David Yudelovitz

David Yudelovitz (Yudlovitz, Yudelevich) was born in Iaşi, Romania, where he received a traditional religious education. Yudelovitz emigrated to Palestine in 1882 to join the BILU pioneer group; there he learned to be a blacksmith. He befriended Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, with whom he shared ideas about the revival of the Hebrew language. In 1888, Yudelovitz got a job working in Mordechai Lubman’s school in Rishon le-Tsiyon, where he taught Hebrew language as well as secular subjects in Hebrew. Starting from 1892, Yudelovitz, together with Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and Yehuda Gur, edited ‘Olam katan (Small World), the first Hebrew periodical for children. Yudelovitz initiated the opening of the first Hebrew kindergarten in Rishon le-Tsiyon and wrote Hebrew textbooks. Apart from his educational activity, he worked as a secretary and a bookkeeper. Between 1906 and 1924, Yudelovitz was a representative of the Carmel wineries in Egypt. After his return to Palestine, he continued his public activity and wrote in many of the Hebrew newspapers.