DORI (Dostrovsky), YA'AKOV

DORI (Dostrovsky), YA'AKOV (1899–1973), military leader; first Israeli chief of staff. Dori, born in Odessa, Russia, was taken to Ereẓ Israel in 1906. After graduating from the Reali High School in Haifa, he served as a sergeant in the Palestinian Battalion of the Jewish Legion in World War i. When the Legion was disbanded, Dori joined the group of sergeants and soldiers who intended to form the nucleus for a Jewish unit within the Palestine Defense Force. The plan was canceled by the British authorities when this group of soldiers went to the defense of Tel aviv in May 1921 during an attack by Arab rioters. Dori studied engineering in Belgium, and upon his return to Palestine joined the Haganah. From 1931 to 1939 he was Haganah commander of the Haifa district. Enhancing his military knowledge through selfeducation, Dori introduced systematic exercises and training in the Haifa branch of the Haganah, and formulated a plan for the defense of the town. He also participated in the training of commanders in nationwide courses. He was named head of the national command training bureau (Lishkat ha-Hadrakhah) upon its establishment. In September 1939 he became the first chief of staff of the Haganah, a post he held until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 (with an interval during 1945–47 to raise funds in the U.S. for the purchase of arms for the Haganah). With the establishment of Israel, Dori became the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces with the rank of ravalluf (major general), a post he held until the end of the War of Independence. He served as president of the Haifa Technion from 1951 to 1965,contributing to its expansion and development as a center for technological and scientific training in Israel.

bibliography:

Dinur, Haganah, 2 pt. 3 (1964), index; Tidhar, 3 (1958²), 1120–21; 15 (1966), 4802–03; D. Lazar, Rashim be-Yisrael, 1 (1953), 152–8.

[Yehuda Slutsky]