PINSKER, LEON.

Following the government-led pogroms in Southern Russia in 1881, Dr. Leon Pinsker (1821-91), a passionate assimilationist, underwent a dramatic change in Weltanschauung: ‘Judaeophobia’ would only disappear once a Jewish national center was established. Thus Pinsker became a leader of the Chibath Zion movement. R. Naphtali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin (the Netzi”v) was the Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin, the foremost Talmudic Academy in 19th-century Russia. Due to his sterling character and radiant personality, the Chibath Zion movement elected the Netzi”v as a "counseling member" of its Executive Committee in 1887, the year this letter was written. Pinsker kept the Netzi”v informed of all major activites, developments and appointments. He respectfully entitles him as "Me'or HaGolah" (the Light of the Exile). The Netzi”v acted as a conduit to Orthodox Jewry for the movement, writing many letters on their behalf. R. Yechiel Michel Pines (1843-1913) was an early exponent of religious Zionism and a leader of the Chovevei Zion movement