Born: July 14, 1785, Philadelphia; Died: May 22, 1851, New York Mordecai Manuel Noah was a Jewish-American diplomat, playwright, journalist, utopian, and activist. He was born on July 14, 1785 in Philadelphia and was of Portuguese Sephardic descent. His grandfather…

Born: 1789, Gibraltar; Died: 1852, Hebron Yehuda Bibas was a Rabbi and Proto-Zionist. He was born in 1789 in Gibraltar to a Sephardic Jewish family. He was descended from Chaim ibn Attar, an esteemed Rabbi in the Moroccan Jewish community…

Born: 1798, Sarajevo; Died: 1878, Jerusalem Yehuda Alkalai was a Rabbi and Proto-Zionist. He was born in 1798 in Sarajevo. He received a traditional Jewish education in Jerusalem where he was significantly influenced in Kabbalah or Jewish Mysticism.  In 1825,…

Born: September 10, 1860, Mstislavl; Died: December 8, 1941, Riga Simon Dubnow was a Russian Jewish writer, historian, and social philosopher. He was born on September 10, 1860 in Mstislavl. He descended from a long line of Jewish Rabbis and…

Born: 1881, Zolotonosha; Died: 1917, Kiev Dov Ber Borochov was a writer, politician, and Marxist Zionist. He was born in 1881 in Zolotonosha. He did not have a traditional Jewish education, instead graduating from a Russian high school, however he…