Fadenhecht, Yehoshua

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FADENHECHT, YEHOSHUA

FADENHECHT, YEHOSHUA (1846–1910), religious Zionist and a founder of the *Mizrachi movement in Galicia. Born in Berezhany, Galicia, he moved to Kolomea, where he was registrar of births and deaths for the local Jewish community throughout his life. In the early 1880s, he founded one of the first Zionist associations in Galicia, and struggled against extremely Orthodox anti-Zionist circles. One of Herzl's earliest religious supporters, Fadenhecht published suggestions regarding aliyah to Ereẓ Israel in the second issue of the newspaper Die Welt. For many years he contributed articles on current affairs to the Hebrew press in Galicia. After the First Zionist Congress at Basle (1897), he published Yizre'el, intended to be a Hebrew periodical; its sole issue was entirely filled with his own contributions devoted to explaining political Zionism, Herzl's beliefs, and the value of the Zionist Congress – all in the frame of reference of his controversy with ultra-Orthodox opponents.

bibliography:

Ha-Miẓpeh, 7 no. 2 (1910); Ba-Mishor, 5 no. 203 (1944).

[Getzel Kressel]