Mizrachi
Religious Zionist movement founded in Vilna in 1902; forerunner of World Mizrachi and of the National Religious Party
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| Type | Religious Zionist movement and party |
| Founded | 1902, Vilna |
| Founder(s) | Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem (World Mizrachi) |
| Key people | Doron Perez (chair of World Mizrachi) |
| Website | mizrachi.org |
- This page is about the religious Zionist movement as a whole. For its present-day world body see World Mizrachi; for the British branch see Mizrachi of Great Britain and Ireland.
Mizrachi (Mizraḥi) is the Orthodox religious Zionist movement. It was founded in Vilna in 1902 on the initiative of Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines. Its name comes from the Hebrew merkaz ruḥani (spiritual centre), and its slogan was "the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel".[1] Its world body, World Mizrachi, describes itself as "the global Religious Zionist movement" and calls Reines's foundation "the first institutional body of Religious Zionism".[2]
Mizrachi has been part of the organised Zionist movement from the start. Its branches originally belonged to the Zionist Federation in Russia. Between the world wars it won between a third and a fifth of the vote in elections to the Zionist Congress.[1] In 'Israel' it was one of the two parties that formed the National Religious Party in 1956. That party's younger members later pushed for "the Greater Land of Israel" and "Jewish settlement in all areas of the Land of Israel".[3] In 2025 the chair of World Mizrachi, Doron Perez, was chosen as president of the World Zionist Organization for a five-year term.[4][5]
Founding
According to the YIVO Encyclopedia, the founding conference in Vilna in 1902 followed the Fifth Zionist Congress's decision to add cultural activities to its programme, and growing Orthodox opposition to Zionism. Mizrachi adopted Zionist ideology "for the most part by denying its secular and innovative aspects, or by assigning religious interpretations to its basic tenets". It was decided that Mizrachi would not be a separate federation. Its associations would belong to the Zionist Federation in Russia.[1]
In its first year Mizrachi had 11,000 members in 210 branches in Russia. It later spread to Galicia, Hungary and Western Europe. Its support for the Uganda Proposal caused a dispute with Russian Zionists. At its first international conference, in Pressburg (now Bratislava) in 1904, it moved its centre to Frankfurt.[1]
Between the wars
Poland became the movement's main centre in Europe, with 225 associations by 1919. In the early 1920s Mizrachi received about one-third of the vote in elections to the Zionist Congress, between 100,000 and 130,000 votes. In the 1930s this fell to about one-fifth.[1] In Poland, emigration to Palestine was organised mainly by its youth movement, Tse'ire Mizraḥi. Mizrachi also built the Yavneh school network. In Hungary it became the largest Zionist party at the end of the 1930s. After the Second World War it won first place in the 1946 Zionist Congress elections in Romania, before the authorities halted its activities there in 1949.[1]
In 'Israel'
The National Religious Party (NRP, "Mafdal") was founded in 1956 as a union of Mizrahi and HaPoel HaMizrahi. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, after the 1967 war young members pushed the party towards "the Greater Land of Israel", "one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean" and "Jewish settlement in all areas of the Land of Israel". This moved it closer to the right-wing parties than to Mapai, its historic partner. In late 2008 the NRP voted to disband, and in 2009 it ran as Habayit Hayehudi (the Jewish Home).[3]
World Mizrachi today
World Mizrachi is based in Jerusalem and has branches around the world. It says it is "spreading Torat Eretz Yisrael across the world and strengthening the bond between the international Jewish community and the State of Israel", and that it is led by Rabbi Doron Perez.[2] After the 39th World Zionist Congress in 2025, Perez, as chair of World Mizrachi, became president of the World Zionist Organization for a five-year term.[5] The UK branch is Mizrachi of Great Britain and Ireland.
World Bnei Akiva says that Bnei Akiva was established in 1929 "as the youth movement of the Religious Zionist Mizrachi organization".[6]
See also
- World Mizrachi
- Mizrachi of Great Britain and Ireland
- World Bnei Akiva
- World Zionist Organization
- Theodor Herzl
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Asaf Kaniel, Mizraḥi, The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 World Mizrachi, Our Mission, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Israel Democracy Institute, National Religious Party, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ Judah Ari Gross, Center-left and center-right blocs agree to split top WZO, KKL-JNF positions in power-sharing deal, eJewishPhilanthropy, 29 October 2025, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 eJewishPhilanthropy, World Zionist Congress approves left-right power split; no roles offered to Israeli PM's son, 24 November 2025, accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ World Bnei Akiva, Our Name, accessed 23 October 2026.