MARGOLIS–KALVARYSKI, HAIM

MARGOLIS–KALVARYSKI, HAIM (1868–1947), pioneer and administrator of Jewish settlement in Ereẓ Israel. Born in the province of Suwalki (then Russian Poland) where his parents were landowners, Margolis-Kalvaryski was active from his youth in the *Ḥibbat Zion movement. After studying agriculture in Montpellier, France, he went in 1895 to Ereẓ Israel and became the secretary of *Benei Moshe in Jaffa. He taught at the *Mikveh Israel Agricultural School and later worked at *Mishmar ha-Yarden on behalf of Baron Edmond de *Rothschild's administration. In 1900 he became administrator of the settlements that the *Jewish Colonization Association (ica) founded in Lower Galilee. Margolis-Kalvaryski established a training farm for the settlers at Sejera and brought over Russian peasant families who had converted to Judaism. Between 1901 and 1905, Margolis-Kalvaryski founded the settlements Sejera (*Ilaniyah), *Yavne'el, *Kefar Tavor, Beit Gan, and *Menaḥemiyyah. In 1906 he was appointed manager of the settlements in Upper Galilee.

In 1913 he and Nahum *Sokolow met Arab leaders in Damascus to try to reach an understanding between them and the Zionist Movement. During World War i he defended the settlers imprisoned and persecuted by the Turks and helped establish collective settlements including *Ayyelet ha-Shahar, *Tel Hai, *Mahanaim, and *Kefar Giladi. In 1920 Margolis-Kalvaryski negotiated with the short-lived Arab government in Damascus and attempted to save the settlements in Upper Galilee from attacks through negotiations with local Arab leaders. He became manager of the ICA setttlements in northern Palestine, a member of the Palestine Government Advisory Council, and a member of the Va'ad Le'ummi (until 1929). Between 1923 and 1927 he was head of the Arab Bureau of the Zionist Executive and between 1929 and 1931 headed the joint bureau for Arab affairs of the *Jewish Agency Executive and the Va'ad Le'ummi.

Margolis-Kalvaryski saw Ereẓ Israel as a common homeland for Jews and Arabs belonging to a Middle East federation. He was a founder of *Berit Shalom and similar groups which sought to reach agreement with the Arabs. In his later years he opposed official Zionist policy, which, in his opinion, was not sufficiently active in this direction. He wrote on Arab-Jewish relations in She'ifoteinu, 2, 3 (1931–33) and in Be'ayot ha-Zeman (1948). The moshav Margaliyyot in Upper Galilee is named after him.

bibliography:

Be'ayot ha-Zeman, no. 27 (1947); A. Ever-Hadani, Ha-Hityashevut ba-Galil ha-Taḥton (1955), 18–162; M. Smilansky, Mishpaḥat ha-Adamah, 3 (1954), 176–84.

[Yehuda Slutsky]