Judah Alkalai
Judah Alkalai (also Juda Alkalay , Jehuda ben Schelomo Chai or Haj Alkalai ; born 1798 in Sarajevo ; died 1878 in Jerusalem ) was a rabbi in Semlin for a long time and an early forerunner of modern, political Zionism .
Life
He grew up in Jerusalem, came to Semlin as a young man and was steeped in the conviction that the Jews should not wait for the Messiah who would lead them back to Palestine , but rather take action and make every effort to get there and themselves to settle there.
In 1844 he opposed the resolutions of the German rabbinical assembly to erase the memory and orientation towards Zion from the prayers, and also founded Palestine colonization associations to realize his national idea.
He reinterpreted the traditional term Teschuwa for the first time: not as a return to religious observance, but as a return to Eretz Israel and at the same time as the redemption of the Jews and a solution to the Jewish problem in Europe and the diaspora in general. The tithe was to be reintroduced to help finance the great settlement work, a Jewish council of elders was to be established as a Jewish parliament, the Hebrew language was to be revived and a Jewish army to be built up.
In this sense he was active as a journalist all his life, published a large number of newspaper articles and brochures (e.g. Goral Ladonaj , 1857) and traveled through Western European countries to advertise them.
His ideas and activities aroused great opposition in Orthodox circles.
literature
- Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Volume 1, 1925.
- NM Gelber , Article Alkalay, Juda. In: Jewish Lexicon . Volume 1, Berlin 1927
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alkalai, Judah |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alkalay, Judah; Yehuda ben Schelomo Chai; Alkalai, Haj |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Rabbi, forerunner of modern Zionism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1798 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sarajevo |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1878 |
| Place of death | Jerusalem |