Judah Bibas, Forgotten Precursor to Zionism Honored

Rabbi Judah Bibas predated Theodor Herzl and the Zionist movement by decades. In recent years his teachings on Jewish autonomy and self-determination have received the attention lacking for so many years. Hear what a Scottish church minister thought when meeting him in 1839 and his influence on Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai and other forerunners to the creation of the State of Israel.

Learn of the desecration of the Hebron cemetery and how the exact location of the tombstone of Rabbi Bibas was lost for decades until this month when an elderly Hebron native and new aerial photos solved the mystery.

Haim Bibas, mayor of the city of Modiin, at the grave of Rabbi Judah Bibas in Hebron. A distant relative, he was honored with placing a name on the grave which was identified this month. Credit: Noam Arnon, March 25, 2025

A section of the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron. Traditionally names were not engraved. The cemetery was desecrated and Jews were unable to visit until after the Six Day War. Credit: Wiki Commons אורלילי 2012

Bibas Street in Jerusalem. Credit: Ben Bresky, March 2025.

Bibas Street in Jerusalem is home to many history homes and synagogues. Credit: Ben Bresky, March 2025.

NOTES:

• My podcast on the Ohr HaChaim, grandfather of Judah Bibas

• Heralds of Zionism as Theological Revolutionaries - 2021

• President Herzog honors Rabbi Bibas at event - 2022

• Religion, Nationalism and a new Annunciation: Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Aryeh Leon Bibas precursor of Zionism by Yael Weiler Israel (Hebrew)

• Lecture on Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Aryeh Leon Bibas by Esther Azoulay at the 2023 Hebron Conference (Hebrew)

• Restoring the Jews to Their Homeland: Nineteen Centuries in the Quest for Zion by Joseph Adler

• The forgotten vision of Rabbi Bibas - Jerusalem Post 2018

• Rabbi Yehuda Bibas' grave found after decades of searching - March 2025