Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi · Heroes of Israel
2nd President of Israel (1952-63, died in office); co-founder of Hashomer, the Jewish Legion and the Histadrut; historian of the Jewish communities of the East.
24 novembre 1884, Poltava, Empire russe (aujourd'hui Ukraine) — 23 avril 1963, Jérusalem, Israël
Poltava, Jérusalem
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi is recognized among Israeli contributors to Heroes of Israel — 2nd President of Israel (1952-63, died in office); co-founder of Hashomer, the Jewish Legion and the Histadrut; historian of the Jewish communities of the East.
Origins and early life
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was born Yitzhak Shimshelevitz on 24 November 1884 in Poltava, in the Russian Empire, into a family steeped, as Israel's official biography puts it, in Jewish tradition and Zionist fervor — his father, the scholar and writer Zvi Shimshi, gave the family its Hebrew name. At twenty, after the Kishinev pogrom of 1903, he helped found a Jewish self-defense organization. He emigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1907 and became one of the builders of everything: co-founder of the watchmen's order Hashomer, of He-Halutz, of the Jewish Legion alongside David Ben-Gurion, and in 1920 of the Histadrut.
A historian by passion, he devoted his scholarship to the Jewish communities of the East, and the institute that bears his name continues that work.
Later years
In 1952, on the death of Chaim Weizmann, he was elected second President of Israel; twice re-elected, he died in office in Jerusalem on 23 April 1963 — the longest-serving president in the country's history.
Verify and go deeper with these external references.
Source: Jewish Virtual Library ; Israel MFA ; Britannica
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2nd President of Israel (1952-63, died in office); co-founder of Hashomer, the Jewish Legion and the Histadrut; historian of the Jewish communities of the East.
Source: Jewish Virtual Library ; Israel MFA ; Britannica
