Talk:Yitzhak Ben-Zvi

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The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Natsubee 16:13, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Jacob Israël de Haan assassination

The changes made in the name of NPOV include a very POV statement "a highly controversial figure in the Jewish Yishuv". Also are you aware of any contradictory claims to those made in the book that would support the "allegedly" that you entered? —Preceding unsigned comment added by KosherJava (talk • contribs) 06:45, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I certainly do. In every encyclopedia I have read, it says the order came from "Haganah" commanders. On the basis of one journalist's theory, you cannot state that Ben-Zvi ordered the murder. You can describe it as one hypothesis. This De Haan character was indeed controversial - a person who changed his views every other day, going from fervent Zionist to anti-Zionist, from secular to religious, from married to a Christian woman to a homosexual. These matters are complex (as is history in general), and Wikipedia is frightening in its ability to spread disinformation. Oh, and by the way, I also know of a theory that Ben-Zvi's wife ordered the murder--Gilabrand (talk) 06:55, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Here are few facts on de Haan, to back up the "POV" allegation that he was controversial:

"The name of Jacob Israel de Haan and his fate has somehow become associated with the Neturei Karteh, possibly because the story associated with him is unfavorable to Zionism. De Haas was never a member of the Neturei Karteh. De Haan was a gifted Orthodox Dutch Jewish poet and journalist, and a homosexual. He emigrated to the land of Israel in 1919, where he was at first an ardent Zionist. He defended Ze'ev Jabotinsky when the later was tried by the British for defending Jews during the Arab riots of 1920. Subsequently however, de Haan became an anti-Zionist and a sympathizer of Agudath Yisrael . He agitated against Zionism and sent back anti-Zionist dispatches. He was becoming an embarrassment to the British as well as the Zionists. He was murdered in 1924, very probably by the Haganah for unknown reasons, possibly involving betrayal of Haganah members to the British or possibly because he was about to disclose embezzlement of funds." http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Neturei_Karta.htm--Gilabrand (talk) 07:23, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

please protect this article

the article is being repeatedly vandalized. this - יצחק בן צבי - is the correct hebrew spelling of Ben-Zvi's name. anything else is incorrect. can anyone protect this article and disable its editing by vandals? Pelegisrael (talk) 04:31, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

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Ben-Zvi's letter to the Secretary General of the British Colonial Office in Palestine

For Your Information: I am attaching here a copy of a letter written by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (in a collapsible window) while he served as the President of the Jewish National Council, and which he wrote on 31 December 1931 in Mandatory Palestine. The original document can be seen here (JSTOR 24384308), pp. 3–6.

Letter by Y. Ben-Zvi - Memo of the Jewish National Council

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Memo of the Jewish National Council 31 December 1931 / 21st of lunar month Tevet, 5692 anno mundi To the Secretary General of the Government of Palestine, Jerusalem 8574/7/3 RE: The Government's Publication in 1931 concerning the Spelling Method used in the Transliteration of Personal and Geographic Names: 1) from Arabic into Hebrew and English; 2) from Hebrew into Arabic and English Dear Sir, A short while ago, the Government of Palestine published a booklet entitled, Transliteration from Arabic and Hebrew into English, from Arabic into Hebrew, and from Hebrew into Arabic, with Transliteration list of Personal and Geographical Names for use in Palestine, 1931. This booklet carries an official character, the object of which being to serve as a compulsory instruction manual to government officials "in all official correspondence and documents, and on signboards, street names, etc., for which the Government is responsible." The government obliges its officials to keep the rules laid down in this booklet when writing manually, when making use of typescripts, and when publishing printed matter. By doing so, it imposes these rules upon the inhabitants of the land and determines the outward form of settlement places and of geographical names. Obviously, this step is a responsible step that has important consequences, not only for our time, but for future generations. Most of the Hebrew names of the places are not a dead letter, but they live in the mouths of tens of thousands of residents of Palestine, who are in need of Hebrew. Moreover, millions of Jews around the world recognize and know the names of the places that belong to the country through the Holy Scriptures and ancient Jewish literature, which is diligently studied among all the dispersions of the Jewish Diaspora. Not only that, but millions of Christians who are trained in the Holy Scriptures are accustomed to make use of Hebrew names, according to the usual transcription in their own languages. One of the most important English scholars, Major [C.R.] Conder, has made note in his book Palestine that the names of the towns and villages mentioned in the Bible remain for the most part almost unchanged in the spoken parlance of the country's inhabitants, until this very day. The feeling of reverence that exists in the world for the Land of Israel should also apply to its historical names, preserving their original form without any emasculation and distortion. Unfortunately, our cause has not received the attention that it deserves from the government [as shown] in this booklet. Although the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society submitted, at the time, a list of place names in the Hebrew spelling, the government did, at first, consider its proposals by publishing [the pamphlet], First List of Names in Palestine, but, at this time, it did not pay attention to its proposals, despite all the promises. On the other hand, we are compelled to mention, to our own regret, that all throughout the book there stood-out an unbridled quest and clear leaning towards the Arabicization of these place names. This pursuit goes so far as to further deviate from the original [names], even more than is customary among the Arab residents [themselves], to the extent that the authors [herein ascribed] find it right to advise archaeologists not to trust these lists. This strange tendency towards Arabicization of Hebrew names has, on one level, inflicted a blow to academic and historical truth, while bringing about insulting distortions of Hebrew names [heretofore known] in their original and existing Hebrew forms, such as are found in the Holy Scriptures and in Talmudic literature; distortions which inflict harm unto the Hebrew language in the most grotesque manner. In all this, there is a serious affront to the feelings of the Jewish community in Palestine, and we are certain that the book, when it reaches hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Diaspora, will stir-up within them insult and sorrow. On behalf of the Jewish settlement in Palestine, we express our vigorous protest at the attempt to obfuscate historical truths, as well as over the severe insult levelled at the feelings of the Jewish people. At the same time, we appeal to your honor with this petition, that he might amend the book in such a way that the instructions had therein will be adapted to reflect the historical truth, the needs of the [country's] inhabitants and their conveniences, and the political rights of the Jewish people and their language. As the Jewish National Council attaches great importance to the amendments in the book in question, it found it appropriate to appoint a special committee for this [endeavor], with the participation of a consortium of adept scholars drawn from the representatives of the Palestine Exploration Society, as well as made-up of professors from the Hebrew University (namely, Prof. S. Klein, Mr. Y. Press, Dr. A. J. Brawer, Mr. Y. Ben-Zvi, and Dr. B. Maisler), who went over the list and tried to fix the same errors that were the result of ignorance or a result of distorting the truth from a historical and realistic standpoint. The above-mentioned experts have reached the same conclusion, which we have the honor to present to his excellency in this [work, as follows]: a) Every place that has a historical name in Hebrew, either based on the Scriptures or on later sources (such as external books, the New Testament, the Hellenistic literature, the Mishnah, the Talmud, Midrashic literature, etc.), the name must be set in Hebrew even in cases where the same place has an Arabic name that has no resemblance to the original Hebrew name. Just as they write in Hebrew 'Shechem' rather than Nablus; 'Ḥevron' rather than al-Khalil; 'Yerushalayim' rather than al-Quds, so, too, it is necessary to write [in Hebrew] 'Dor' instead of Ṭanṭūrah; 'Adoraim' instead of Dūra; 'ʻAin Ganim' instead of Jenin; 'Naḥal Sorek' instead of Wadi eṣ-Ṣarār, etc. b) Every place where the Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name, it must be transcribed in Hebrew based on the original Hebrew form, for example: 'Ashkelon' instead of ʿAsqalān; 'Ḥatzerot' instead of ʿAṣirah; 'Tzipori' instead of Ṣaffuriya; 'Bethel' instead of Beitin; 'Kefar Shabtai' instead of Kafr Sabt; 'Beiteir' instead of Battir; 'Anathoth' instead of ʿAnata; 'Beth Dagon' instead of Bayt Dajan, etc. c) Names that do not have a literary source in Hebrew, but where the form of the name is acceptable also in Hebrew; without having to change the letters, but rather change [only] the assigned vowels. [In which cases], they must be punctuated in accordance with the Hebrew punctuation, for example: Instead of Bayt Saḥūr, Beit Saḥūr. Instead of Dayr Ayyūb, Deir Iyoḇ. Instead of Kafr Dan, Kǝfar Dan; ʻArḇei Ḥamdūn instead of ʻArab al-Ḥamdūn; ʻEin Ghazal instead of ʻAyin Ghazal. d) In English transcription, one should not write ts where there is the Hebrew character tsadi, but rather z. 1. In biblical place names, one must write according to the writing in the English Bible: Zion, rather than Tsyion [sic] (Tsiyon). 2. For place names that are not mentioned in the Scriptures, one should write in place of the Hebrew tsadi, the ż (z with a diacritical mark on top). e) With respect to the names of people, one should write what is the acceptable spelling in English, based on the translation of the Bible and according to tradition. In the place where there is, for example, Abraham, [let that be the spelling], rather than Avraham; Isaac, rather than Yitshâq; Debora, rather than Devora; Jacob, rather than Yaʻaqóv. f) Names in Hebrew that are derived from foreign languages must be written in the transcriptions based on their European origin. For example: Herzl Str., of that name belonging to Dr. Th. Herzl, rather than Hertsel. In addition to this, we are pleased to submit [herein] an addendum containing two lists of all geographical names that are in need of correcting, based on the order of their entry in the aforenamed booklet, Transliteration, published by the Government of Palestine. The first contains a list of corrected names that were determined by a consortium of the aforenamed consultants, after prolonged deliberations. The second contains scientific notes and indices, as well as citations from sources that were processed and prepared by the adept scholar, Dr. B. Maisler. At this opportunity, we express our strong objection to the practical measures implemented by the managerial office of the [country's] railroad, and the postal and telegraph bureau, to replace, in effect, the historical Hebrew names mentioned in the Bible, which the [country's] Jewish inhabitants have made use of till this very day, and which were approved of and preserved intact, at the time, by the Government of Palestine, and, in fact, for about ten years; [having now replaced them] of their Hebrew form to a neutered form, such as: "Naḥal Sorek" unto "Wadi eṣ-Ṣarar", and by deciding in favor of "Nablus" and "an-Naṣira" in place of "Shechem" and "Nazareth." What's more, they have already introduced these changes in the signposts at the stations, at the post office and in the telephone directory. We require the repeal of this transformation order, which is [currently in effect] at the train stations and in the telephone directory, and to restore the Hebrew names, until a final decision can be made in this regard. We await your urgent attention to our demands and to the proposed scientific modifications, in which devoted work has been made by our skilled professionals. Respectfully, Y. Ben-Zvi Jewish National Council Board of Management References

Date of Birth

Shabtai Teveth| (1987) Ben-Gurion. The Burning Ground. 1886-1948. page 51 has Ben-Zvi's date of birth as December 6, 1884. Padres Hana (talk) 15:11, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

@Padres Hana: From an older investigation I did: Nov 24 is in B. Spuler, Rulers and Governments of the World III (1930-1975); Dec 6 is in Who's Who in Israel 1960 and 1962 editions. I believe that there is no contradiction. At the time and place of his birth, the Julian calendar was still in use and Julian Nov 24 1884 was the same as Gregorian Dec 6 1884. Is there a style guideline on which calendar to use? Zero^talk 01:31, 28 January 2021 (UTC)