David Ben-Gurion

Biography of David Ben Gurion
David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973)  was born David Gruen in Plonsk, Poland in 1886. He learned Hebrew in a school run by his father. As a youth, Ben-Gurion led a Zionist youth group, "Ezra."  At the age of 18 he moved to Warsaw, taught in a Jewish school there and joined the  Poalei Tziyon (Workers of Zion) Socialist-Zionist movement.

Ben-Gurion arrived in Palestine in 1906. He helped to found the first agricultural workers' commune in Sejera that was to become kvutzath Degania,  and he helped establish the "Hashomer” (The Watchman) defense organization.
Zionism - David Ben Gurion, First Prime Minister of Israel

When World War I broke out, Ben-Gurion, a Russian national, was considered an enemy alien and  was deported by the Ottoman authorities.  Ben-Gurion traveled  to New York on behalf of the Socialist-Zionist cause. In the US, he met and married Paula Monbesz, a fellow Poalei Zion activist. He returned to Palestine and joined the Jewish Legion, created as a unit of  the British Army on the initiative of Ze'ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky.

You can read more at David Ben-Gurion

BACK TO MENU