Joseph Vitkin

Born in Mogilev, Russian Empire (today Mahilyow, Belarus), Joseph Vitkin immigrated to Palestine in 1897. After working as a schoolteacher in the First Aliyah BILU colony Gedera, he moved to Rishon Lezion to take the position of headmaster at the local Jewish school. Starting in 1904 Vitkin lived and taught for a couple of years in Kefar Tavor in the Galilee, but he remained primarily connected with Rishon Lezion for the remainder of his life. An early member of Ha-Po‘el ha-Tsa‘ir, Vitkin called for renewed emigration from Eastern Europe to Palestine, especially among working youth who could assist in the establishment of autonomous Jewish communities in the region. Central to his call—outlined in his widely read pamphlet published in 1905—were the ideas that Zionist settlements should rely fully on Jewish labor and that territory should be acquired by way of agricultural colonization undertaken by young ḥalutsim (pioneers). Vitkin’s call served as a pithy summary of principles for the labor-oriented Zionists of the Second Aliyah period.