David Zakai

David Zakai was born in 1886 in Astrašycki Haradok

David Zakai was born David Zhukovitzky in 1886 in Astrashytski Haradok, in the Russian Empire. His father Yitzhak was a merchant who wrote for Hebrew newspapers. He studied in a cheder and at a yeshiva in Minsk.

As a young man he supported Jewish national revival and the Hebrew language, and he taught Hebrew in schools in the Mogilev and Kherson regions. In 1909 he married Rachel and moved with her to the Land of Israel. There he taught in Gedera and Beer Tuvia and wrote for HaPoel HaTsair.

In 1914 he traveled to Russia with a group of students, and World War I kept him there until 1920. On his return he led the culture committee of Ahdut HaAvoda and served briefly as the first secretary of the Histadrut. On the advice of David Ben-Gurion he changed his surname to Zakai.

He edited Histadrut publications and joined Davar when it was founded in 1925, serving as editorial secretary, night editor and for a time editor. He signed his columns Z. David and was also an amateur astronomer. In 1935 he was a delegate to the 19th Zionist Congress.

In the 1950s he lectured on Kol Israel about Aggadah and Midrash. He won the Sokolov Prize for journalism in 1956. He died in Tel Aviv in 1978.