Zionist Pioneer: A profile-portrait. Hebrew quote from Psalms 126 above: “Hazorim Bedimah Berinah Yiktzoru” [“They who sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy.”]

(ISRAEL, LAND OF)

Late 19th-century

Wood carving.

This striking artwork is a rare legacy from the very dawn of Zionism - most certainly pre-Herzlian. The artist left the piece unsigned, recording just a single Hebrew letter (“Daled”) as an indication of who might have created it. It has been suggested that it was produced in Odessa, the port city in the Ukraine in which the Hovevei Zion movement was central and the ships’ departure point for many Jewish immigrants to Palestine.