Pinsker, Leon (Yehuda Leib) (1821-1891)

Zionist pioneer

His Life

Pinsker was one of the founders of a Russian-language weekly which encouraged Jews to speak Russian and was later a contributor to a weekly which urged Jews to assimilate. When pogroms started in Odessa in 1871, enlightened Jews were distraught. Assimilation activities ceased and Pinsker returned to medicine, becoming prominent in public life. Within a few years, these activities were renewed, but they were brought to a sudden halt in 1881, when another wave of pogroms began in southern Russia.

Government-sponsored anti-Semitism caused Pinsker to make a complete about face. He no longer viewed the Enlightenment and Haskalah movement as the correct course for Russian Jews and no longer believed that humanism would defeat hatred of the Jews.

Pinsker came to agree, instead, with Moses Lilienblum, a leader of the Hibbat Zion movement, that anti-Semitism was rooted in the fact that Jews were foreigners, and that they should emigrate to Eretz Yisrael - the Land of Israel.

A trip to Europe in 1882 enabled Pinsker to visit various capitals to discuss the need for Russian Jewish emigration and led to his book, "Autoemancipation" (1882), an analysis of the roots of anti-Semitism and a call for the establishment of a Jewish home, either in Palestine or elsewhere. The book elicited strong responses among Jews. Pinsker eventually became chairman of the Hovevei Zion and remained in charge of the organization, despite factional infighting, with the backing of Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

Pessimism and official opposition to Jewish immigration marked his final days. Pinsker died in 1891 and in 1934 his remains were moved to Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.

His Accomplishments

Already influenced by Lilienblum and the Hibbat Zion movement, a trip to Europe in 1882 enabled him to sound out leaders in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London. The concept of channeling Russian Jewish emigration to one country was rebuffed in Vienna and Paris, where Jewish leaders favored emigration to the U.S. rather than a Jewish homeland. In London, a Jewish leader who was also a member of parliament agreed with Pinsker that the Jewish question had to receive international recognition.

His book, "Autoemancipation", was published in the aftermath of this trip. Although anonymous, the author's feelings were unmistakable. He argued that Jews could not assimilate in any country, and should therefore establish a homeland where they could live just like other nations. He strongly disagreed with both Jews in the West who favored a Jewish Diaspora, and with the religious approach advocating suffering in silence until the arrival of the Messiah.

He was willing to leave the final decision on the location of a homeland to a national congress, anticipating that the worldwide process of national awakening would benefit the Jewish people. He hoped Western Jewry would help their fellow Jews in founding a homeland.

Hovevei Zion members were enthusiastic about the book. They urged Pinsker not to wait for a decision by Western Jewry, but to proceed immediately to work for a home in Eretz Yisrael. Discussions with movement leaders such as Hermann Schapira, Lilienblum and Max Mandelstamm, helped convince him. He was instrumental in the original founding committee of the local Hibbat Zion movement in Odessa, a group which maintained contacts with other branches and held a founding convention in Kattowitz in November 1884, at which Pinsker was the chairman. There, he stressed the need for Jews to return to working the land, but did not discuss rebirth or independence for fear of alienating Western Jews.

Attempts to establish the Hovevei Zion outside of Russia failed, and Odessa remained the movement's center. Pinsker asked Lilienblum to take charge of the office and its limited activities. Failing health caused him to resign, but disagreements between religious factions and the maskilim led to the decision for Pinsker to remain in charge. Nevertheless, orthodox circles continued to cause him problems, and in 1889 he did not attend the movement's convention in Vilna, lest he once again be persuaded not to resign. At the convention, Avraham Gruenberg, Shmuel Mohilever and Shmuel Fuenn were chosen to lead the movement which remained centered on Odessa.

In 1890, the Hovevei Zion was legalized in Odessa and revived in Russia as Jews began to settle in Eretz Yisrael. Conditions were deteriorating for Jews in Russia, and they were expelled from Moscow in 1891. Pinsker began to hope that his vision would be realized, but the Ottoman authorities prohibited immigration. A movement crisis ensued and Pinsker began to doubt whether Eretz Yisrael would ever become the solution for Jews in distress.

His pessimism led him to investigate other possibilities, such as settling Jews in Argentina. Just before his death, he read Lilienblum an article he had just completed which stated that he feared Eretz Yisrael would never be more than the spiritual center of the Jewish people. The article was never published.

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