Yellin, David (1864-1941).

Educator and one of the leaders of the pre-independence yishuv.

I His Life

Born in Jerusalem, David Yellin studied at the Etz Hayim yeshiva and in 1882 became a maverick when he enrolled at the Alliance Israelite Universelle school where he later became a teacher. In 1903, he was one of the organizers and first president of the Teachers Association, and in 1912 became deputy director of the Jerusalem teachers seminary. When the administration insisted that the language of instruction be German, Yellin founded the Hebrew Teachers Seminary and was its principal until his death. A member of the Ottoman parliament (1913), he was also one of the first public figures to join the Zionist movement openly. He attended a Zionist Congress and in 1917, was exiled by the Turks to Damascus. Active in the development of Jerusalem, he served on the Town Council, was a deputy mayor and was also chairman of the Va'ad Leumi (National Council of the Jews of Palestine).

II His Accomplishments

A Jerusalem native, David Yellin took advantage of the city's cultural mix in his search for education. When he left the yeshiva world to attend a secular school, he became the first member of the Ashkenazi community to ignore the boycott imposed by local rabbis against secular education.

An early member of the Zionist Organization, he insisted on the development of the Hebrew language, despite the fact that he was fluent in Arabic, and had a knowledge of other Eastern and Western languages. Yellin was also active in developing Jerusalem and its institutions. He encouraged the founding of new neighborhoods such as Zikhron Moshe, and the construction of public buildings such as the Laemel school and the Teachers' Seminary in Bet HaKerem which now bears his name. He also helped establish the National Library at the Hebrew University where he was a professor of Hebrew poetry. Together with his father-in-law, Yehiel Michael Pines, and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, he formed the Hebrew Language Committee. His legacy includes a number of textbooks on Hebrew grammar and language, as well as translations from Arabic and from European languages, including translating Dickens into Hebrew. He also published Biblical commentary on the books of Job and Isaiah. His unique synthesis of east and west, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, religious and secular, made him the symbol of cultural integration in the pre-State Yishuv.