Israel Zangwill

Israel Zangwill (21 January 1864 – 1 August 1926) was a British author at the forefront of Zionism during the late 19th century, and as such was a close associate of Theodor Herzl. He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the Jewish territorial movement.

Early life and education

Zangwill was born in Whitechapel, London on 21 January 1864, in a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. His father, Moses Zangwill, was from what is now Latvia, and his mother, Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill, was from what is now Poland. He dedicated his life to championing the cause of people he considered oppressed, becoming involved with topics such as Jewish emancipation, Jewish assimilation, territorialism, Zionism, and women's suffrage. His brother was novelist Louis Zangwill.

Zangwill received his early schooling in Plymouth and Bristol. When he was eight years old, his parents moved to Spitalfields, East London and he was enrolled in the Jews' Free School there, a school for Jewish immigrant children. The school offered a strict course of both secular and religious studies while supplying clothing, food, and health care for the scholars; presently one of its four houses is named Zangwill in his honour. At this school he excelled and even taught part-time, eventually becoming a full-fledged teacher.

While teaching, he studied for his degree from the University of London, earning a BA with triple honours in 1884.

Writings

Zangwill published some of his works under the pen-names J. Freeman Bell (for works written in collaboration), and Countess von S. and Marshallik.