In the year 1884 the organization The Sons Of Zion (Bnei Ziyon) was founded and was affiliated with the association Lovers of Zion (Chovevei Ziyon). The youngsters established The Herald's Feet ( Raglei Hamevaser) as a branch of the association. One person from Brest named Mintz was among the Biluyim [A Zionist movement whose members immigrated to Israel at the end of the 19th century. This word is an acronym of: House of Ya'akov, Let us go forth! (Isaiah 2:5)].
In the First Aliyah (first wave of immigration) to Israel the following names (of Brest) were prominent: Padua, Feinstein and Pochtsevsky. In the congress of the Lovers of Zion which took place in Odessa in 1890, there were two representatives from Brest. In preparation for the first Zionist congress in 1897, a Zionist organization was established in Brest and two representatives were sent to the congress in Basel [Switzerland]-- Leon Horodishetch and Noah Finkelstein. Mordechai Sheinerman and Benziyon Newmark, who were certified by the Odessa Committee, participated in the Russian Zionist Congress, which took place in Minsk in 1902. In the Zionist Congress of Helsigafors [Helsinki, Finland] of 1909, [Mordechay] Sheinerman and Israel Rakov participated. In the same year, the first Zionist Committee was elected in Brest. It was lead by Leon Horodishetch and after him Dr. Yosef Shershavsky held this post. Among the activists of the Committee was the Zionist preacher Alter Chazan, the father of Ya'akov Chazan the leader of MAPAM [A now defunct, extremely left-wing political party in Israel, the United Workers' Party]. In 1901 a Hebrew club was opened in Brest. The local chapter of Ze'irei Ziyon(Youngsters of Zion ) established the Organization for the Dissemination of the Hebrew Language and Literature.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bund had a big branch in Brest and there were also small branches of Zionists-Socialists and of Po'alei Ziyon(Workers of Zion) . A number of Jews belonged to the local branch of the Social-Revolutionary Party (SR) and to the branch of the Socialist-Polish Party (PPS).
Key Personalities*
Brest produced a number of personalities, among which were the editors of the great daily Heint [Today], Noah Finkelstein and Abraham Goldberg whose brother was the poet Menachem Bareishah (Goldberg). In additional, there the famous writers Dr. A. Eisan, Nechamah Pochtsevsky, Dr. Benjamin Sharshevsky, the poet Anna Margolin and Aryeh Leib Feinstein author of the history of Brest's Jews book A City of Praise. Brest also produced some eminent scientists, the mathematician Dr. Ya'akov Grumer and NY [Yakov Nachum] HaLevy Epstein, professor of Talmud.
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