Goldbloom, Jacob Koppel

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GOLDBLOOM, JACOB KOPPEL

GOLDBLOOM, JACOB KOPPEL (1872–1961), Zionist leader. Born in Kletsk, then Poland, Goldbloom went to London in 1892, joined the Ḥovevei Zion and, after meeting Herzl, began to found Zionist societies in Whitechapel. He introduced the "Ivrit be-Ivrit" method of Hebrew teaching and taught many thousands of youngsters who enrolled in his "Redman's Road Talmud Torah" over the decades. From 1901 onward Goldbloom attended almost every Zionist Congress and was a member of the Zionist General Council. In 1935 he became chairman of the European executive of the Confederation of General Zionists. He served Herzl, Wolffsohn, Otto Warburg, Weizmann, Sokolow, and Nahum Goldmann with loyalty and devotion. Goldbloom was one of the architects of the British Zionist Federation and of its Synagogue Council. He wrote a utopian work in Hebrew entitled Ḥag ha-Bikkurim be-Ereẓ Yisrael bi-Shenat 2016 ("Festival of the First Harvest in Ereẓ Israel in the Year 2016," 1920). In 1963 his remains were buried in Jerusalem.

[Josef Fraenkel]