Yitzhak Tabenkin
Encyclopedia
Yitzhak Tabenkin was a Zionist activist and Israel
i politician. He was one of the founders of the Kibbutz Movement
and the Movement for Greater Israel
.
in the Russian Empire
(now Belarus
) in 1888. He attended a cheder
in Warsaw
and later continued with a secular education. He was among the founders of Poale Zion
in Poland
. He cited Karl Marx
and Haim Nahman Bialik as influences.
In 1912 he immigrated
to Palestine
, where he worked as an agricultural laborer in Merhavia
and Kfar Uria
. During the First World War, he worked on the Kinneret
farm. He was a delegate to every Zionist Congress after the war.
He joined the defense organization HaShomer
. He was a member of the "Non-Party" workers group and was active in agricultural laborers organizations in the West Bank
. In 1921 he joined Joseph Trumpeldor
's Gdud HaAvoda
and became one of the founders of kibbutz Ein Harod
, which later became the center of the Kibbutz Movement
, where he was considered a spiritual leader. He went on a mission on behalf of "Hechalutz" to Poland to encourage Aliyah.
He disapproved of the idea of Jewish statehood and advocated a "bottom up" approach to Jewish socialism. He believed this should be achieved in the "Whole Land of Israel". He regarded the political borders of the Middle East
following the partition of the Ottoman Empire as imposed by European imperialism. He expressed a vision of the entire Jewish people living in communes as part of a "worldwide alliance of communist peoples". He referred to the Great Revolt as an event that perpetuated the Jewish national existence.
He was one of the founders of Ahdut HaAvoda
. In 1930, he became one of the founders of Mapai
and one of its leaders along with David Ben-Gurion
and Berl Katznelson
. He opposed the Peel Commission
's recommendations and any of Ben-Gurion's attempts to reach a compromise with the Revisionist Zionists.
In 1944 he led the "Bet" Faction that split from Mapai and created the new "Ahdut HaAvoda" party. In 1948 he was one of the founders of Mapam
, and was elected to the first Knesset in 1949. In 1954 he resigned from Mapam along with Ahdut HaAvoda over the issue of relationships with the Soviet Union
and remained the leader of Ahdut HaAvoda until the establishment of the Labor Party in 1968. He was reelected to the third Knesset in 1955.
After the Sinai War of 1956, he opposed Israel's withdrawal and compared it to the Munich Agreement
. He said Israel's right to the Sinai Peninsula
and the Gaza Strip
was derived from the Ten Commandments
and the blood of the soldiers killed in the war. During the 1960s, he maintained that the 1949 Armistice Agreements
would not last. In June 1966, he said "Anywhere war will allow, we shall go to restore the country's integrity".
After the Six-Day War
of 1967, he opposed any territorial concession. He considered the addition of over a million Arabs to Israel's population a problem that could be solved by a massive aliyah
. He believed Israel's victory would awaken the Jewish Diaspora
and joined the "Movement for Greater Israel
".
He lived at Ein Harod until his death. Moshav Yitav
(a Hebrew acronym for "Yad Yitzhak Tabenkin") in the Jordan Valley
is named after him.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i politician. He was one of the founders of the Kibbutz Movement
Kibbutz Movement
The Kibbutz Movement is the largest settlement movement for kibbutzim in Israel. It was formed in 1999 by a partial merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi.-United Kibbutz Movement:...
and the Movement for Greater Israel
Movement for Greater Israel
The Movement for Greater Israel was a political organisation in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s which subscribed to an ideology of Greater Israel....
.
Biography
Tabenkin was born in BabruyskBabruysk
Babruysk or Bobruysk is a city in the Mahilyow Voblast of Belarus on the Berezina river. It is a large city in Belarus with a population of approximately 227,000 people . The name Babruysk probably originates from the Belarusian word babyor , many of which used to inhabit the Berezina...
in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
) in 1888. He attended a cheder
Cheder
A Cheder is a traditional elementary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language.-History:...
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and later continued with a secular education. He was among the founders of Poale Zion
Poale Zion
Poale Zion was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish workers circles founded in various cities of the Russian Empire about the turn of the century after the Bund rejected Zionism in 1901.-Formation and early years:Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. He cited Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Haim Nahman Bialik as influences.
In 1912 he immigrated
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, where he worked as an agricultural laborer in Merhavia
Merhavia (moshav)
Merhavia a moshav in northern Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council and in 2006 had a population of 722. Founded in 1911, it was the first modern Jewish settlement in the Jezreel Valley....
and Kfar Uria
Kfar Uria
Kfar Uria is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 445....
. During the First World War, he worked on the Kinneret
Kinneret, Israel
-External links:*...
farm. He was a delegate to every Zionist Congress after the war.
He joined the defense organization HaShomer
Hashomer
Hashomer was a Jewish defense organization in Palestine founded out of Bar-Giora in April 1909. It ceased to operate after the founding of the Haganah in 1920. The purpose of Hashomer was to provide guard services for Jewish settlements in the Yishuv, freeing Jewish communities from dependence...
. He was a member of the "Non-Party" workers group and was active in agricultural laborers organizations in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. In 1921 he joined Joseph Trumpeldor
Joseph Trumpeldor
Joseph Trumpeldor , was an early Zionist activist. He helped organize the Zion Mule Corps and bring Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel. Trumpeldor died defending the settlement of Tel Hai in 1920 and subsequently became a Zionist national hero...
's Gdud HaAvoda
Gdud HaAvoda
G'dud HaʿAvodah VeHaHaganah ʿAl-Shem Yosef Trumpeldor , commonly known as Gdud HaAvoda, was a socialist Zionist work group in Mandate Palestine.The group was established on 8 August 1920, with the three focuses of work, settlement and defence...
and became one of the founders of kibbutz Ein Harod
Ein Harod
Ein Harod was a kibbutz in Israel. It was located in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. It is notable for being built near the battlefield of Ayn Jalut , a battle of huge macro-historical importance where the Mongols were defeated for the first time, in 1260.-History:The kibbutz was founded by...
, which later became the center of the Kibbutz Movement
Kibbutz Movement
The Kibbutz Movement is the largest settlement movement for kibbutzim in Israel. It was formed in 1999 by a partial merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi.-United Kibbutz Movement:...
, where he was considered a spiritual leader. He went on a mission on behalf of "Hechalutz" to Poland to encourage Aliyah.
He disapproved of the idea of Jewish statehood and advocated a "bottom up" approach to Jewish socialism. He believed this should be achieved in the "Whole Land of Israel". He regarded the political borders of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
following the partition of the Ottoman Empire as imposed by European imperialism. He expressed a vision of the entire Jewish people living in communes as part of a "worldwide alliance of communist peoples". He referred to the Great Revolt as an event that perpetuated the Jewish national existence.
He was one of the founders of Ahdut HaAvoda
Ahdut HaAvoda
Ahdut HaAvoda was the name used by a sequence of political parties that existed firstly during Mandate Palestine and later in Israel. Its original version, led by David Ben-Gurion, is one of the main ancestors of the modern-day Israeli Labor Party....
. In 1930, he became one of the founders of Mapai
Mapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...
and one of its leaders along with David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
and Berl Katznelson
Berl Katznelson
Berl Katznelson was one the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism, instrumental to the establishment of the modern State of Israel, and the editor of Davar, the first daily newspaper of the workers' movement.-Biography:...
. He opposed the Peel Commission
Peel Commission
The Peel Commission of 1936-1937, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry set out to propose changes to the British Mandate of Palestine following the outbreak of the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine...
's recommendations and any of Ben-Gurion's attempts to reach a compromise with the Revisionist Zionists.
In 1944 he led the "Bet" Faction that split from Mapai and created the new "Ahdut HaAvoda" party. In 1948 he was one of the founders of Mapam
Mapam
Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented...
, and was elected to the first Knesset in 1949. In 1954 he resigned from Mapam along with Ahdut HaAvoda over the issue of relationships with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and remained the leader of Ahdut HaAvoda until the establishment of the Labor Party in 1968. He was reelected to the third Knesset in 1955.
After the Sinai War of 1956, he opposed Israel's withdrawal and compared it to the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
. He said Israel's right to the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
and the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
was derived from the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
and the blood of the soldiers killed in the war. During the 1960s, he maintained that the 1949 Armistice Agreements
1949 Armistice Agreements
The 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and established armistice lines between Israeli forces and the forces in...
would not last. In June 1966, he said "Anywhere war will allow, we shall go to restore the country's integrity".
After the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
of 1967, he opposed any territorial concession. He considered the addition of over a million Arabs to Israel's population a problem that could be solved by a massive aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...
. He believed Israel's victory would awaken the Jewish Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
and joined the "Movement for Greater Israel
Movement for Greater Israel
The Movement for Greater Israel was a political organisation in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s which subscribed to an ideology of Greater Israel....
".
He lived at Ein Harod until his death. Moshav Yitav
Yitav
Yitav is an Israeli settlement and moshav shitufi in the southern Jordan Valley of the West Bank. Located just north of Jericho and west of the Palestinian village of al-Auja, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council...
(a Hebrew acronym for "Yad Yitzhak Tabenkin") in the Jordan Valley
Jordan Valley (Middle East)
The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. It is 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, where it runs from Lake Tiberias in the north to northern Dead Sea in the south. It runs for an additional 155 kilometer south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba, an area also known as Wadi...
is named after him.
Publications
- The Jewish State and the Way to Achieve It (1944)
- Kibbutz Society (1954)
- There is No Where to Pullback To (1968)
- Lessons of the Six Day War (1970)
- Issues (Four Volumes of Articles) (1967)