Menachem Ussishkin (Russian: Авраам
Менахем Мендл Усышкин Avraham
Menachem Mendel Ussishkin, Hebrew: מנחם
אוסישקין) (August 14, 1863 – October
2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader
and head of the Jewish National Fund.
Menachem Ussishkin was born in Dubroŭna in
the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire.
In 1889, he graduated as a technical engineer
from Moscow State Technical University, today
known as Bauman Moscow State Technical University.
Ussishkin was among the founders of the BILU
movement and the Moscow branch of the Hovevei
Zion.
He also joined the Bnei Moshe society founded
by Ahad HaAm.
In 1891, he made his first trip to Palestine.He
served as Secretary of the First Zionist Congress.
At the Sixth Zionist Congress he opposed the
Uganda plan.
He was one of the Jewish delegates to the
Paris peace conference after World War I.In
1919, Ussishkin made aliyah to Palestine.
In 1920 he was appointed head of the Zionist
Commission in Palestine.
In his pamphlet "Our Program" he advocated
group settlement based on labour Zionism.
Under his influence, the Zionist movement
actively supported the establishment of agricultural
settlements, educational and cultural institutions,
and Jewish polytechnic - later the Technion.
In 1923 he was elected President of the Jewish
National Fund which he headed until his death.
Ussishkin was behind major land acquisitions
in the Hefer, Jezreel and Beit She'an valleys.
On his 70th birthday, Ussishkin had all the
street signs on his street in the Jerusalem
neighborhood of Rehavia changed from Rechov
Yehuda HaLevy to Rechov Ussishkin, ordering
the new ceramic signs from local Armenian
craftspeople.He died in 1941 in Jerusalem
at the age of 78.
He is buried in Nicanor's Cave at the botanical
gardens of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
on Mount Scopus
