Yisrael Bak
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Yisrael Bak | |
|---|---|
ישראל ב"ק | |
| Born | 1797 |
| Died | November 1874 (aged 76–77) |
| Occupation | Publisher |
| Years active | 1816–1874 |
| Spouses | Bayla Raisa |
| Children | 6 girls and 1 boy, Nisan Bak |
| Relatives | Israel Dov Frumkin (son-in-law) Shimon and Eliezer Rokach (grandsons) |
Yisrael Bak[1][2][3][4] (Hebrew: ישראל ב"ק) (1797 – November 1874) (also called by the Yiddish surname Drucker, which means "printer"[5]) was a printer, a publisher and public figure in the Old Yishuv in the Land of Israel in the 19th century.[6] He revived Hebrew printing in the Land of Israel after a hiatus of more than two hundred years and established the first Hebrew printing house in Jerusalem.[7][8][9][10]
Bak was born in Berdichev, then part of the recently formed Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire, in 1797. According to one family tradition, the surname Bak is based on an abbreviation of the Hebrew "Baal Koreh" (Hebrew: בעל קורא, lit. 'Reader of the Torah'), a position that the father of the family, Rabbi Avraham Bak, held in the synagogue of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. Another tradition claims that the origin of the name is an abbreviation of "Ben Kedoshim" (Hebrew: בן קדושים, lit. 'Son of martyrs'), as one of the patriarchs of his family was killed for Kiddush Hashem[11]
At the age of 19, he opened a Hebrew printing house, which operated for 9 years.[12] He left Europe in 1831 to avoid the Russian cantonist draft for his son Nissan, and brought a printing press with him when he immigrated to the Land of Israel. He settled in Safed and established a printing house there. Bak was injured during the 1834 looting of Safed and had an enduring limp all his life.[13][14] His prized printing press was badly damaged.[15] He is said to have also practiced medicine, although he did not study it in an orderly manner, so that when the Egyptian governor of the country, Ibrahim Pasha, fell ill, Bak helped him in his recovery.[16]
With the blessing of the governor, in 1834 Bak established a settlement and farm on Mount Jermak (now called Mount Meron[17]). It was the first settlement established by Jewish immigrants in the modern era. Bak entrusted his son Nissan with the management of the farm in Jermak. For several years, the farm was financially successful, and according to the testimony of missionaries from 1839, about 15 people lived in it.
The earthquake in Safed in 1837[18] and government change in the Land of Israel in 1840, following the Egyptian–Ottoman War (1839–1841), in which Ibrahim Pasha was removed, led to the end of the Jewish settlement in Jermak. Remnants of the buildings and plantations can still be found there today, and it is known as Khirbet Bak (Bak's Ruin).[19] The earthquake also destroyed what was left of Bak's printing house in Safed.
