Who's On Your Sugar Packet?
A Moment of Indulgence...
As you sit back and enjoy a cup of sweet Israeli coffee with a piece of chocolate that came in every Michloach Manot package gifted from your VBS Community, you will find sugar packets that were imported from the tables of popular Israeli restaurants depicting famous historical figures. Learn more about these important people in Israeli history!
Aaron Aaronsohn
1876-1919
An agronomist, naturalist and statesman. He discovered “emmer,” which is believed to be the mother of wheat. He was a founder of “NILI,” an espionage network that worked for the British in the First World War.
Chaim Arlozorov
1899-1933
A leader of Hapoalim Movement in Israel and a leader of the Histadrut. The director of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency. The circumstances of his murder are still shrouded in fog to this day.
Lord Arthur James Balfour
1848-1930
British thinker and Prime Minister. On November 2, 1917, as Foreign Secretary in the Lloyd George Ministry, he issued the Balfour Declaration which supported a home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
Eliyahu David Badash
1886-1967
Born in Lithuania. Following the first revolution in Russia, he immigrated to England and then the United States. In 1921 he made Aliyah to Israel and established the settlement of Karkur. He was a farmer, a builder, and a public activist who embodied the realization of the Zionist idea.
David Ben Gurion
1886-1973
The first prime minister of Israel. A founder of the Zionist movement and the Zionist Labor Movement. A founder of the worker’s union. An architect of the state of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). On the 5th of Iyar, 1948, he announced the establishment of the state.
Eliezer Ben Yehuda
1858-1922
Amongst the Zionist leaders in Russia, he was the driving force behind the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language. He was renowned as the lexicographer of the first Hebrew dictionary and was the editor of HaZvi, one of the first Hebrew newspapers.
Yitzhak Ben Zvi
1884-1963
He was the Chairman of the National Committee and the second president of the State of Israel. He was a leader of the Po’alei Zion, a Zionist Socialist movement. He was one of the leaders of the movement of leaders and guards. He was a historian who did research on the tribes of Israel and on the Samaritans.
Chaim Nachman Bialik
1873-1934
The greatest poet of Israel at the time of the establishment of the state and was known as the National Poet. He developed the Hebrew language to a level of cultural excellence. His poem on Thunder and Rebuke was the foundation of Jewish self-defense.
Martin Buber
1878-1965
An Austrian,-Jewish, and Israeli philosopher writer, theologian, and Zionist leader. Best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature ten times, and Nobel Peace Prize seven times.
Meir Dizengoff
1861-1936
He was active in the Lovers of Zion Movement. He established the neighborhood of “Ahuzat Beit”, from which Tel Aviv grew. He was the first mayor of Tel Aviv. He founded a variety of different factories, among them a glass factory at Tantura.
Albert Einstein
1879-1955
One of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, he was a recipient of the Nobel Prize for developing the Theory of Relativity and he also developed atomic science. He worked to realize the goals of Zionism with Chaim Weizmann.
Eliyahu Golomb
1893-1945
One of the leaders of the worker movement, Histadrut. One of the organizers of defense forces that began in 1921 and one of the heads of the organization, Haganah.
Aaron David Gordon
1856-1922
A writer and a thinker. One of the great spiritual personalities of the labor movement in Israel. He preached that physical labor was the only way to ascend and the redemption of the soul and existence of man.
Ahad Ha’am (Asher Ginsburg)
1856-1927
He was a Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. He is known as the founder of cultural Zionism. With his secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Israel, he confronted Theodor Herzl. Unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ahad Ha'am strived for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews."
Yehoshua Hankin
1864-1945
He was a member of the first aliyah. Responsible for most of the land purchases of the World Zionist Organization; among them, the Jezreel Valley, Z’vulun Valley, Chula Valley and Paar Valley.
Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl
1860-1904
A visionary writer, journalist, playwright, lawyer and political activist. The father of modern Political Zionism and the founder of the World Zionist Organization. He convened a Zionist congress in Basel and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine in an effort to form the Jewish State. His important books are The State of the Jews and Altneuland.
Naftali Herz Imber
1865-1909
He was a Jewish Hebrew-language poet, most notable for writing "Hatikvah", the poem that became the basis for the Israeli national anthem.
Ze’ev Jabotinsky
1880-1940
Writer, journalist and a founder of a battalion in World War One. He was an organizer of self-defense in the riots of 1920. Established the revisionist movement and Beitar.
Berl Katznelson
1887-1944
He was one of the founders of Labor Zionism, instrumental to the establishment of the modern State of Israel. He founded and edited the newspaper, Dvar and the literary publishing house, “Am Oved”.
Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook
1865-1935
Known as Rav Kook, he was a religious thinker and writer. He was the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. He tried to bring together religious and secular people. He is considered to be one of the fathers of religious Zionism and is known for founding the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva, a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Moshe Montefiore
1784-1885
A wealthy banker who was one of the greatest Jewish philanthropists and the head of British Jewry. He was a high judge in Britain and was close to the royal court. He fought for the rights of Jews in the world. He supported and promoted Jewish settlement in the land of Israel.
Max Nordau
1849-1923
He was an author, a journalist, and a physician. He was co-founder of the Zionist Organization with Theodor Herzl and headed several Zionist Congresses. His writings and articles were translated into multiple languages. He initiated the establishment of the Jewish sports movement.
Yehuda Leib Pinsker
1820-1891
Doctor and journalist. He was one of the heads of the Lovers of Zion movement. In his book, Autoemancipation, he prepares the Jews for self-liberation and life in their own independent state.
Edmond Rothschild
1845-1934
A renown philanthropist, he was the patron of charitable, cultural, and scientific enterprises in the young State of Israel. He funded and founded many new settlements on both sides of the Jordan River. He established wineries in Rishon L’Zion and Zichron Yaakov.
Pinhas Rutenberg
1879-1942
Founder and director of the electric company in Israel. He established the first power plant and the first hydroelectric power plant in Naharim. He twice served as the head of the Jewish National Committee in Israel.
Zvi Hermann Schapira
1840-1898
Rabbi and math professor. He encouraged the establishment of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and came up with the idea to establish Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (JNF) in the World Zionest Congress.
Nahum Sokolow
1859-1936
A writer and a journalist. A pioneer of the new Hebrew journalism. A rousing speaker on the subject of Zionism and nationhood and Zionism. He was the chairman and president of the World Zionist Executive. He worked together with Weizmann to publish the Balfour declaration.
Henrietta Szold
1860-1945
Educator, writer, businesswoman and social entrepreneur. She established the women’s Zionist organization, Hadassah. She established the youth Aliyah movement.
Shaul Tchernichovsky
1875-1943
Father of new Hebrew poetry and a universal poet. He translated many classic literary works into Hebrew. In the first World War, he served as a military doctor and afterwards he also worked as a doctor in Israel.
Yosef Trumpeldor
1880-1920
Served as an officer in the Russian army in the war with Japan and lost his hand. He was an early Zionist activist and organized the Zion Mule Corps to bring Jewish immigrants to Palestine. mule drivers? in the first World War. He died commanding the defense of Tel-Hai.
Menacham Ussishkin
1863-1941
One of the founders of the Lovers of Zion Movement, he was an opponent of the Uganda plan. He was the head of the Zionist Executive from 1921 and the head of Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (JNF) from 1923 and was one of the founders of the Teacher’s Union.
Chaim Weizmann
1874-1952
A highly regarded scientist, the first president of the state of Israel and also the president of the World Zionist Organization beginning in 1920. His scientific knowledge provided aid to the British, which contributed to their support of the Balfour Declaration. He was a founder of “The Brigade”.
Orde Charles Wingate
1903-1944
Served in the British army in Israel. He valued the Bible, was a lover of Israel, and was passionate about Zionism. He established the “Special Night Companies” that fought Arab gangs. His nickname was “The Friend”.
Alexander Zaïd
1886-1938
One of the prominent figures of the Second Aliyah. He was one of the founders of the Jewish Defense Organizations, Bar Giora and Hashomer. In 1926, he moved to Sheik Avrek to guard the lands of the Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael (known as the Jewish National Fund). He was murdered by an Arab assassin.
