Jehuda Haj Alkalaj (1798-1878)

Abstract

Zemunski rabin Jehuda ben Šelomo Haj Alkalaj nepobitno spada među velikane u dugoj istoriji jevrejskog naroda. Nezavisno, a delom i pre Mosesa Hesa, Leo Pinskera, Cvi Kalisera i Samuel Mohilevera, bio je protagonista jevrejskog nacionalnog preporoda. Rav Alkalaj se već sedamdeset godina pre Bazelskog programa, 1897. godine u svojim napisima, rečju i delom, zalaže za obnovu i izgradnju Erec Jisraela. Devedeset godina pre Balfurove deklaracije (1917. godine) on je shvatio potrebu i značaj diplomatske aktivnosti. Njegov praktični duh zagovara osnivanje opšteg jevrejskog fonda "Cedaka klalit" (opšte darivanje) za otkup zemljišta, oko šesdeset godina pre osnivanja Keren Kajemet Lejisrael i drugog fonda za investicije na bazi "Maaser" (desetine) pedeset i dve godine pre osnivanja Keren Hajesoda. Među prvima u novom veku zalaže se za obnovu jevrejske svetovne kulture i za pretvaranje svetog jezika u živi narodni jezik. U svojoj prvoj knjizi "Šema Jisrael" (Čuj, Izraele) 1834. godine, šesdeset i dve godine pre knjige dr Teodora Hercla "Der Judenstaat" (Jevrejska država) izlaže u osnovi istovetnu misao o neophodnoj potrebi i nespornom pravu jevrejskog naroda na život u zemlji praotaca.

Zemun rabbi Jehuda ben Shelomo Haj Alkalaj is one of the greats in the long history of the Jewish people. Independently, and in part before Moses Hes, Leo Pinsker, Zvi Kaliser and Samuel Mohilever, he was the protagonist of the Jewish national revival. For seventy years before the Basel Program, in 1897, Rav Alkalaj advocated the restoration and construction of Erec Yisrael in his inscriptions. Ninety years before the Balfour Declaration (1917), he realized the need and importance of the diplomatic activity. His practical spirit advocates the establishment of a general Jewish fund called Cedaka klalit (general donation) for the purchase of land, about sixty years before the founding of Keren Kajemet Leisrael and another investment fund based on Maaser (tenth) fifty-two years before the founding of Keren Hayesod. He is among the first in the new century who advocate the restoration of Jewish world culture and the conversion of the sacred language into a living vernacular. In his first book, "The Schema Yisrael" (Hear, Israel) in 1834, sixty-two years before Dr. Theodore Herzl's book "Der Judenstaat" (Jewish State), he exposes the same thought about the necessary need and the undisputed right of the Jewish people to live in the land of the ancestors.