In 1927, Rabbi Bar-Ilan made the then remarkable announcement that Mizrachi would see the fruits of its labor not when most Jews were living in Eretz Yisrael, but when Judaism would be seen in most places or Eretz Israel.
Samuel Hayyim Landau remains unique among the leaders and originators of Religious Zionism. The impact that he had on the Mizrachi movement far surpassed his shortened life span of thirty-six years.
As his name ‘son of Zion’ or ‘Ben-Zion states’, Rabbi Uziel was born in Jerusalem in 1880, the newest member of a very prestigious Sephardi family. His father, Joseph Raphael, was the Av Beth-Din of the Sephardi community in Jerusalem.
From the Mizrachi Biographies of Great Zionist Rabbis – Realizing that he must actively fulfill his Zionist ideals, in 1936 Rabbi Amiel made aliyah in order to serve as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. This area had the largest concentration of Jewish population in the yishuv and presented a great deal of challenges for Rabbi Amiel.
Yehiel Michael Pines was born in Grodno, in the Russian-held part of Poland, in 1842. His education was unusual in that day for the scion of a notabale, pious family, for he was taught not only Bible and Talmud, but also the German language and its literature.
Upon arriving in Jaffa, he met with Rabbi A.I. Kook who had a tremendous influence on the young hasid. Unfortunately, World War I broke out and Rav Shapira decided that his place was with the family he had left behind in Poland.
“The platform of Mizrachi rests upon its desire to impress upon the hearts of those opposed (to Zionism) a love of Zion; while at the same time to create in the heart of the (irreligious) Zionists – a love for the Jewish religion. It would be our wish to take these two and to synthesize them into one total Judaism, thereby having a complete creation, one which retains the Torah as its soul, the nation as its body, with its place in Eretz Israel.”
Born in Bobruisk, Belorussia (White Russia) Isaac Nissenbaum became an active Zionist at a very young age. While attending Volozhin he joined the yeshiva’s secret nationalistic association called ‘Netzach Yisrael’, set up when the government forced the closure of the yeshiva. The society demanded that all its members declare their allegiance to Eretz Yisrael.
Rabbi Kook reiterated over and over again that each and every Jew retains a holy spark within the soul and that the Jewish people as a whole, in beginning to revive their national aspirations and rebuilding the Land, were igniting this spark – which most assuredly would bring about the full and complete redemption.
Rabbi Samuel Mohliver was among the first founders and leaders of the Hibbat Zion movement and served as the force behind the religious faction within the movement. His lifework planted the seeds which would later germinate into the Mizrachi movement under Rabbi Jacob Reines. Rav Mohliver was born in 1824 in a village near Vilna,…