Isaac Jacob Reines (1839-1915)
Isaac Jacob Reines (1839-1915)
Lithuanian rabbi and one of the founders of the Mizrachi
movement.
I . His Life
Born in Karolin, Belorussia, he studied at yeshivot in Eishistok and
Volozhin before becoming a rabbi in Lithuania. His last post was in
Lida, where he was the rabbi from 1885 until his death.
II. His Accomplishments
A member of the Hibbat Zion movement from its inception, Reines
joined Rabbi Samuel Mohilever in proposing settlement which combined
Torah study with physical labor. He was also one of the first rabbis
to answer Herzl's call to become part of the Zionist movement; as
such, he attended the First Zionist Congress (Basle, 1897). Herzl
recognized the need for rabbis to support his new movement.
While most of his eastern and western European rabbinical colleagues
remained opposed to political Zionism, in 1902 Reines published a
book, "Or Hadash al Tzion" (A New Light on Zion) which countered the
claims of the anti-Zionist rabbis. The same year he organized a
conference of the religious Zionist movement in Vilna, where the
Mizrachi movement was founded. He was recognized as the movement's
leader at its founding convention in Pressburg, Bratislava in 1904.
In 1905, Reines accomplished his own personal dream with the
establishment of a yeshiva in Lida where both secular and religious
subjects were taught. In sharp contrast to the pilpul method which
characterized eastern European Jewish scholarship, Reines's approach
was most unusual for the time.
[Top]
[People]
[ Zionist Century]
[Homepage]
The Pedagogic Center
Director: Dr. Motti Friedman
Web site manager: Esther Carciente, esthers@jajz-ed.org.il.
Updated: 02 12 ,1998