Menachem Ussishkin

Jewish politician

Menachem Ussishkin (Russian: ?????? ??????? ????? ???????Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin, Hebrew: ???? ????????) (August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund.

Menachem Ussishkin was born in Dubrowna in the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire.In 1889, he graduated as a technical engineer from Moscow State Technical University, today known as Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

Ussishkin was among the founders of the BILU movement and the Moscow branch of the Hovevei Zion.He also joined the Bnei Moshe society founded by Ahad HaAm.

In 1891, he made his first trip to Palestine.Ussishkin served as Secretary of the First Zionist Congress.At the Sixth Zionist Congress he opposed the Uganda plan.

He was one of the Jewish delegates to the Paris peace conference after World War I.In 1919, Ussishkin made aliyah to what was in the process of becoming Mandatory Palestine on board the ship Ruslan.

In 1920, he was appointed head of the Zionist Commission in Palestine.In his pamphlet "Our Program", he advocated group settlement based on labour Zionism.

Under his influence, the Zionist movement actively supported the establishment of agricultural settlements, educational and cultural institutions, and Jewish polytechnic - later the Technion.

In 1923, Ussishkin was elected President of the Jewish National Fund which he headed until his death.Ussishkin was behind major land acquisitions in the Hefer, Jezreel and Beit She'an valleys.

On his 70th birthday, the Rehavia neighborhood council decided to change the name of the street in which he lived, Rechov Keren Kayemet Le'Israel (Jewish National Fund) to Rechov Ussishkin, and move Rechov Keren Kayamet Le'Israel to its present location.

Ussishkin died in 1941 in Jerusalem at the age of 78.He is buried in Nicanor's Cave at the botanical gardens of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus.