Born into a rabbinical family in Vilna, Shmuel Mohilever was also
a rabbi. Ordained in 1842 at the Volozhin yeshiva, he was offered rabbinical
posts in several communities in the Vilna area. In each place, he became active
in community affairs. An early member of the Hovevei Zion in Russia, he became
one of the founders of Religious
Zionism.
In the 1870s, Mohilever was one of the rabbis who met with leaders
of the maskilim in order to try to bring the two sides together. He
was attracted to the concept and possibilities of settling mass numbers of
Jews in Eretz Yisrael. This desire led to the founding of the Hibbat
Zion.
In 1890, he led a group tour of Eretz Yisrael. In 1893, he
initiated the concept of a "mercaz ruhani" (spiritual center)
which became Mizrachi, the religious Zionist
organization.
A member of the Zionist Organization, failing health prevented him
from attending the First Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897. He died the
following year.
His grandson, Josef Mohilever, followed in his grandfather's footsteps.
Having received a traditional Jewish and Zionist education, he was also active
in Zionist groups and was a government-appointed rabbi. He moved to Palestine
in 1920 and settled in Jerusalem where he was deputy head of the Teacher's
Seminary and then head of the Hebrew High School.
Rabbi Samuel Mohilever had the
proper background for taking stands on community affairs in eastern Europe
in the early 1900s.
On the philosophical side, he worked on cooperating with leaders
of the more modern maskilim movement for the welfare of the Jewish
people as a whole. As pogroms swept through eastern Europe and Russia, he
approached both those who fled to Russia as well as the philanthropists to
try to convince them to encourage Jews to go to Eretz Yisrael. These
activities eventually led to the founding of the Hibbat Zion (love
of Zion) movement, and later to the founding of the Mizrachi
movement which joined the Zionist Organization in 1902. When other religious
leaders withdrew their support of the Hibbat Zion because of their
contact with the maskilim, Mohilever did not join them. He encouraged
Pinsker and Lilienblum who wanted to organize the various local Hovevei
Zion groups into one organization.
On the practical side, he was one of the leaders who influenced Edmond
de Rothschild to help establish early settlements in Eretz Yisrael,
particularly Ekron, which was intended for Jewish farmers from Russia. He
also helped persuade Jews in Bialystok to settle Petach Tikva.
In 1883 he became rabbi of Bialystok, where his members granted him
time to continue his public works. He was honorary president of the 1884 Hovevei
Zion conference, as well as chairman of their conferences in 1887 and
1889. Under his influence, a board of rabbis was chosen to insure that settlement
work in Eretz Yisrael would be carried out in accordance with Jewish
tradition as much as possible. He was one of the rabbinical sources who allowed
Jewish farmers to work their land during the shemitta year. One of the initial
speakers of the founding conference of the Hovevei Zion in Odessa in
1890, he then led a group tour of Eretz Yisrael. Upon his return, he
encouraged financial and physical support for settlement in Eretz Yisrael.
A result of this effort was his initiative to form a spiritual to direct public
relations and general information activities among Hovevei Zion members.
This effort became Mizrachi, the religious
Zionist organization. In recognition of his efforts, an orchard called Gan
Shmuel was planted near Hadera for his 70th birthday.
Mohilever and his colleagues continued their work, especially among
Orthodox Jews, and as a result, Mizrachi became the foundation of the religious
Zionist movement. In 1902, four years after Mohilever's death, Mizrachi
officially joined the Zionist Organization.
His last letter to the Jews of Russia before his death urged them to
work to achieve a deep attachment to the commandment to settle in Eretz Yisrael,
which he termed "the foundation of the existence of our people."