- Judah Alkalai
Judah ben Solomon Chai Alkalai (1798–October 1878) was a
Sephardic rabbi in Semlin and one of pioneers of modernZionism .Alkalai studied in
Jerusalem under different rabbis and came under the influence of theKabbalah . In 1825 he became Rabbi of Semlin. [http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/alkalai_biography.htm]He became noted through his advocacy in favor of the restoration of the Jews to
Palestine . By reason of some of his projects, he may justly be regarded as one of the precursors of the modern Zionists such as byTheodor Herzl .Herzl's paternal grandfather Simon Loeb Herzl, reportedly attended the Alkalai's synagogue Semlin and the two frequently visited. Grandfather Simon Loeb Herzl "had his hands on" one of the first copies of Alkalai's 1857 work prescribing the "return of the Jews to the Holy Land and renewed glory of Jerusalem." Contemporary scholars conclude that Herzl's own implementation of modem Zionism was undoubtedly influenced by that relationship. [http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~peters/oriental.html] Herzl’s grandparents' graves in Semlin can still be visited. [http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=129]
His work, "Goral la-Adonai" (A Lot for the Lord), published at
Vienna , in 1857, is a treatise on the restoration of the Jews, and suggests methods for the betterment of conditions in Palestine.After a somewhat able
homiletic al discussion of the Messianic problem, in which he shows considerable knowledge of the traditional writers, Alkalai suggests the formation of ajoint-stock company , such as a steamship or railroad trust, whose endeavor it should be to induce the "sultan " to cede Palestine to the Jews as a tributary country, on a plan similar to that on which theDanube principalities were governed.To this suggestion are appended the commendations of numerous Jewish scholars of various schools of thought. The problem of the restoration of Palestine was also discussed by Alkalai in "
Shema' Yisrael " (Hear, O Israel), 1861 or 1862, and in "Harbinger of Good Tidings" (compare "Jewish Chronicle ", 1857, p. 1198, where his name is spelled Alkali).In his "Shalom Yerushalayim" (The Peace of
Jerusalem ), 1840, he replies to those who attacked his book, "Darhei No'am" (The Pleasant Paths), which treated of the duty oftithes . Another work, "Minchat Yehudah" (The Offering of Judah), Vienna, 1843, is apanegyric on Montefiore and Crémieux, who had rescued the Jews ofDamascus from ablood libel accusation.See also
*
Arthur Hertzberg
*Damascus affair References
*JewishEncyclopedia
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