Zvi Hirsch Masliansky

Zvi Hirsch Masliansky was born in Slutsk, Russia, today Belarus. He received a traditional Jewish education but was also attracted to Western ideas. Following the pogroms of 1881, he joined the Ḥibat Tsiyon movement and became a spellbinding, impassioned orator on its behalf, touring Jewish communities in Poland and Russia. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1895 after tsarist officials threatened to jail him for his political activities. Settling in New York, he continued to preach Zionism to immigrant audiences, especially in his Friday-evening sermons at the Educational Alliance. A beloved figure in the immigrant community, he was known as ha-matif haleumi (the nationalist preacher).