Ze'ev Yavetz

Ze'ev Yavetz (Hebrew: זאב יעבץ‎, 26 September 1847 – 24 January 1924) was a writer, historian and teacher.

Biography

Yavetz was born in Kolno in the Russian Empire (today in Poland). In 1887, at the age of 40, he immigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine. He initially worked in a vineyard in the Yehud moshava, before being recruited by Edmond James de Rothschild to be headteacher at a school in Zikhron Ya'akov.^[1]

On Tu Bishvat that year he took his students to plant trees in Zikhron Ya'akov.^[1] This custom was adopted in 1908 by the Jewish Teachers Union and later by the Jewish National Fund.

Yavetz was invited to become a member of the Hebrew Language Committee, and coined several modern Hebrew words, including tarbut (culture) and kvish (road).^[1] However, falling out with Rothschild he left Palestine, he moved to Vilna. Whilst there he was a founder of the Mizrachi movement in 1902, and became editor of its periodical "HaMizrachi".

In his latter years he moved to England, where he completed his 14-volume history of the Jews Toldot Yisrael.^[1] He died in London in 1924. The moshav of Kfar Yavetz was named after him.

References