Itzhak Ben-Tzvi Second President of Israel Date of Birth: 24.11.1884 Country: Israel

Biography of Itzhak Ben-Zvi

Itzhak Ben-Zvi, the second President of Israel, was born in Poltava, Ukraine. He received a Jewish education at a heder, a class for children in a synagogue, and later graduated from a Russian gymnasium. In 1905, Itzhak Ben-Zvi enrolled in Kiev University but had to interrupt his studies due to a general strike. In the same year, Ukraine experienced a wave of Jewish pogroms. Itzhak Ben-Zvi joined the ranks of activists in a Jewish youth organization formed in Poltava for self-defense purposes. He also became involved in the Zionist socialist party, Poale Zion, which was founded in Ukraine in 1906. In 1907, Itzhak Ben-Zvi immigrated to Eretz Israel. That same year, he was delegated to the Eighth Zionist Congress held in The Hague, representing the Poale Zion party. In 1907, Itzhak Ben-Zvi participated in the establishment of the military organization Bar-Giora. In 1909, he met Rahel Yanait, a leader of the labor movement, whom he married in 1918. Together, they played a significant role in the formation of the organization Hashomer. In 1909, the Poale Zion party sent Itzhak Ben-Zvi to Turkey, where he established ties with Jewish communities and leaders of the Jewish labor movement. In 1910, Ben-Zvi, along with Rahel Yanait and others, founded the first Hebrew-language socialist publication in Eretz Israel called Achdut (Unity).

When World War I broke out, Itzhak Ben-Zvi, David Ben-Gurion, and other Zionist leaders were deported from Eretz Israel. Ben-Zvi and Ben-Gurion went to New York, where they founded the Hahalutz movement with branches in many American cities in 1915. In 1918, Itzhak Ben-Zvi and Ben-Gurion returned to Palestine as soldiers in the Jewish Legion within the British Army. In 1919, Itzhak Ben-Zvi was elected to the central committee of the Achdut HaAvoda party, and a year later, he joined the secretariat of the Histadrut (the federation of labor in Eretz Israel). When the National Committee, Vaad Leumi, was formed, Itzhak Ben-Zvi became one of its leaders and served as its chairman in 1931, and in 1945, he became its president.

Since 1920, when the Haganah military organization was formed, Itzhak Ben-Zvi actively participated in actions for the self-defense of Jewish settlements. His son, Eli, a member of the kibbutz movement, was killed during the War of Independence in 1948. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Itzhak Ben-Zvi was elected to the Knesset in the first and second sessions (1949-1952) as a representative of the Mapai party. Following the death of Chaim Weizmann, Itzhak Ben-Zvi was elected President of Israel in 1952. In 1957, the Knesset reelected him for a second term as president. In 1962, Itzhak Ben-Zvi was elected president for a third time. He passed away on April 23, 1963.

Itzhak Ben-Zvi headed the Institute for the Study of the History of Eastern Jewish Communities in the Middle East, which he founded in 1948. Later, the institute was renamed the Ben-Zvi Institute. His scholarly work focused on the history of Jewish communities, religious movements, the geography of the land of Israel, traditions, and cultural values of the ancient inhabitants of Eretz Israel.