Hillel Yaffe

Hillel Yaffe (1864-1936, Hebrew: הלל יפה) was a doctor who immigrated to Israel during the First Aliyah. His notable achievements include fighting malaria and participating in the Hovevei Zion movement. The Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera is named after him.

Biography

Early life

Hillel Yaffe was born in 1864 in a small village in the Ukraine. His father was a merchant and a man of means, who provided his son with a traditional Jewish education.

When he grew up, Yaffe was sent to learn in Gymnasia in order to expand his horizons. These studies encouraged him to study medicine and brought him close to the Zionist movement.

When he finished his studies at Gymnasia, he traveled to Geneva, where he began to study medicine. Afterward he specialized in Paris in eye care. He began to publish laboratory work in his field of expertise, and his research was respected in the scientific community. Yaffe's decision to specialize in medicine, especially in eye care, derived from his dream to become a doctor in Israel.

In 1891 Yaffe decided to make Aliyah to Israel. He stopped in Turkey, where he was tested by the Ottoman Empire authorities to receive a license to practice medicine. (Israel was controlled by the Ottoman Empire at that time.) After he passed the test, he embarked on a ship to Israel and arrived in Yafo.

Medical career

When Yaffe arrived in Israel, accompanied by several friends, he began to tour the land. This was his first step in recognizing the land and its inhabitants. Their travels passed through the first moshavot. In Rishon Letzion Yaffe first learned of the problematic relationship between the farmers of the moshavot and the appointed authorities under Baron Rothschild. The extensive power of the appointed authorities caused them to act callously toward the settlers.

In Nes Tziyona Yaffe learned that many members of the moshava were ill. Yaffe did not know how to identify the illness or to reduce their pain. But he found mutual assistance when young women from Yafo and other moshavot came to Nes Tziyona to aid the patients and to help by contributing food supplies.

Rehobot was the next stop on their travels, whereupon they turned to the moshavot of Mazkeret Batya (Ekron) and Gedera. Yaffe found out about Bilu and heard about their activities. Yaffe returned to Rishon Letzion and began looking for work as a doctor. His first work in Israel was as a doctor in Tiberias.

Tiberias presented Yaffe with a new, strange culture. Yaffe, who was raised in a European culture, encountered for the first time a Middle Eastern culture and the Haredi congregation.

Yaffe worked as a doctor in Tiberias for two years (1891-1893), and acquired the reputation as an outstanding doctor and a fine person. However, he did not feel that he was fulfilling his destiny in Tiberias, so when a position for a doctor opened up in Zikhron Ya'akov, Yaffe moved there.

Yaffe reached his destiny that he intended when he immigrated to Israel. He succeeded in Zikhron Ya'akov and was noted especially for his dedicated work for the people of Hadera, who were suffering from malaria. He visited the moshava of Hadera at least twice a week and succeeded to heal some of the men, but the mortality rate was very high. Slowly it became apparent that a fundamental, broad program would be necessary to remove the scourge of malaria from the Jewish settlement, since individual treatment was insufficient.

Yaffe loved the moshava of Zikron Ya'akov, its residents and the view of the sea, but he also discovered the corruption of the appointed officers of the Baron, whose power blinded them. In 1895, two years after he became the doctor of Zikhron Ya'akov, Yaffe received a nomination to become the representative of Hovevei Zion in Israel. This nomination opened a new chapter in Yaffe's life, that of a leader.

Leadership

Yaffe's decision to combine medicine with political activism derived from his realization that in order to fulfill his mission for the Jewish settlement in Israel, it was necessary to form new institutions. This combination would provide the needed force to combat malaria.

Yaffe understood that in order to succeed in eradicating malaria, he needed to combine practical treatment of patients with research, community activism, and politics. When Yaffe accepted this job, he moved to Yafo, which was a central city, and managed to raise money to drain the infested swamp near Hadera. He traveled to Europe to raise money for various purposes such as saving the first Hebrew school, which was on the verge of financial collapse.

Yaffe became a noted authority on malaria, its prevention and its cure. He published many articles and even lectured in Paris in an international conference on malaria in 1900. He worked to improve public health and studied other illnesses which had spread throughout the region, with an emphasis on prevention and minimizing contagious spreading of diseases.

In 1902, an epidemic of cholera spread through Israel. Yaffe was appointed by the Turkish government to combat the epidemic. He decided that people were forbidden to leave their communities, and that it was forbidden to enter or leave the house of a sick person, in order to stop the illness from spreading. The epidemic was stopped.

In 1903 Yaffe participated in a delegation of the Zionist movement to investigate the El-Arish region, a prospective location for a Jewish state suggested by Theodor Herzl at the Zionist Congress. In the same year, representatives of Zikhron Ya'akov gathered and established the "general union" of the "yishuv". Yaffe stood as its head and worked to establish the resources of the communities so that they would not need to rely on external financial support. He even tried to convince the groups who worked in education on the importance of using the Hebrew language.

In 1905, Yaffe abandoned Hovevei Zion and began to work in the Yafo hospital. During his work he became sick with pneumonia and traveled to Europe to heal. In 1907 he returned to Israel and began to run the hospital in Zikhron Ya'akov.

Yaffe's extensive knowledge of the importance of public health and the practical realities of Israel led him to build a widespread system of prevention. He trained crews of medics who could help settlers, and these crews spread throughout the land and improved the level of prevention and treatment in the population.

There was deep enmity between Yaffe and Aaron Aaronsohn] . Aaronsohn thought Yaffe's opinions on the importance of Anopheles were outdated, and when the institute for public health in Jerusalem was founded, Aaronsohn chose Dr. Zev Brin as its head. Yaffe was deeply insulted and complained to national leaders about the injustice, to no avail. Yaffe wrote that Nili people were "cold-bloodeed murderers."Fact|date=February 2008

Ironically, Yaffe was appointed by the Turks to treat Sarah Aaronsohn in the beginning of October 1917 to try to save her after she shot herself when the spies of Nili were apprehended, in order not to fall into enemy hands. Sarah Aaronsohn pleaded with Yaffe to kill her immediately, but she died three days later.

When Israel was freed from Turkish rule in 1917, the influence of the Aaronsohn family and its bad relationship with Yaffe contributed to Yaffe's decision to move in 1919 from Zikhron Ya'akov to Haifa.

In Haifa Yaffe worked as a doctor and published articles on medicine. His articles were published in newspapers outside of Israel, and he was invited to international medical conferences.

Yaffe continued to work until his death in 1936. He was buried, according to his wishes, in Zikhron Ya'akov.

His fight against malaria

Malaria, the widespread deadly disease, was a major hindrance to the advancement of Zionist settlement in Israel. The moshava Hadera, for example, survived only because the war against malaria succeeded.

The lack of knowledge about malaria, its ways of spreading, its causes and the conditions under which it becomes an epidemic, caused a situation of confusion. With time a connection developed between the illness and proximity to swamps. Therefore, the first efforts to eradicate malaria focused on drying the swamps.

This understanding led Yaffe to lead processes intended to dry the swamps. He used many methods, including wide use of eucalyptus trees, on the principle that the large tree would draw much water from the ground. Also, manual efforts were undertaken to dry the swamps. The residents of Hadera and foreign workers from Africa (who arrived after Yaffe requested help from the Baron) began the physically demanding labor of drying the swamps using a wide network of canals, connecting the swamps to Hadera Creek.

Another approach taken by Yaffe was research. Yaffe left for Europe and learned novel theories about malaria. Among these studies was one that suggested that mosquitoes from the genus Anopheles, which were prevalent in swamps, were carriers of the disease.

After Yaffe examined the facts available to him, he was convinced of the correctness of this theory. He began to plead with farmers to hang canopies around the beds, nets around the windows, and to clean every pool of standing water. Likewise, Yaffe convinced Baron Rothschild to send men to kill the mosquitoes. Afterward the incidence of malaria decreased, and efforts to dry the swamps continued with greater force.

Forestation of large areas near Hadera with eucalyptus trees was part of Yaffe's effort to change the environment in order to respond comprehensively to the disease.

The success of the battle against malaria was a significant achievement for Yaffe. He went on to publish about ten scientific articles about malaria.

Personal life

Yaffe married Rivka Glickstein in 1898. She was the sister of Esther Glickstein, who would later marry Hayyim Margaliot Kluwariski. Rivka, who studied with Yaffe's sister in France, captured his heart immediately. She was a companion for all their years of marriage.

The couple had 3 children: Yirmeyahu, Sarah, and Ya'akov. Yirmeyahu served as a captain in the Hebrew Brigade, and after World War I he earned a doctorate in chemistry. Sarah studied agriculture in England and married Yosef Bentwich, who earned the Israel Prize for education in 1962. Ya'akov, who learned medicine and specialized in tropical diseases, lived in Jerusalem as of 2007.

Timeline

* 1864 - He was born in a small village in Ukraine on the Sukkot holiday
* 1889 - He finished studying medicine in Geneva. He traveled to Paris to specialize in healing illnesses of the eyes.
* 1890 - He passed tests for certification as a doctor in Russia.
* 1891 - He traveled to Israel. On the way he passed tests for certification as a doctor in Turkey. He began to work as a private doctor in Haifa.
* 1891-1893 - He worked as a doctor in the Jewish community in Tiberias
* 1893-1895 - He served as doctor of the moshava Zikhron Ya'akov. He managed the infirmary of the moshava, which served the surrounding region.
* 1895-1905 - He was appointed to represent Hovevei Zion in Israel. In the capacity he began to organize the drying of swamps in Hadera.
* 1898 - He married Rivka Glickstein
* 1900 - He lectured in the international malaria conference in Paris
* 1903 - He participated in a conference: "The Israeli Temple" in Zikhron Ya'akov
* 1905 - He left Hovevei Zion and began to work in the hospital in Yaffo. During his work he became ill with pneumonia and traveled to Europe to heal.
* 1907 - He returned to Israel and began to manage the hospital in Zikhron Ya'akov.
* 1907-1919 - He returned to his job as the doctor of Zikhron Ya'akov. He developed the hospital. He taught many people the methods of medicine. He helped fight against malaria throughout Israel. He helped Jews who were chased away from the south toward the end of World War I.
* 1918 - He served as a doctor for "Va'ad HaTzirim", a conference of world Jewry, whose job was to connect between the new British captors and the Jews of Israel and to advance the Zionist Idea.
* 1919-1936 - He worked as a doctor in Haifa. He worked to investigate various diseases typical in Israel.
* 1936 - He died and was buried in Zikhron Ya'akov.
* 1940 - Beit Hillel (moshav) was founded and named after him.
* 1957 - The Hillel Yaffe Medical Center was founded in Hadera.

Further reading

* אברהם יערי, זכרונות ארץ ישראל - כרך ב': פרק ס"ח, רופא בארץ הלל יפה ,1891 - 1893. (Hebrew)

References

* נסים לוי, "פרקים בתולדות הרפואה בארץ ישראל 1948-1799", הוצאת הקיבוץ המאוחד והפקולטה לרפואה ע"ש ברוך רפפורט, הטכניון, חיפה, 1998. (Hebrew)