Edmond James de Rothschild

Origins and early life

Edmond James de Rothschild was born at Boulogne-Billancourt on 19 August 1845, son of James de Rothschild, founder of the French branch of the family, and died in the same town on 2 November 1934.

Work and career

From 1882, when the first settlers arrived from Russia after the pogroms and were failing on land they did not know how to farm, he became the decisive supporter of the Jewish return to the Land of Israel, beginning with the rescue of Rishon LeZion. He financed, supervised and often overbearingly administered some thirty settlements, among them Zichron Yaakov, named for his father, and Rosh Pina; he brought in agronomists, planted the vineyards that still produce Israeli wine, and drained malarial ground.

He visited Palestine five times, in 1887, 1893, 1899, 1914 and 1925. In 1899 he transferred twenty-five thousand hectares and the settlements on them to the Jewish Colonization Association, and in 1924 created the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, independent of the Zionist Organisation, which acquired more than fifty thousand hectares. He spent over fifty million dollars of his own fortune on the enterprise, and in Israel he is known simply as HaNadiv HaYadua, the Known Benefactor.

In April 1954 his remains and those of his wife Adélaïde were brought to Israel and buried at Ramat HaNadiv; David Ben-Gurion spoke the eulogy.