Bar-Ilan (Berlin), Meir

(1880–1949)

   A leader of religious Zionism, Bar- Ilan’s father headed the famous Volozhin Yeshivah in Russia for some forty years. In his youth Meir received a traditional education but also became an enthusiastic Zionist. In 1905 he participated in the Seventh Zionist Congress. In 1910 he settled in Berlin, where he founded the Hebrew weekly Ha-lvri (1910–14). In 1911 he was appointed general secretary of the Mizrachi World Organization.

   After the outbreak of World War I he came to the United States, became president of the US Mizrachi (1916–26) and was on the board of directors of the Jewish National Fund. As an educator, he was president of the Isaac Elhanan Theological Seminary and founded the Mizrachi Teachers’ Seminary in New York. He also resumed publication of Ha-lvri (1916–21). In 1926 Bar-Ilan settled in Jerusalem. He became president of the Mizrachi World Organization, and in 1929 a member of the executive of the Jewish Agency. He also served on the National Council (Va’ad Leumi) and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1948.

   Bar-Ilan initiated the Talmudic Encyclopaedia and founded the Mif’al ha- Torah, which organizes and channels the world-wide funds for the upkeep of yeshivot in Israel. He published several books (Mi-Volozhin an Yerushalayim, 1939–40; Rabban shel Yisrael, 1943). The Bar-Ilan Orthodox University outside Tel Aviv was named after him. There is also the Meir Forest and the moshav Bet-Meir in the Jerusalem hills.