Tschlenow, Yehiel

(1863–1918)

   Russian Zionist leader. Tschlenow, a Moscow physician, was drawn into the Chibbat Zion movement and was elected as a delegate to the Second Zionist Congress in 1898. He was one of the Russian Zionists who opposed HERZL over the Uganda project. Slow spoken, deeply sincere and mild in manner, he was liked and respected by all his colleagues, who accepted him as a conciliator in disputes. In 1910 he was appointed a member of the Zionist Executive, and later vice- president under Otto WARBURG. He was involved in the ‘language war’ over the proposed technical school in Haifa, and in 1912 laid its foundation stone after Hebrew had won the day over German. Immediately after the first Russian revolution at the beginning of 1917, Tschlenow presided over a conference of Russian Zionists convened in Petrograd. Although his health was already poor, he was persuaded to move to London and took part in the final stages of drafting the BALFOUR Declaration. He died in London the following year. In 1961, his remains were re-interred in Tel Aviv.