Yehuda Bibas

{{Infobox rabbi | name = Yehuda Aryeh Leon Bibas | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = circa 1789 | birth_place = Gibraltar | death_date = April 6, 1852 | death_place = Hebron, Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, Ottoman Syria | buried = Old Jewish Cemetery in Hebron | nationality = | occupation = Rabbi, Physician | organizationposition = Precursor of modern Zionism | predecessor = | successor = | spouse = | children = | parents = | main_work = Various odes, prayers, and sermons | yahrtzeit = 17th of Nisan }}

'''Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Aryeh Leon Bibas''' (or '''Judah Bibas''') ({{langx|he|יהודה אריה ליאון ביבאס}}) ({{circa|1789}} – April 6, 1852) was a Sephardic rabbi, best known as one of the most prominent forerunners of the modern Zionist movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Israel|first=Yael Weiler|title=Religion, Nationalism and a new Annunciation: Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Aryeh Leon Bibas precursor of Zionism [Heb.] דת, לאומיות ובשורה חדשה: הרב ד"ר יהודה אריה ליאון ביבאס מבשר הציונות|url=https://www.academia.edu/8282733|journal=Et Lehanena [Heb.] 2014 עת לחננה, (קובץ מאמרים בעריכת: אסף ידידיה), יד בן-צבי, ירושלים|date=January 2014 |language=en}}</ref> He also served as the Chief Rabbi of Corfu, Greece

== Biography ==

=== Early life === Bibas was born in Gibraltar to Sephardi Jews descended from those who were expelled from Spain and settled in North Africa. His father came from a line of rabbis in Tétouan that immigrated to Gibraltar after a pogrom. One of his maternal ancestors was Chaim ibn Attar.

As a child, Bibas studied in Gibraltar. Following his father's death, he moved to Livorno, Italy, to live with his grandfather. Livorno had a very prestigious and educated Jewish community. Bibas received in Livorno most of his Jewish and secular education, becoming fluent in English, Italian, Spanish and Hebrew. He became a rabbi and trained as a physician while in Italy. He later returned to Gibraltar and established himself as the head of a local yeshiva. His yeshiva was attended by students from England, Italy and North Africa.

In 1810, he came to London, England, where he met with Jewish activist and philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore. Montefiore helped to fund Bibas's activism.

In 1831, Bibas was appointed as the Chief Rabbi of Corfu, Greece.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Halakha of the Day: SEPHARDIC RABBIS: Rabbi Yehuda Bibas (1776-1852)|url = http://rabbibitton.blogspot.co.il/2012/02/sephardic-rabbis-rabbi-yehuda-bivas.html|website = rabbibitton.blogspot.co.il| date=2 February 2012 |access-date = 2015-12-31}}</ref>

=== Zionist activism === In 1839–1840, Bibas visited many Jewish communities, particularly those of Europe. Inspired by the Serbian and Greek revolts against the Ottoman Turks, Bibas began advocating a mass repatriation of Jews to Israel (then part of the Ottoman Empire).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=2017-08-20 |title=Judah Bibas - Proto-Zionist of Hebron |url=https://hebron.org.il/en/judah-bibas-proto-zionist-of-hebron/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=The Jewish Community of Hebron |language=en-US}}</ref> In the same year, he met Judah Alkalai and became Alkalai's mentor. Alkalai went on to become an influential proto-Zionist himself.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mizrachi |first=Murray |date=2019-01-01 |title=A SEPHARDIC COMPONENT TO ZIONISM IN ISRAEL EDUCATION |url=https://www.academia.edu/45183872/A_SEPHARDIC_COMPONENT_TO_ZIONISM_IN_ISRAEL_EDUCATION |journal=Insights from the Sephardic Tradition: An Educational Guide}}</ref>

=== Aliyah and death === In 1852, one year after his wife died, Bibas made aliyah and was welcomed by his students in Jaffa. Later, he moved to Hebron, established a seminary, and built his extensive library.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=1952-10-23|title=Dead Sea Scrolls Believed Looted from Hebron Synagogues|url=https://www.jta.org/1952/10/23/archive/dead-sea-scrolls-believed-looted-from-hebron-synagogues|access-date=2020-07-21|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US}}</ref> He died two months after his arrival and was buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Hebron.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Judah Bibas - Proto-Zionist of Hebron |url=http://en.hebron.org.il/history/716 |access-date=2020-07-21 |website=the Jewish Community of Hebron |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=אבישר |first=עודד |title=ספר חברון |publisher=הוצאת כתר |year=1970 |location=ירושלים |pages=147 |language=Hebrew}}</ref>

== Legacy == The Jewish community of Hebron used to hold a memorial ceremony for Bibas every year on Yom Kippur evening. This tradition ended with the 1929 Hebron massacre that forced nearly all the city's Jews to flee.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=2025-03-11 |title=Mystery Solved: Grave of Yehuda Bibas Identified in Hebron |url=https://hebron.org.il/en/mystery-solved-grave-of-yehuda-bibas-identified-in-hebron/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=The Jewish Community of Hebron |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2022, Israel's President Isaac Herzog commemorated Bibas on the 170th anniversary of his passing in a ceremony at the President's Residence calling him "one of the first forerunners of Zionism... his tremendous historical contribution has not received sufficient recognition."<ref>{{Cite web |title=President Herzog hosts Mimouna event |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-704974 |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en-US |issn=0792-822X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite tweet|user=Isaac_Herzog|number=1518207044574228481|title=חגיגות המימונה הן ההזדמנות של כולנו ללמוד וליישם את המסורת והמורשת היהודית ממזרח וממערב, המורשת אשר האמינה ומאמינה בכוחה של האחדות. החגיגות הן דוגמה נהדרת לשותפות וחיים משותפים, כי הן מאפשרות לנו לא רק לפתוח את הבית אלא גם את הלב.|language=he}}</ref><ref>{{Cite tweet|user=Isaac_Herzog|number=1518207048634318849 |access-date=2022-04-26|language=he|title=שמחנו לקיים היום אירוע מימונה מיוחד וראשון בבית הנשיא לזכר הרב יהודה אריה ליאון ביבאס זצ״ל, מי שהיה ממבשרי הציונות הראשונים. סיפורו של הרב ביבאס הוא גם סיפורה של התשתית היהודית בליבת הציונות המדינית. תרומתו ההיסטורית הכבירה לא זכתה להכרה מספקת, ואנחנו שמחים מאד על התיקון כאן היום}}</ref> In Israel, a street in Jerusalem is named in his memory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=מערכת חיפוש שם רחוב |url=https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/he/city/streetnames/streets/ |access-date=2020-07-21 |website=www.jerusalem.muni.il |language=he}}</ref>

In 1953, Prof. Solomon Zeitlin made the claim that the Dead Sea Scrolls may have come from Bibas's library after having been looted during the 1929 Hebron massacre.<ref name=":0" />

=== Burial location === In March 2025, the grave of Rabbi Yehuda Bibas was finally found after decades of attempts to locate it. It was understood that he had been buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Hebron, and that he was buried specifically in the section known as the "Rabbi's Plot," but little other information was clear.

The Jewish community of Hebron relied on oral traditions for grave locations and, following the 1929 Hebron massacre, much of their communal knowledge was lost. In 1967, there was an effort to identify as many of those buried in the ancient cemetery as possible. However, the specific location of Bibas's grave was not known until interest in him and finding his grave renewed in the years just prior to its discovery, prompting reexamination of existing evidence and further investigation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |date=2025-03-11 |title=Mystery Solved: Grave of Yehuda Bibas Identified in Hebron |url=https://hebron.org.il/en/mystery-solved-grave-of-yehuda-bibas-identified-in-hebron/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=The Jewish Community of Hebron |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Israel National News |first= |date=Mar 11, 2025 |title=Grave of Rabbi Yehuda Bibas located in Hebron |url=https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405201 |access-date=2025-06-10 |website=Israel National News |language=en}}</ref>

== See also == * Theodor Herzl

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1780&endyear=1789 Judah Bibas on jewishhistory.org.il] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215033/http://jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1780&endyear=1789 |date=2016-03-03 }} * [http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-in-the-islamic-world/bibas-judah-SIM_0004290 Bibas, Judah - Brill Reference]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibas, Yehuda}} Category:1789 births Category:1852 deaths Category:Forerunners of Zionism Category:Sephardi rabbis Category:Gibraltarian Sephardi Jews Category:People of Moroccan-Jewish descent Category:Clergy from Corfu Category:19th-century Jewish medical doctors Category:Burials at the old Jewish cemetery, Hebron Category:19th-century rabbis