Yankev-Meyer Zalkind
Yankev-Meyer Zalkind (1875 - 1937) was a British Orthodox rabbi, an anarcho-communist, a close friend of Rudolf Rocker, and an active anti-militarist.
He was born in Lithuania, and both his merchant father and mother were both descendants of numerous famous rabbis. Zalkind was well versed in Jewish texts, and was a graduate of the Volozhin yeshiva, where he learned with Hayim Nahman Bialik.[1] He also had a broad education and he was knowledgeable in over 20 languages and was able to write about a dozen with ease. He also obtained a doctorate in philosophy.[2]
His early political leanings were as a Zionist, and was active in his attempts to help set up a settlement in Israel, and to that end studied agronomy. However in 1916 he became an opponent of the war and returned to London to campaign as an anti-militarist.[2]
Zalkind became an anti-Zionist and wanted to create an anarchist society in Mandatory Palestine where refugees would be welcomed.[1]
Rabbi Zalkind was also a prolific Yiddish writer and a prominent Torah scholar, who authored a few volumes of commentaries on the Talmud. He believed, that the ethics of the Talmud, if properly understood, is closely related to anarchism.[3]
Notes
- "The Lost World of Yiddish Anarchists". Jewish Currents. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- Fogel, Joshua (29 July 2016). "Yiddish Leksikon: YANKEV-MEYER ZALKIND (J. M. SALKIND)". Yiddish Leksikon. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- Гончарок, Моше (2002). ПЕПЕЛ НАШИХ КОСТРОВ, Очерки Истории Еврейского Анархистского Движения (ИДИШ-АНАРХИЗМ) (in Russian). Jerusalem: Problemen.
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