Motol KehilaLinks
People of Motol
Notable people and families associated with Motol.
The People of Motol
| Chaim Weizmann |
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Chaim
Weizmann ( 1874 – 1952) is probably the most famous of Motol’s sons and
daughters. In fact, many people
refer to Motol as “Motol, the birthplace of Chaim Weizmann.”
Dr. Weizmann did not remain in Motol, however.
When he was still a boy, the family moved to Pinsk.
In later life he lived in Germany and England and then emigrated to
Palestine. By profession Dr.
Weizmann was a
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The Weizmann Family
from Motol
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chemist,
responsible for several important discoveries.
However, he is most well known for his leadership of the Zionist movement
and for his tireless work to establish Israel as a Jewish homeland.
He held the position as the president of the World Zionist Organization
and, when Israel became independent, he served as the first president of the
State of Israel. Dr. Weizmann also
founded and directed the Daniel Sieff Research Institute in Rehovot, Israel.
That institution is now known as the Weizmann Research Institute.
Several books about Dr. Weizmann, including his autobiography Trial
and Error, are listed in the Motol bibliography.
Some of the books describe life in Motol when he lived there.
The Weizmann Archives are located at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot,
Israel.
Chaim Weizmann once came to Chicago for a
Zionist meeting being held at the Stevens (now Conrad Hilton) hotel on Michigan
Blvd. Jacob Bitensky, our Grandpa's best friend, went to the hotel to see
his boyhood friend, Chaim Weitzmann. The guards wouldn't let him in.
He told them, "Go to Chaim Weitzmann and tell him that Yankel Bitensky is
here to see him." Weitzmann came out of the meeting. Bitensky
grabbed him by the arm and told him that all the Moteler landsleit were waiting
to see him at the (old) Moteler shul. Not being able to resist, Chaim
Weitzman left the Zionist meeting and went to see his Moteler landsleit. (Credit
-The Jewish Sentinel, Chicago)
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Rabbi Saul Lieberman (1898
- 1983).
Born in Motol and emigrated to the US in 1940. He was
ordained at the Slobodka Yeshiva in 1916 and received a Master of Arts degree
from the Hebrew University in 1931. From 1935 to 1940, he was dean of the
Harry Fischel Institute in Jerusalem. A Torah scholar, author
and lecturer, he was president of the American Academy for Jewish Research and
was head of the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary
in New York City. According to The New York Times; 24 March 1983; Section
II, page 10, column 3: "In 1971, Rabbi Lieberman, the seminary's
Distinguished Research Professor of Talmud, became the only non-Israeli
ever to receive the Israel Prize for his writings, particularly "Siphre
Zutta: The Midrash of Lydda," a definitive edition of this Rabbinic
commentary. In 1976, he received the annual $35,000 Harvey Prize of the
Israel Institute of Technology for his research on Palestine in the Greek and
Roman eras and his two books on Jewish life in the Hellenistic period. Another
of his projects was a definitive edition of the Tosefta, a collection of Jewish
oral traditions. He had published 12 volumes of a planned 14 volumes of
the work....Rabbi Lieberman was buried in Jerusalem. There are no known
survivors." Taken from...
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