Forgotten Zionist

"This is a fascinating story of one man's impact on history: S. Y. Jacobi commanded a Jewish self-defence unit in Odessa in 1917 1920, and was Vladimir Jabotinsky s right-hand man for twenty years. He travelled the world fund-raising for ORT, OSE and other Jewish charitable organisations, and helped coordinate the Aliyah Bet illegal emigration of young Jews into British Mandate Palestine in the late 1930s. An astonishing series of achievements, which show the power of individual action and commitment." -- Sir Martin Gilbert, historian; Honorary Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford "This is a fascinating and almost unknown story. The role of Solomon Jacobi in facilitating illegal emigration to Palestine in the late 1930s is very important and new. Congratulations on producing this very important work." -- Professor Antony Polonsky, Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University Interest in the Revisionist Zionist Movement increased after the election of Menachem Begin as Israels prime minister in 1977. The founder of the movement, Vladimir Jabotinsky, is well known, but his assistant, Solomon (Sioma) Jacobi is not. The two exchanged over five hundred letters between 1920 and 1939. Rodney Benjamin, Jacobis son-in-law, and his grandson, David Cebon, have remedied this situation with a biography based on those letters. This work is a welcome introduction to a leader who deserves more recognition. - Jewish Book Council July 2013

Rodney Benjamin (PhD, University of Melbourne) is an experienced and widely published professional historian, and is the son-in-law of Sioma Jacobi. Rodney is the sole author of four scholarly historical books, coedited and has contributed chapters to several other books, and is a frequent author of journal articles. In 1999 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal by the Australian government for his services to the Jewish community (to the Jewish Welfare Society and to the Friends of the Hebrew University), and also for service to the insurance industry as chairman of a number of insurance professional groups and as an adviser to state governments. He was chief executive officer of a major firm of insurance brokers when ill health forced his retirement at which point he commenced an academic career. Rodney was born in Melbourne, Australia, where he lives with his wife Carmel, their children, and their children. David Cebon, like his grandfather Sioma Jacobi, is an engineer. He is a professor of mechanical engineering in the Cambridge University Engineering Department and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. David runs an active research group concerned with issues in transportation and has published several engineering books and many papers in technical journals. He is also Managing Director of Granta Design Ltd., a university spin-out company that specializes in information technology solutions for engineering materials. David lives in Cambridge, UK, with his wife Ericka and three school-aged children, Noa, Zak, and Leo."