Natan Friedland

Rabbi Natan Friedland (ca.1880)

Nat (h) an Friedland was a rabbi and a member of the H'bat Tsion ( Friends of Zion ) movement - one of the fathers of the movement to settle the land of Israel . He grew up in Tauroggen, Lithuania, in the early 19th century and died in Jerusalem in 1883 . He became one of the most prolific Zionist writers and preachers of the H'bat Tsion movement in the mid-19th century. He was one of several authors and thought leaders of this century who formed the intellectual basis for a new Jewish state. Friedland's collected writings, including his best known - Kos jeschuoth - have been translated from Yiddish into modern Hebrew . All of these publications are in Hebrew with the exception of the article in the Jewish Encyclopedia , which is in English.

Friedland was one of the pioneers of Zionism in the early 19th century, including Judah ben Solomon Alkalai and Zwi Hirsch Kalischer , who saw a messianic message in the return to Zion .

Life

Youth and career

Rabbi Friedland grew up around Rabbi Chaim Volzien and the Vilna Gaon , and his education was steeped in tradition and affection for the Holy Land . He was filled with the conviction that the land had to be bought back. After serving in the synagogues of Lithuania as a traveling preacher , he used his language skills to become the first Zionist preacher and preach in Hebrew. He began writing to spread his ideas and became one of the most prolific Zionist writers of his day. At this point he recognized the need to return to the holy land and to devote all of his time and energy to implementing this idea - half a century before Theodor Herzl . Here he got to know the well-known rabbis Zwi Hirsch Kalischer and Yehudah Alkali. He became Kalischer's assistant and represented the Society for the Settlement of the Land of Israel , organized committees and raised money (the first Zionist fundraiser), gave speeches and took care of publicity for the cause.

Zionism

Friedland wanted political independence for the Land of Israel. In his opinion, partial independence should be achieved under the regime of that time as soon as Jews settled there to purchase land and farm on it, and in the course of time to become completely independent. He visited the kings of France and the Netherlands and asked for help in returning Jews to the country.

For over 30 years he was active in the idea of ​​resettling the Jews to Palestine , but his attempts to set up an organization for this were unsuccessful.

Rabbi Friedland married early. During his studies he moved into the house of his father-in-law, a scholar in Ponivez. In Slant he studied with Rabbi Zondle Slander, a student of Rabbi Chaim von Volezion . There he joined the study group of the Gaon of Vilna. Rabbi Zondle emigrated to Palestine in 1938.

Friedland was interested in the past and present and read German-Jewish newspapers. The Damascus affair - well documented in these newspapers - made a deep impression on him.

Friedland worked out his beliefs in the book Cup of Salvation and Consolation (Cos Yishuah V 'Nehemah). He believed salvation was at hand, but it would be natural, not a miracle. He believed (70 years before the British snatched Palestine from the Turks ) that an international operation would redeem the country from the Turks and place it in the hands of the Jews. The nations would work together to help the Jews return to their land because it would be the only way to escape God's further vengeance , and the world would not find peace until the Jews returned to the land of Israel.

Friedland traveled the world to meet prominent rabbis and gain their support for his views, and then went to Paris and London to try to meet Crémieux and Montefiore . He met Crémieux in Paris, but had no success with him. In London he met Albert Cohen, who is in charge of charitable affairs for the Rothschild family . Here he was successful. He wrote to Kalischer and had him send his manuscript to Cohen with his views on the Land of Israel.

He handed over to Napoleon III. personally a petition to establish Jewish independence in Palestine. Napoleon replied in a letter that due to political considerations with the Turks, an immediate move was impossible, but if the situation changed he would work towards it. Friedland met with the chief rabbis of France and Paris and received letters with recommendations and encouragement. He went to London and met with Moshe Montefiore, who was negative about Friedland's suggestions. But the Chief Rabbi of England, Rabbi Nathan Adler , encouraged him.

Friedland returned from these trips with no substantial results. But soon afterwards, in 1860, the Frankfurt Jewish Community , initiated by Chaim Luria, began a campaign to raise money for Zion. The campaign used Kalischer's booklet Drishat Zion and Friedland's book as a means of communicating their ideas. The Judaist Lehman-Wilzig shows that Friedland's book called for clarification of Kalischer's analysis.

Kalischer and Rabbi Eliahu Gotmacher took over the tasks of Luria's association, which was no longer able to work. Friedland supported Kalischer in the new edition of Kalischer's book and also revised his own, of which only the last section So'lu S'lu Hamesila appeared.

Later years

In 1870, although penniless - there was insufficient money for his family, the family of his brother (who died in Jerusalem), food, clothing and travel - he continued his writing, traveling and campaigning. Despite his very poor living conditions, he published another book. And in 1871 he published the brochure Settlement of the Land of Israel in German. At the end of this pamphlet he emphasizes in an essay that life in the diaspora is completely unsafe because the Jews are subject to the whims of the local rulers.

In 1881, in London, Friedland met Lord Shaftsberry , head of the British Missions Association, and a wife Finn, daughter of a converted Jew and widow of a former council in Jerusalem who wanted to set up a settlement association in Syria . Too old to lead such an expedition himself, he suggested that his son Michael do it. Michael was a rabbi and a slaughterer . He was an expert in kosher slaughter and had authored several books. Michael eventually led an expedition to Syria (Palestine) but was driven out by the Turks and ended up in Cyprus , where his name is on a plaque on the synagogue he founded.

During this time Friedland left the first group of emigrants who wanted to land on the Jaffa coast. He knew there was little chance that the Turks would allow this. But with him on the ship was Karl Peter , an important Zionist leader who obtained permission for him to enter the country. Friedland died shortly afterwards in Jerusalem. He is buried there on the Mount of Olives .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Encyclopedia Judaica , New York 1970, Macmillan. P. 184. OCLC 1726491
2. ↑ Klausner, Israel: Natan Friedland , Ha Umah, V 18 2-7.
3. ^ Klausner, Israel: The Coming of Zion in Rumania (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Zionist Organization, OCLC 651734587
4. ^ Klausner, Israel: Writings of Rabbi Nathan Friedland (Hebrew), Jerusalem, OCLC 745063008
5. ^ Yosef Salmon: Religious Zionism and First Encounters , Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem 2002, p. XIX.
6. ^ Klausner, Israel: On the Road to Zion (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Ruben Mass. OCLC 583447325
7. ↑ Klausner, Israel: Writings of Rabbi Nathan Friedland (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, pp. 1-240, OCLC 745063008
8. ↑ Sam Lehman-Wiltzig: Proto-Zionism and its Proto Herzl: The Philosophy and Efforts of Rabbi Zwi Hirsch Kalischer , Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought V16 No. 1, (Summer 1976), p. 64
9. ↑ Sam N. Lehman-Wilzig: ProtoZionism and Proto-Herzl: The Philosphy and Efforts Of Rabbi Zwi Hirsch Kalischer , Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought V16, No. 1, (Summer 1976), p. 63.
10. ↑ Klausner, Israel: Writings of Rabbi Nathan Friedland (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, pp. 241-418, OCLC 745063008
11. ^ Sternstein, Rabbi Solomon, Personal Communication 1985
12. ^ Feinberg, Minnie Friedland Personal communication