Baruch Ostrovsky

Baruch Ostrovsky was born in 1890 in Rohachiv

Ostrovsky was born in 1890 in Rohachiv in the Russian Empire. He received a traditional Jewish education and was drawn to learning and Zionism from childhood.

In 1912 he moved alone to the Land of Israel, worked with the pioneers of the Second Aliyah and joined HaShomer. He then went to the United States to marry his fiancée, and World War I kept the couple from returning.

In the United States he taught Hebrew, history, Bible and Yiddish. He directed the teachers' seminary and inspected the schools of the Workmen's Circle, and was active in Poale Zion. In 1913 he helped found Ahuza Alef in New York, a group that aimed to buy land for a Hebrew settlement.

In 1930 he settled in Ra'anana with his wife and two children and led its council without pay. He set up a joint labor office, a shared health fund and a fund for the needy, and fought for workers' voting rights. In December 1949 he initiated the town's industrial zone.

He planned Ra'anana's first high school, which was later named after him. He died in 1960 at Beilinson Hospital and was buried in Ra'anana's old cemetery.