Yeḥiel Mikhl Pines

Born in Ruzhany, Russian Empire (today in Belarus), to an affluent and learned family, Yeḥiel Mikhl Pines received a traditional education in heder and yeshiva where he excelled in Talmud. But Pines also turned his attention to the study of languages and natural sciences, topics outside the traditionalist frame. On this basis, he developed an outlook that fused commitment to Jewish Orthodoxy, moderate openness to practical reforms in Jewish social and economic life, and, in time, support for Zionism. In 1878, at the invitation of a foundation established in honor of Sir Moses Montefiore (whose views aligned with those of Pines), Pines traveled to Jerusalem to help establish a system of charity for Palestine’s Orthodox Jewish community that would function on more modern and rational grounds. Pines was thus on the ground when the first wave of settlement linked to the incipient Ḥibat Tsiyon movement arrived; involved in the reestablishment of Petah Tikvah, he supported the BILU settlers too despite his disagreement with their radicalism. He also developed good relations with the pioneering nationalist Hebrew language activist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, taking over editorship of the latter’s newspaper Ha-Tsvi for a time in 1886. Pines eventually came into conflict with other Ḥibat Tsiyon leaders, and his increasing concern for the need to carve out a separate space within Zionism for religious views influenced the emergence of the religious Zionist Mizrachi Party in 1902.