Yesud Ha’Ma’alah [on his experiences as a founding settler in Mazkeret Batyah (Ekron)]

BRILL, JECHIEL

By the author

Mainz

1883

FIRST EDITION. Presentation copy, inscribed on title page to the Beith Medrash Library, London from the Author

Friedberg, Yud 736

A pioneer of Hebrew printing in Eretz Israel, Brill (1836-86) estabilshed Jerusalem’s second Hebrew printing press and in 1863, began printing Ha’levanon, the first Hebrew periodical in Eretz Israel. A staunch defender of religious tradition, Brill also pleaded the cause of settlement outside the Jerusalem walls. He became embroiled in disputes concerning the policy of the agricultural school Mikve Israel, and along with other settlers left the country disillusioned. He settled in London in 1884. On Brill’s contibution to Hebrew printing in Eretz Israel, see M. Waxman, vol. III, pp.343-5