25 Facts About Meir Dizengoff

Meir Dizengoff was born on Shushan Purim, 25 February 1861 in the village of Ekimovtsy near Orhei, Bessarabia.

Meir Dizengoff's father was a follower of the Hasidic master of Sadigura, and his mother was the descendant of a rabbinic dynasty.

Meir Dizengoff left Kishinev in 1888 to study chemical engineering at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In Kishinev Meir Dizengoff met Theodor Herzl and became an ardent follower.

However, Meir Dizengoff strongly opposed the British Uganda Scheme promoted by Herzl at the Sixth Zionist Congress.

Meir Dizengoff became actively involved in land purchases and establishment of Jewish communities, most notably Tel Aviv.

Meir Dizengoff opened the factory in Tantura in 1892, but it proved unsuccessful due to impurities in the sand.

In 1904, Meir Dizengoff helped establish the Geulah company, which bought up land in Palestine from Arabs, and became involved in the import business, especially machinery and automobiles to replace the horse-drawn carriages that had served as the primary transportation from Jaffa port to Jerusalem and other towns.

In 1905, Meir Dizengoff returned to Palestine and settled in Jaffa.

Meir Dizengoff co-founded a boat company that bore his name, and served as the Belgian consul.

When Meir Dizengoff learned that residents were organizing to build a new neighborhood, Tel Aviv, he formed a partnership with the Ahuzat Bayit company and bought land on the outskirts of Jaffa, which was parceled out to the early settlers by lot.

Meir Dizengoff participated in the lottery, which was captured on film by Abraham Suskind.

Meir Dizengoff became head of the town planning in 1911, a position that he held until 1922.

Meir Dizengoff widely circulated and publicized the plight of the exiles, mainly via newspapers, and succeeded in convincing the rulers to agree to a regular supply of food and provisions to the exiles.

In 1917, after having received funding from Nili, Meir Dizengoff refused not only to provide funds to free Nili member Yosef Lishansky, but even funds to provide the succor that Meir Dizengoff provided other prisoners and even anti-Zionists, despite having received the money from Nili.

The poet Hayim Nahman Bialik decided not to move to Jerusalem due to Meir Dizengoff's offer of a house, a job and a street named after him if he moved to Tel Aviv, which he did in 1924.

The artist Reuven Rubin was persuaded by Meir Dizengoff to move to Tel Aviv.

Meir Dizengoff was usually present at the head of the Adloyada, the annual Purim carnival.

In June 1931, Marc Chagall and his family traveled to Tel Aviv, on the invitation of Meir Dizengoff, to help establish a Jewish Museum of Art.

Meir 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.

Meir Dizengoff's dedication began with the words: "Ladies and gentlemen, I can still remember the day when Tel Aviv had no port".

In 1930, after the death of his wife, Meir Dizengoff donated his house to his beloved city of Tel Aviv and requested that it be turned into a museum.

Meir Dizengoff is buried in the Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Meir Dizengoff Square, featuring a sculpture by Yaacov Agam, is named after his wife, Zina.

The Meir Dizengoff prize, awarded since 1937 annually by the municipality of Tel Aviv was named after him.