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Perez Bernstein
Perez Bernstein was born in Meiningen, Germany in the year 1 890 as Frederik-Fritz (Shlomo) Bernstein. He lived an active life in which Zionism, writing and commerce were inextricably combined.
From his very youth he was engaged in commerce and when he left home and went to live in Rotterdam he expanded his business activities and began to take an active part in Zionist affairs.
In 1917 he became a member of the Dutch Zionist Organization and rapidly advanced to the top. For four years (1930-34) he was President of the Organization and edited its weekly from 1930-35. During that period he wrote articles, pamphlets and books.
His book "Anti-Semitism as a Social Phenomenon" which he wrote in Germany in 1923, was published in 1926 and translated into Dutch and Hebrew and made a deep impression on the Dutch Zionists. In this book, Perez Bernstein presented anti-semitism in a new light, as the outcome of social forces, and the conclusion to be drawn from this approach was that the only solution was immigration to Eretz Israel and the establishment of a state based on a Jewish majority.
Perez Bernstein practised what he preached and in 1936 came to Israel and devoted himself to the development of the country and later, of the State. Along with his activities as a publicist (he was editor-in-chief of the daily "Ha-Boker" from 1937-46) and his business activities (he invested his own money and the money of Jews from abroad in construction and development projects in town and village and contributed to the consolidation of the private enterprise sector) he continued his Zionist activities.
In 1937 he was elected a member of the Actions Committee of the General Zionists and in 1941 was chosen to be Chairman of the General Zionists in Eretz Israel. In 1946 he was elected President of the General Zionist Federation and a member of the Jewish Agency Executive in Jerusalem where he headed the department of trade and industry.
He was a member of the Minhelet Ha-Am and later, of the Provisional Government where he was in charge of supplies, in particular, fuel.
Perez Bernstein was a member of the First and succeeding Knessets, was Minister of Trade and Industry in the Provisional Government and from 1935-55. When the Liberal Party was formed in 1961 he became its President and with the formation of GAHAL (the coalition of the General Zionists, Herut and the Liberal Party) he headed the new political bloc.
He died on 21 March 1971.
Rabbi Arye Levin
"...imbued with love for mankind and concern for the downtrodden, father of the oppressed and comfort of the unfortunate, benefactor and compassionate friend of all those to whom fate had been unkind". These lines were penned by Zalman Shazar as a tribute to Rabbi Arye Levin who died in May 1969.
Rabbi Arye Levin was born in 1885 in the small town of Burla near Bialistok in White Russia to an exceedingly poor family. As a youth he wandered from one place of Jewish study to another - his pockets empty, sustaining himself on the Talmud and its commentators. He studied at the Yeshivot (Talmudical Colleges) of Slonim, Slutsk and Wolsztyn but the Russo-Japanese war led him to put into effect his long-dreamed plan of emigration to the Holy Land.
In the winter of 1900, at the age of 19, he reached the port of Jaffa and had the good fortune to be received by Rabbi Abraham Issac Ha-Cohen Kook who remained his close friend ever after.
Shortly after his arrival in Eretz Israel he took up residence in Jerusalem and began to study at the "Torat Hayyim" Yeshiva and in the year 1909 he was ordained as a Rabbi.
In addition to his job as the spiritual counsellor at the Talmud Tora attached to the "Etz Hayyim" Yeshiva, a job he held from 1917 until his last days, he devoted himself to providing marriage guidance, visiting the sick (in spite of the risks involved, he regularly visited the Lepers Hospital in Jerusalem), comforting mourners, performing acts of charity (in spite of his own poverty) and to many other "mitzvot" (good deeds).
Rabbi Levin became famous for his work on behalf of the members of "Ezel" and "Lehi". He also devoted himself to work for Jewish criminals, visiting prisoners on the Sabbath and Festivals - in winter and in summer - praying with the inmates, teaching them about Jewish Law and morals, comforting and encouraging them and carrying messages to their families. He began this work of caring for prisoners back in the days of the British Mandate and carried on after the establishment of the Jewish State until his old age.
Professor Joseph Gedalyah Klausner
In the course of a long, rich life, Joseph Klausner devoted himself to a wide range of projects all of which were marked by his pioneering approach and originality.
Joseph Gedaliah Klausner was born in 1874 in Vilna, Lithuania. From his very youth he combined his scientific research and teaching with his Zionist activities. His outlook was close to that of the Revisionists (although he was never a member of that Party) and to Jewish nationalism. His affinity with the Revisionists was an outcome of his criticism of Herzl's political Zionism. He became even closer to Revisionism after the riots of 1929 which convinced him that the policies of Weitzmann and the socialist members of the Zionist Executive were mistaken. He was of the view that compromise and concessions in the political field would not bring about the desired goal of the Jews to live as a free people in their own land.
Jabotinsky's support of his opposition to the agreement of Weitzmann and the Zionist Executive to accept the British proposal to set up a Jewish Agency with the participation of non-Zionists brought him even nearer to the Revisionists. Nevertheless, Prof. Klausner did not spare that party his criticism particularly where their opposition to the Jewish National Fund and their denigration of the values of Jewish labour in Eretz Israel were concerned. Prof. Klausner's scientific work spanned many fields: philosophy, history, literature, the language and interpretation of the Bible. In addition to the hundreds of articles and dozens of books that he wrote on these subjects and on Zionism and Jewish nationalism (as well as an autobiography "My Road to Revival and Redemption") he edited the journal "Ha-Shiloah" succeeding Ahad Ha-Am, and the journal "Betar'
Prof. Klausner was one of the founders of the Zionist Organization (which prevented him joining the walkout of the Revisionist Party in 1935). He was one of the first faculty members of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he served first as Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature and from 1944 on as Professor of Second Temple History. In continuation of his scientific and publicistic work in connection with the revival and renewal of the Hebrew language that dates back to his days in Odessa, he was first the scientific editor and then the publications editor of the Va'ad Ha-Lashon (the Hebrew Language Council) and finally President of the Hebrew Language Academy. He was also the first editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia from its foundation until the year of his death.
Prof. Klausner died in Jerusalem in October 1958.