Israel Belkind
| Israel Belkind | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1861 Minsk, Russian Empire |
| Died | 1929 (aged 68) Berlin, Weimar Republic |
| Occupation | Educator, writer and historian |
| Known for | Organizing the First Aliyah |
Israel Belkind (Belarusian: Ізраэль Белкінд; 1861–1929) was a Jewish educator, author, writer, historian and founder of the Bilu movement. A pioneer of the First Aliyah, Belkind founded the Biluim, a group of Jewish idealists aspiring to settle in the Land of Israel with the political purpose to redeem Eretz Yisrael and re-establish the Jewish State on it.
Belkind was born in the region surrounding Minsk in Belarus, then part of the Russian empire. He received a Hebrew education from his father, who was a leader in the movement which promoted Hebrew education in Russia. Belkind also attended a Russian gymnasium and initially intended to attend university. However, the wave of anti-semitic attacks and pogroms against Jews in southern Russia on 1881 instead led him to become intensively involved in Zionist activities.
Belkind organized the first organized group of Biluim on 21 January 1882, with the aim of promoting settlement in Ottoman Palestine. To this end, he invited a group of fourteen Jewish ex-university students from Kharkov to his home and together they formed the group which was originally called DAVIO, an acronym for the Hebrew words from Exodus, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they will go forward". Belkind later changed the name to BILU, an acronym for the words from Isaiah (2:5), "Beit Yaakov Lechu V'nelcha," ("House of Jacob, come and we will go"). The group shunned diplomatic or political channels, with their sole goal being to settle in Palestine.
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