All the big names

Here, we get a quick biography of 'all the big names', the people who were fundamental in the building of the modern State of Israel.

Berl Katznelson

Although he has a number of streets named after him, Katnelson is not a name too well known in the world of UK youth movements, but his contribution was huge.

He was known as the ideological father of the Israeli Labour movement. It was said that Ben-Gurion never made a decision without consulting Katznelson, and was equally close to Golda Meir, who later became the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

When he died in 1944, his death sent shockwaves across the country, not least because he never got to see the country he so wanted to see live.

Theodore Herzl

He has a town named after him (Herzliya), he has his own mountain and a lovely grave on top of it, so one would assume that this guy did a lot for the Zionist cause.

Herzl got the ball rolling by convening the First Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897. It was from here that people started to raise funds and make plans to make Israel the national home for the Jewish people. Herzl himself travelled the world and met with world leaders, trying to convince them of the idea of a Jewish home in Palestine and to raise their support. All this travelling took its toll, and died in 1904, before seeing the dream become a reality in 1948. In 1949, his remains were brought to Jerusalem to be reburied.

A.D. Gordon

If We go back to 1922, we see the death of a very important figure in the Jewish world.You could argue that few men have done as much as this man in rebuilding Israel, turning it from a wasteland into the beautiful country we see and love today.

This man was known as A.D (not to be confused with the hairdresser from The Salon).His Full name was Aron David Gordon, and he was one of the founders of the Kibbutz movement. He believed that the only way for the Jewish people to flourish in their homeland was if they ‘worked the land’They had to physically go there and toil themselves.He came to Israel at the age of 48, not letting his age stop him from fouding the first Kibbutz, Degania, on the Kinneret sea in 1909.His Belief was that we should concentrate on improving ourselves to change Jewish destiny, not concentrate on abstract political ideologies.In his legacy, the Gordonian movement was set-up to teach children about his ways.

Rab Kook

A rare figure, Rav Kook (whose full name was Avraham Kook) combined his deep religious values with a strong Zionism. Many religious people believed that they should return to Israel only when the Messiah came, but Rav Kook believed that the Jewish people should take control of their own destiny and actively come to Israel. In 1921 he became the first Chief Rabbi of Israel (then Palestine), and when he died in 1935, thousands lined the streets to say goodbye to this respected leader, teacher and humanitarian friend.

Chaim Weizman

Weizman was a fantastic chemist. He worked at the University of Manchester, and during World War One, was one of the scientists who developed mustard gas. He was thus well-regarded by the British establishment, and was key in securing the Balfour declaration, a statement by Arthur Balfour, then the British Foreign Secretary, which “viewed in favour the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine”. It was on the back of this that the quest to make Palestine home began.