BAR KOCHBA ASSOCIATION

BAR KOCHBA ASSOCIATION , an organization of Jewish university students in Prague. It was founded in 1893 by students of the Prague German University and subsequently became a focal point of Zionist intellectual activities. Among the members who later played prominent roles in the Zionist movement were Shmuel Hugo *Bergman, Oskar Epstein, Hugo Hermann, Leo *Hermann, Hans Kohn, and Robert *Weltsch. The members of Bar Kochba contributed much to the deepening of Zionist ideology, particularly in the years preceding World War i. They were largely influenced by Martin Buber who, between 1909 and 1911, delivered his Drei Reden über das Judentum before this group. The Zionist outlook of these young men found expression in the weekly Selbstwehr, which they edited for a time, and in Vom Judentum, a collection of essays on the problems of Zionism and Judaism in general (1913). There were small-scale attempts at renewing the activities of Bar Kochba after World War i, including the publication of Juedische Jugendblaetter (jointly with *Blau-Weiss). Its functions were taken over by its sister society, Theodor Herzl, which consisted of Czech-speaking Jewish university students in Prague.

bibliography:

H. Yachil, Devarim al ha-Ẓiyyonut ha-Czekhoslovakit (1967), 8–11; Y. Borman, in: Gesher, 15, no. 2–3 (1969), 243–50; Semestralberichte des Vereins Bar-Kochba in Prag (1910–13); F. Weltsch (ed.), Prague vi-Yrushalayim (1954), 77–121; H. Kohn, Living in a World Revolution (1965), 47–55.

[Oskar K. Rabinowicz]