The primary founder of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) established in 1901 at the Fifth Zionist Congress was Theodor Herzl.
Herzl was a visionary and instrumental in convincing the delegates at the Congress to establish a Fund to purchase land for a Jewish state.
Yet, a similar idea had been floated many years earlier by Rabbi Yehuda Solomon Alkalai.
Born in Bosnia, the Sephardic Rabbi was an early forerunner of Zionism, despite the more popular impression Zionism was an Ashkenazi creation.
Alkalai studied in Jerusalem where he came under the influence of the Kabbalah – Jewish mysticism.
In 1825 he became Rabbi of a town named Zemun, part of the city of Belgrade.
The town was located in the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the border of Ottoman occupied Serbia.
Many Jews fleeing tyranny from the Turks in Serbia fled to Belgrade, influencing Rabbi Alkalai to think the time had come for Jewish nationalism to reassert itself as the homeland for the Jewish people.
Alkalai should not be regarded as the father of modern Zionism.
He believed that the coming of the Messiah would be hastened by the return of the Jews to their ancient land of Israel, removed from violent pogroms and hatred in many countries.
In urging various nations to give the Jews a homeland, he commented:
“Our salvation of Israel will come rapidly from the kings of the earth for our repentance to the house of our mother.”
Damascus Affair
In 1840 the Damascus blood libel greatly upset Alkalai.
The affair was a biased investigation by government officials from France and Egypt in Damascus, accusing the Jews of murdering a Christian monk and his servant to use the blood for Passover matzah.
Christian communities in Damascus supported the accusation.
The Damascus Affair further increased the Rabbi’s call for a return to Zion and in 1843 he published a book “Minhat Yehuda.”
The book called for the adoption of Hebrew as a national language, purchase of land in Palestine, and development of agriculture to form the basis of absorption of new immigrants and encouragement of national unity.
Rabbi Alkalai endeavoured to set up a national organisation similar to the World Zionist Organisation to promote his plan and convince people it was realistic.
Although he managed to established an office in London, the concept largely fell on deaf ears and the venture collapsed.
In 1874 Rabbi Alkalai and his wife decided to settle in Palestine where he established a settlement which sadly failed.
In 1878 he died in Jerusalem and is buried on the Mount of Olives.
In 1949 the moshav Rav Alkalai near Ben Gurion airport was founded by the Mizrachi movement. It is a memorial to the visionary Rabbi whose contribution to modern Zionism is often overlooked.
The moshav was first created by immigrants from Hungary, later joined by olim from Yemen and Libya.
It is interesting to comment that the grandfather of Theodor Herzl was a close friend of Rabbi Alkalai.
Furthermore, the original plan of Rabbi Alkalai for the nature of settlement in Palestine was closely followed by Herzl and adopted in similar vein.
But it took 100 years to materialise.
