LIPPE, KARPEL

LIPPE, KARPEL (1830–1915), early member of Hovevei Zion and the Zionist movement. Born in Stanislav, Galicia, Lippe became a physician in Jassy, Romania. From 1865 he published many articles as well as pamphlets and books on science, defense of the rights of Romanian Jews, apologetics on Judaism, the Jewish religion and its attitude toward Christianity, etc. He also composed poetry, which he would sometimes read at gatherings instead of delivering a speech. When a society to settle in Ereẓ Israel was established in Romania, Lippe became its chairman (1880). From that time he was active in the *Hibbat Zion movement, especially on behalf of the settlements of *Zikhron Ya'akov and *Rosh Pinnah, which were established by Romanian Jews. He was a participant at the conference of Hovevei Zion in Kattowitz (1884). When Theodor *Herzl's Judenstaat appeared, Lippe wrote an article in the Berlin monthly Zion (1896) in which he rejected the idea of a Jewish state. Instead, he counseled the Jews to settle in Ereẓ Israel as Turkish citizens and strive for autonomy similar to that of the Austrian Empire in Galicia. Lippe nonetheless joined the new Zionist movement, was elected to the First Zionist Congress in Basle, and, being its senior delegate, delivered the opening speech. He considered himself one of the three initiators of the Zionist idea, together with Leon *Pinsker and Isaac *Ruelf, and as such he published the book Meine 25-jaehrige Zionistische Agitation (1902). He was elected chairman of the Jassy Conference of Romanian Zionists (1903). In 1911, Lippe returned to Galicia and settled in Przemysl, but with the outbreak of World War i he fled to Vienna, where he died. Among his works are Symptome der Anti-semitischen Geisteskrankheit (1887) and Zwei Vortraegeueber Unsterblichkeit und Spiritismus (1907).

bibliography:

i. Klausner, Hibbat Ziyyon be-Rumanyah (1958), index.

[Israel Klausner]