Yehoshua Barzillai

Yehoshua Barzilai-Eisenstadt was an early Zionist leader and writer. He was one of the founders of the covert B'nei Moshe organization, and a leader of the Hovevei Zion movement.

Biography

Barzillai was born in Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire, to a rabbinical family. In Ottoman Palestine he co-founded the organization B'nei Moshe.
He also served as secretary for Hovevei Zion in Jaffa, traveling extensively across the new settlements in the Land of Israel and becoming a key contact for pioneers' inquiries. From 1894 to 1895, he was the head librarian at Beit Ariela.
He was a co-founder of the Rehavia Gymnasium in Jerusalem, Israel's first modern high school.

Death

During World War I, he relocated to Switzerland, where he died in 1918. Seven years later, his remains were interred on the Mount of Olives.