YAVNE'ELI

YAVNE'ELI (Jawnieli, Warshavsky ), SHEMUEL (1884–1961), labor leader in Ereẓ Israel. Born in Kazanka, a village near Kherson, Ukraine, Yavne'eli went to Ereẓ Israel in 1905, worked as an agricultural laborer in Judea, and contributed to the labor periodicals, particularly Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir. In 1911 he was sent to *Yemen at his own request by the Palestine Office of the Zionist Organization to study the Jewish community there and encourage it to migrate to Ereẓ Israel. He undertook two lengthy journeys in Yemen: one from *Aden through Sanʿa to Hodeida, and the other from Aden to *Hadramaut, reaching *Habbān. Yavne'eli rode on mules and donkeys; he was bearded and dressed in Yemenite fashion. The Jews of Yemen and Hadhramaut saw in him a harbinger of the imminent redemption of the people and the land of Israel through aliyah and by tilling the ancestral soil. The journey lasted over a year, and subsequently large groups of Yemenite Jews migrated to Ereẓ Israel, reaching it before the outbreak of World War i. The journey is described (with documents) in Yavne'eli's book, Massa le-Teiman ("Journey to Yemen," 1952). He was a member of the executive committee of the *Aḥdut ha-Avodah Party and later a member of the *Mapai central committee. He was also active in the *Histadrut in the cultural and educational spheres, and also in the social insurance system.

His other books include: Bi-Negohot ha-Yamim (collected articles 1951) and Aliyat ha-Yesod (1952). He edited the writings of Berl *Katznelson and published studies in Zionist history: Tekufat Ḥibbat Ẓiyyon (2 vols., 1961²) and Be-Vokrah shel Tenu'ah (1939). Three volumes of his collected works appeared in 1961–62 (bibliography of his writings, vol. 3, 335–56).

bibliography:

Z. Shazar, Or Ishim (1963²), 203–9; Tidhar, 8 (1957), 3026–27.