basel, opening on August 23, 1903. Theodor Herzl caused great division amongst the delegates when he presented the "Uganda Scheme", a proposed Jewish colony in what is now part of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. ...

in 1903, Levin was a prominent opponent of the Uganda Scheme. He also co-founded the League for the Attainment of Equal Rights for the Jewish People in Russia in 1905 and served on its central board. In 1906, Levin was elected to represent the Jewish National List from Vilna in the inaugural Russian

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

. Shortly after the First Duma's dissolution, Levin escaped from

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for

. He was chosen to be a member of the Tenth Zionist Congress (1911). He participated in the activities of the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden in

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and helped to found a technical university in

. He encouraged

American Jews American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% id ...

to support this endeavor. However, together with

Ahad Ha-Am Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am (, lit. 'one of the people', ), was a Hebrew journalist and essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. ...

and J. Tschlenow, Levin resigned from the Technion board of governors after their proposal to switch to teaching in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

was turned down. In the 1920s, Levin was a representative of the

World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

and director of the Information Department of Keren Hayesod.

References

External links

Central Zionist Archives Personal papers of Shmaryahu Levin
The notation of the record group is A20. {{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Shmaryahu 1867 births 1935 deaths People from Pukhavichy district People from Bobruysky Uyezd Belarusian Jews Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Jewish activists Belarusian Zionists Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums alumni