Judah Alkalai

Alkalai Judah ( Judah Alkalay, Jehuda ben Schelomo Chai or Haj Alkalai; * 1798 in Sarajevo, † 1878 in Jerusalem) was a long -time rabbi in Zemun and an early forerunner of modern political Zionism.

Life

He grew up in Jerusalem, came as a young man after Zemun and was imbued with the conviction that the Jews should not wait for the Messiah, who will lead them back to Palestine, but become active and make every effort to get there and to settle there.

In 1844 he fought against the decisions of the German Rabbinical Assembly to eradicate the memory and orientation to Zion from the prayers, and also founded the fulfillment of its national idea Palestine colonization clubs.

The traditional concept of teshuvah, he pointed first time around: not as a return to religious observance, but as a return to Eretz Israel and at the same time as the salvation of the Jews and the solution of the Jewish problem in Europe and the Diaspora at all. Tithing should be re-introduced to help the great work of settlement fund, a Jewish Council of Elders as a Jewish Parliament should set up, revived the Hebrew language and a Jewish army to be established.

In this sense, he was a lifelong active in publishing, published a variety of newspaper articles and brochures (eg ladonaj Goral, 1857) and left for campaigning by Western European countries.

In Orthodox circles his ideas and activities great resistance provoked.

Literature / Sources (Selection)

• Salomon Wininger: Great Jewish National Biography. Volume 1, 1925.
• N. M. Gelber, articles Alkalay, Judah. In: Jewish Encyclopedia. Volume 1, Berlin 1927

• Person ( Zionism )
• Rabbi
• Born in 1798
• Died in 1878
• Man