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Meir Dizengoff, founder and the first Mayor of Tel Aviv.

Meir Dizengoff (Hebrew: מאיר דיזנגוף, Russian: Меер Янкелевич Дизенгоф, Meyer Yankelevich Dizengof; 1861-1936) was a Jewish Zionist politician, a founder and the first mayor of Tel Aviv in the British Mandate of Palestine.

The inside of Dizengoff's house, now "Independence Hall", where Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence on May 14, 1948

He was born in 1861 in a small village of Yakimovichi, which has since been incorporated into the city of Orgeyev, province of Bessarabia. In 1878, his family moved to Kishinev, where he graduated from highschool and studied at the polytechnic school. In 1882, he volunteered in the Imperial Russian Army, serving in Zhitomir (now in the north-eastern Ukraine) until 1884. There he first met Zina Brener, whom he married years later in early 1890-s. After the military service, Dizengoff stayed for a year in Odessa, where he was drawn to the Narodnik underground organization Narodnaya Volya and arrested in 1885 for participation in illegal underground activities. In Odessa he also joined the Hovevei Zion movement and met there with Leon Pinsker, Echad Ha’am, and others. After the arrest, Dizengoff returned to his parents in Kishinev and founded there a Bessarabian branch of the Hovevei Zion, was chosen as its representative at the 1887 conference. He left Kishinev in 1889 to study in Paris.

During his studies of chemical engineering at the University of Paris, he met Edmond James de Rothschild who sent Dizengoff to Ottoman-ruled Palestine to start a glass factory to make bottles for the "Baron’s Wine". In 1892, Dizengoff established the factory in Tantura but it didn’t work, owing to impurities in the sand, and Dizengoff soon returned to Kishinev. His met Theodor Herzl and he soon became an ardent follower — even though earlier, at the sixth Zionist Council, he had been strongly opposed to Herzl's Uganda plan. The last years prior to his final emigration to Palestine (1897-1905) Dizengoff lived in Odessa.

Because of his Zionist beliefs, he returned to Palestine a second time in 1905. He settled in the ancient city of Yafo at the age of 44, and established the Gulah company, which bought land in Israel from the Arabs. He also became involved in the import business, especially machinery and automobiles. The latter automobiles replaced horse-drawn carriages as the transportation service for visitors arriving at Yafo port, who were traveling to Jerusalem or other towns. He also started, with other partners, a boat company which was named after him. One of his important posts during this period was his appointment as the Belgian consul.

Tel Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Yafo. This photograph is of the auction of the first lots. Coincidentally, the first kibbutz, Degania, was founded the same year

Immediately, when the residents organized themselves to begin the new neighborhood of Tel Aviv, he joined the Ahuzat Bayit company which bought the land outside of Yafo and distributed it, in lots, to the early settlers.

Dizengoff was elected to head the committee in 1911, a position which he held until 1922. When Tel Aviv was granted city status he was elected to be the mayor, and in that position he remained until his death, except for a three year intermission from 1925-1928.

During World War I the Ottomans expelled many people from the city and its surroundings, and Dizengoff was appointed to liaise between the exiled inhabitants and the Ottoman rulers. In this position he dealt with the aid sent to the exiles of Tel Aviv and received the nickname of Reish Galuta. He widely circulated and publicised the plight of the exiles, mainly via the newspapers, and succeeded in convincing the rulers to agree to a regular supply of food and provisions to the exiles.

The outside of Dizengoff's home, now the "Independence Hall"

Many groups and associations in Tel Aviv were started during Dizengoff's stint as mayor. The most important of them was probably the "Orient Fair" committee, which was founded in 1932 and had its first exhibition that year. At first the fair was held in the south of the city, and after its huge success the administration decided to build special buildings specifically for the purposes of the fair, located at the northern end of the city. In 1934 they staged a large international fair, and a second one two years later.

Dizengoff was consequently involved with the development of the city, and encouraged its rapid expansion — carrying out daily inspections, and paying attention to details such as entertaiment. He was always present at the head of the Adloyada, the annual Purim carnival. After his wife's death, he donated his house to the city of Tel Aviv, so that they would use it as an art museum, and he influenced many important artists to donate their work to improve the museum.

Fountain in Dizengoff Square, by Yaacov Agam

In 1936, with the outbreak of the Arab revolt, the Arabs closed the Yafo harbour with the intention of halting the rapid expansion of Jewish settlements in Israel. Nevertheless, Dizengoff, pressured the government to give him permission to open a port in his new city of Tel Aviv, and before his death he managed to dedicate the first pier of Tel Aviv's new port. He opened with the words: "Ladies and gentlemen, I can still remember the day when Tel Aviv had no port". He died on the 7th of Tishrei, 1936.

Dizengoff Center Tower, 2005. Photo by Gal Deren

In his memory, "Meir’s Garden" was opened soon after. A major street is also named after him, "Dizengoff Street" (through it, name lives on in modern Israeli slang, as the verb "to Dizengoff", l’hizdangeff, which has the meaning of "going out on the town", from the urban, cosmopolitan atmosphere of Dizengoff Street). The square in the street's central area was named "Zinah Dizengoff Square" after Meir's wife; nowadays, it is enhanced by the artistic creations and fountains of Yaacov Agam.

His house was converted into "The Museum for the Generations of Tel Aviv". It was here that David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel on May 14th, 1948; presently, the building bears the name "Independence Hall".

• Jewish Virtual Library