Online Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel

Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel

The monumental 19-volume Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel was compiled and published by David Tidhar (1897-1970) over the 23 years from 1947 until his death. His varied careers as British policeman, David Tidhar with his Encyclopedia private detective, author, and communal leader made Tidhar ideally suited to compile this Who’s Who of the Jewish community of the Land of Israel (Erets-Yisrael in Hebrew). In addition to original articles about political activists and other of his contemporaries, the first several volumes also contain material about 19th century settlers culled from local histories published in the preceding two decades. In each volume, Tidhar requested submission of biographical information and photographs from relatives of early settlers*, which he used to compile some 6,000 biographies. His work represents the only biographical source for many of those included. Though Tidhar is famously scant in providing sources, his Encyclopedia is itself widely cited, having become the preeminent source in this area. With the dissemination of this online version, Touro College in conjunction with the Tidhar family is proud to make this classic reference work freely available to the public...