Samuel Mohilever

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Rabbi Samuel Mohilever (1824-1898), also called Shmuel Mohilever, was a pioneer of Religious Zionism and one of the founders of the Hovevei Zion movement.

Mohilever was born in Vilna (now Vilnius) and studied in the Volozhin yeshiva.

After the pogroms following the May Laws, he helped found the Hovevei Zion in Warsaw, and convinced Baron Edmond James de Rothschild to financially support a settlement called Ekron (now Qiryat Ekron).

In 1884, Mohilever was elected to the presidency of Hovevei Zion, with Leon Pinsker serving as chairman.

The kibbutz Gan Shmuel was named after Mohilever.