If Yoram Taharlev had written "The Ballad of Zerach Brent", he might have opened the poem with a description of a night in 1890, then Nam Zerach spent his year as a lone Jew in the Neve Shalom neighborhood on the Jaffa border, whose lands he had bought a short time earlier. Brent, who was 47 at the time and a well-known figure in the Land of Israel, left his wife, Rachel Leah, and their seven children in Jaffa for fear of the robbers in the area - a fear that did come true.
That night, an Arab robber armed with a knife entered his house, but Zerach fought him and managed to take control of him.
Instead of evicting the robber from his home, he told him, "I know you do not want to kill me because I am a Jew, but because you have no money. Please, take money and go home."
He took a decent sum out of his pocket and gave it to the robber, who left.
The next day the robber politely knocked on Zerach's door and begged him: "I did not know you were a British citizen. Do not tell the authorities, they will hang me."
The robber, who thought at night that he was a lone Jew whose blood was allowed, discovered in the morning that Brent was one of the founders of Petah Tikva and a man of means, so he begged him not to turn him over to the Turkish government.
This story, which runs like a folk tale in the Brent family, reveals Tapah from the enigmatic and mysterious character of Brent, who was burned into consciousness thanks to the line in Taharlev and Shalom Hanoch's poem, "The Ballad of Yoel Moshe Salomon."
But Zerach Brent is much more than "Guttman came, and Stampfer came and Zerach Brent," as Arik Einstein sang about the people who were among the founders of Petah Tikva.
He was there, of course, but the journey of life of the one who immigrated to Israel for the first time on November 10, 1871 - and would leave it and return to it no less than 16 times - was intertwined in the construction of Israel in other places, whose name was forgotten, perhaps even Hodder.
One of these places, and perhaps most important of all, is the Neve Shalom neighborhood, a large area in southwest Tel Aviv, on the border of Jaffa, spanning streets one of which is now named after him.
Although wealthy Jews already lived in the nearby Neve Tzedek neighborhood, Neve Shalom, which began to be built by Brent in 1890, was the first Jewish neighborhood to function as a lively and lively place outside Jaffa, about two decades before the famous shells lottery of Ahuzat Beit in 1909. Of Tel Aviv.
The struggle to perpetuate his actions began in the last years of his life, when in 1929, at the age of 87, he wrote a memoir of only 41 pages.
Until then, he had not documented his actions at all, as evidenced by the fact that only two of his photographs are currently available.
The book he wrote was also almost lost in the abysses of time, but was saved by two who have been involved in the commemoration mission in recent years: his five-year-old, Michael (Michael) Burnett (74), whose great-grandfather is the son of Zerach, Elijah;
And the professor of literature of the people of Israel, Yaffa Berlowitz, who taught at Bar-Ilan University for many years and her grandmother is Zerach's younger sister, Dina, who married Yosef Berlowitz and immigrated to Israel with him in 1894, with the help of Zerach, who also helped the two settle in Petah Tikva.
Berlowitz traced Zerach's footsteps in Israel and around the world and is writing his comprehensive biography, while Michael is currently publishing his great-grandfather's memoir.
Tomorrow (Saturday) a special conference will be held at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv on the occasion of Brent's immigration to Israel, where the book will be launched and a new documentary produced by Michael, which tells the story of Zerach, "Zoharah" in his mouth.
"As far as I know, only me and Lipa have a copy of Zorach's original book," says Michael, "I bought mine at eBay from a collector who did not even know what he had in hand."
Berlowitz: "The copy in my possession was received by my father, Yitzhak Berlowitz, from Abraham Burnett, Zerach's son, in 1936. This book, as I understand it, is a struggle for national memory, for how Zerach and his people will be remembered. The memories of Zerach was written at a time when the pioneers of the second, third and fourth aliyahs denied the achievements of the settlers of the old settlement and the first aliyah. He felt erased from the history of this land and he tries, if only in these memories of his, to establish Yad Vashem, a kind of living monument for him and his contemporaries - both the people of the first aliyah and the people of the old settlement, who came out of the walls to build the land and settle there.
"Zerach feels that he is being erased from the history of building the country, which is the most precious thing to him. After all, all his life he travels and comes back to bring money invested in building the country, and he wants to be remembered. So he is very offended, Represents ".
"Struggle for National Memory."
Prof. Yaffa Berlovitz, Photo: From the private album
• • •
As part of the family's effort to preserve Zerach's memory, Michael decided to locate as many of the family members as possible.
"I was born in Tel Aviv on October 15, 1947, exactly 12 years after the day Zerach died," he says.
"My father Avraham, Zerach's great-grandson, is a native of the country. My mother Mara is a Holocaust survivor from the Czech Republic who lost her entire family, to the last of them, and came here at the age of 18.
"I was an only child, and at the age of 10 we moved to London. I knew I had a great great grandfather named Zerach Burnett, but they didn't talk much about him at home. I also knew that there were three streets in the country named after him, in Jerusalem, Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv. "1970, when I was older."
In London, Michael graduated with a degree in engineering, chemistry and business administration, worked at Ford's European affiliate, and then took an independent path, specializing in drinking water desalination, and even patented his invention.
"As part of the company I founded with a partner, we manufactured water desalination machines for industry, the United Nations and third world countries.
In 1983, we sold the company to a large American company, in what was actually an exit, before the concept became commonplace.
I remained CEO of the company for another three years, and then I founded a new company, also in the field of water.
"While I was getting married and having two children. My eldest son Jonathan (37) lives in London, and my youngest daughter Caroline (19) is a student in Prague. Throughout the years I would come regularly to visit my father in Israel. My mother died in 1994, at the age of 74. "My father fell ill in 2014, and I stayed here with him. He passed away after ten months, at the age of 96, and I decided to make aliyah and stay in the country."
When did you start researching family history?
"In 2015, my cousin, singer and cantor Udi Spielman, who lives in Florida and is the son of my father's sister, Ruthie Spielman, 98, asked me to do research in favor of a 'life like this' style party, which they did in Udi's honor. That evening.
"That's how I got infected with the Brent 'bacterium' and started researching and finding more and more branches of the family. While I discovered that Zerach and some of his children lived on the streets of Neve Shalom. Zerach lived on Baal Shem Tov Street, now called Merling, in house number 4. On a large area on which the yeshiva he established was later added.
"Zerach and Rachel Leah, his wife, had four daughters and three sons. The sons, Avraham, Eliyahu and Eliezer, had houses in the neighborhood. Eliezer lived in house number 1 on Baal Shem Tov Street which became Emerald.
"Of course, I knew Eliyahu's family, who is my great-grandfather, all these years and we were in constant contact. I also know the son of Avraham, because his sons Meir and Yitzhak stayed in Israel and my family was in contact with them and their descendants, some of whom come to the conference on Saturday.
"We located the son of Eliezer's son in San Francisco. There was a family story that Eliezer moved there and worked in a fur business, like his father shone. I asked for help from the Jewish community there and a little over a year ago we were able to locate Eliezer's descendants, but the connection was not maintained.
"I did not find the families of the four daughters, Hannah, Becky, Rosie and Dora, at first, but through Yaffa Berlowitz's research we found Hannah Treger, the eldest daughter, who lived in London and was even known in England as a strong and socially active woman. That women should have the right to vote, and after the First World War she opened reading rooms for the wounded soldiers to come and read newspapers and drink coffee.
"After tracing her footsteps, I discovered that she had written books about her childhood in Petah Tikva. She describes what it was like to grow up as a child and teenager in the Land of Israel at the time. For example, how she ran away from her parents with her first boyfriend to kiss him in the fields.
"We located the daughter of Dora's family in Argentina and New York. We knew that she might have moved to Argentina, because we found evidence that she lived with her husband Israel Mazar in a small apartment in the Neve Shalom neighborhood, near the synagogue she built. The relationship with her side in the family happened quite by chance, about a year ago, when my cousin Daniel Burnett, who is the son of one of my father's brothers, one day received an email from a man named Eddie Mazar from New York, who is one of Dora's descendants. With him and so we located this branch in the family.
"Just this week, again through Yaffa, I also found the daughter Rosie's branch. We did not know anything about her, but Yaffa found out that she has a granddaughter named Aviva Aviv, 80, who lives in Israel. I contacted Aviva and her son Ofer and they will come to the conference on Saturday.
"In fact, the only daughter of Zerach and Rachel Leah that I still do not know anything about is Becky. Maybe following the article we will be able to locate her branch in the family as well."
"Now we can tell everyone who was the head of the family."
Michael (Michael) Burnett on Burnett Street, this week, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
The only family member perhaps who can tell about Zerach firsthand is Michael's aunt, Ruthie, who was born in 1923 and was 12 when Zerach died.
"We lived on Grozenberg Street in Tel Aviv, and I remember we would come to Neve Shalom to visit Zerach and my grandfather, Eliyahu," she says.
"The little boys would sit on Zerach's knees, and before every holiday he would put his hand on our heads and greet us.
"I also remember the special domes he would bring especially from Paris and give them as gifts to family members. He had a hat that would make those domes especially for him."
The great-granddaughter, Ruthie Spielman, Photo: From the family album
Concurrent with the research and construction of the family root tree, Michael recently decided to purchase plots and houses on Brent Street, to establish a visitor center that will perpetuate Zerach’s memory.
"Last year I got up one morning and said to my partner, 'How can Brentts have no land on Brent Street?'
I decided I wanted to buy land there.
"It was Saturday, so we went there, and suddenly, in front of house number 5, my partner had the necklace of beads she was wearing, and everything was scattered on the floor. She said to me, 'Michael, it's not just, it's a sign. Take a picture of this house, number 5. "On Brent Street. Shortly afterwards, I did buy the numbers 4 and 5 on the street."
The houses since are still there?
"No. Today there is a parking lot there and new buildings are being built there. Brent and Baal Shem Tov streets were actually the first line to Jaffa, and in 1947 the British built a border there from west to east, with a barbed wire fence and everything. To the synagogue and yeshiva he established, and shoot from there at Arab snipers in Jaffa, they shot at Tel Aviv.
"On February 12, 1948, and I have the newspaper clipping where they wrote about it, a British captain arrived with a crew, took all the Jews out of the houses, and just blew it all up. They completely flattened Brent Street. Of orange glass, which is said to have been amazing, it was simply destroyed.The Jews were only allowed to take out the Torah scrolls, which I heard had reached synagogues in Petah Tikva and Tiberias.
"In the last year, while buying the land and working on the documentary on Zerach, and in the years before that, I was able to trace many branches of the family that left the country and lost contact with them. The museum conference will have 70 brents, Finally, tell everyone who was the head of this family and what its importance is. "
• • •
Zerach Brent was born in 1843 in the small town of Cytobian in Lithuania, then ruled by the Russian Empire.
He was the son of a religious fur trader, and from the age of 10 he was educated by his uncle, Rabbi Eliyahu, after whom one of his sons is named.
At the age of 13, Rabbi Eliyahu sent him to a yeshiva in Slobodka, where he studied with Rabbi Chaim ben Avraham Kreuser, a mystic who practiced Kabbalah and loved Zion.
Cruiser encouraged his students to settle in Eretz Israel, and even planned to immigrate with them, but due to his health condition he postponed the trip.
In 1863, a wealthy Jew from London, Yitzhak HaCohen, appeared at the yeshiva, coming to look for a groom for his daughter, Rachel Leah.
The rabbi offered him Zerach, but the intended groom refused: "If you leave Lithuania, then go to Eretz Israel."
Rabbi Kreuser liked his answer, and blessed him "to be one of the first builders," but believed that the young Brent should marry and travel to London, since even from there all roads lead to the land.
"I have to go to London so that I can make a fortune there that I can later invest in the Land of Israel," Zerach wrote.
"Because even then the opinion was prevalent in our circles that in order to revive the deserts of our holy land, in addition to manual labor and diligence and great energy, many material means are also needed."
According to Michael, another important motive for moving to London was obtaining citizenship from the British Empire, which would allow a citizen to buy land in the Land of Israel.
The newlyweds arrived in London in 1864 and lived in an area of poor immigrants called the East End.
Zerach first worked in a fur factory, and about two years later set up a small leather and fur clothing workshop - where he managed to make a decent living.
In 1868 their first son, Moshe, was born, who died two weeks after his birth.
On this Brent wrote in his diary only a short line: "At that time the rays of a great calamity, the eldest son of Moses, peace be upon him, passed away."
In 1870 a daughter was born to the couple, Hannah, and in 1871 Zerach received the coveted British citizenship.
On November 10, he arrived with his small family and a decent amount of money he had saved for the port of Jaffa, and after two weeks in the city, the family left for Jerusalem, where they established their first home in the country.
The following year, 1872, the second daughter, Becky, was born.
"Zerach came to Eretz Yisrael even before what is considered the 'first aliyah,' which was in 1882," says Prof. Berlowitz. Saturday, when the Messiah will come. "
• • •
The Brent family's first year in the Land of Israel was not easy.
Zerach lost most of his money in failed businesses and found work as an employee in sewing hats with a German in Jerusalem.
In his memoirs he wrote that one day the German employer was angry at his job and threw a hot iron on his head.
In protest he got up and resigned from his job.
At that time, Zerach met Ben-Zion Leon, Yosef Rivlin and Yoel Moshe Salomon, the founders of the Mea Shearim company, which was established in 1872 to build more houses and courtyards outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Zerach joined and was among the friends, but he did not have the means to build a house, and he decided to return to London for the first time, to accumulate money there to build his house in Mea Shearim.
He remained in London for a year, in the skin of pregnant Rachel Leah and the girls remained in Jerusalem, and in 1873 another daughter, Rosie, was born.
When Zerach returned to Israel, with a fortune of 1,000 pounds, he built a house in Mea Shearim.
With the rest of the amount, he helped others build their own house, and a total of ten houses were built in the neighborhood out of his own money.
"Building this neighborhood is an interesting story," Berlowitz says.
"It was designed by a German architect named Conrad Schick, and the neighborhood houses were built as a kind of continuous wall. The exterior walls surrounded an inner courtyard, and the gates closed at night. Each house had a garden, and the neighborhood also had cisterns. A real architectural gem."
When his money ran out again, Zerach returned to London in 1875, this time with his family.
He stayed in London for two years, where his son Elijah was born.
In 1877, the family returned to Israel, carrying money and new goods, such as 20 barrels of salted fish, which were the first to arrive in Israel.
Shortly after his return, Zerach joined Yoel Moshe Salomon, Yehoshua Stampfer and David Gutman, and a group of excited Jerusalemites initiated the establishment of the first agricultural colony in Eretz Israel.
They decided to embark on a journey to the Jaffa area to explore different lands.
The convoy saw lands in Rodin (Rehovot), Ramla and Rishon Lezion, but in the end the "riders" decided to buy an area of 35,000 dunams of land from Labs, at a price of 5 francs per dunam.
Zerach paid for the purchase with his own money.
After a short time the caravan rode once more to its new land, choosing a place for the establishment of the colony.
They chose a strategic hill close to the Yarkon River, which was a source of water.
Despite the opinion of the doctor of Greek descent, Clermo Mizraki, who did write that he does not see birds in the place, and this is a "sign of danger," the members decide to settle in the new lands.
Brent says that when he arrived at the scene, he fell to the ground and began to cry with excitement, feeling as if he had been "born again."
A slightly different story is told in Yoram Taharlev's poem, "The Ballad of Yoel Moshe Salomon," which describes Stampfer, Guttman and Brent as those who heard Dr. Mizraki's advice and walked away from the hill.
"I based the song on a story written by Tuvia Salomon, the son of Yoel Moshe Salomon, who probably focused on his father and made him a hero. So it turned out that the song was biased in favor of Yoel Moshe Salomon, but when I researched the story in general I saw that each of the four riders mentioned was large caliber In his character and actions, but in my opinion Yoel Moshe Salomon was the greatest entrepreneur among them, and perhaps in the old settlement in general. .
"By the way, without the song, maybe no one would have known about these people. I think in that sense I contributed enough to the beginning of the settlement, actually raising these characters and their names."
Have the families of the "riders" approached you over the years?
"Absolutely, and they also sent me booklets that were put out on the people. I think the song encouraged the families to put out these booklets, which documented the work of those mentioned in the song. Just two days ago Michael Burnett wrote to me and invited me to a conference in honor of Zerach on Saturday."
"There were calibers."
Yoram Taharlev, Photo: Kfir Ziv
Back in Petah Tikva, Rachel Leah, who was an ultra-Orthodox woman who looked up to her husband but was also opinionated and had her own feminine stature who saw herself as equal to the East, opposed going on field trips and raising her children on unconditional terms.
"When they came to the lands of Petah Tikva, Rachel Leah was a mother of four small children and in advanced pregnancy," says Berlowitz.
"After the trauma of the death of the eldest son Moshe, how could Zerach demand that she take her children to the wilderness, to the swamps, to nothingness? After all, it was a certain death. Therefore, as a responsible and caring mother - she refused her husband."
Opinionary and upright.
Rachel Leah Burnett, Photo: From Zerach Burnett's memoir
Following the family dispute, Rachel asked Leah East to seek counsel from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shmuel Salant.
The rabbi sided with his wife and claimed that Zerach could not force his wife to go on trips with him, and if he still insisted, she had the right to demand a divorce from him.
Zerach, for his part, replied that "if the rabbi thinks my deeds into the foolishness of an insane person, then a divorce divorce will not be lawful either" (that is, the divorce will not be kosher, since Zerah is "insane"; JF). He added that his strong hope was that thanks to the settlement of the land, Gd would turn the wilderness into a paradise, and he believed that his wife would not suffer there.
On July 30, 1878, four years before the first aliyah, the Brent family was one of the 12 families from the old settlement that founded Petah Tikva.
Shortly afterwards, a daughter, Dora, was born there.
During this time, for the first time in his life, Brent worked his land.
He established a farm, and together with the other founders built a house made of clay, sand, dirt and hay.
But the rejoicing ended sooner than expected, after heavy rains came in the winter and the Yarkon flooded and destroyed the houses.
In addition, malaria spread to the new colony and claimed victims, including four children.
In desperation, and also at the command of a Jaffa doctor to leave the swamp land, some of the settlers decided to leave Petah Tikva and move to Jerusalem, Jaffa and other places.
The condition of the colony worsened.
In 1882 came the year of the shemita, which made it even more difficult for those who remained, and most of them decided to leave.
This year Zerach's money ran out again, and he knew that manual labor alone would not suffice.
Having no choice, he returned to London again, but since he did not have enough money to travel, he asked Rachel Leah to sell all her jewelry.
Just before his departure, so as not to "let go of the hands of the faithful peasant builders who held their land," as he wrote in his memoirs, Zarach convened his friends and swore before them that if God helped him accumulate wealth, he would return to his land "for slavery and protection."
He described the difficult parting from the Land of Israel in words: "I felt as if my heart was leaping from me in its pets - the sand dunes of the Sharon."
He sailed with his family to London, and when the shoreline of the Land of Israel drifted away and disappeared on the horizon, he locked himself in his cell on a ship and did not leave for two days.
• • •
In September 1882 the son Abraham was born in London.
It was during this period that Zerach decided to turn to wealthy Jews, including Baron Rothschild.
He arrived in Paris for a meeting with Rothschild, but the Baron, who had already donated generously to many colonies in the country, refused his request to shoot them.
In 1883, Zerach returned to Israel alone and discovered that his house in Petah Tikva had been destroyed and that the colony had been deserted.
He rebuilt a two-story house and planted an olive grove and a vineyard, but in 1884 he returned to London again to continue raising funds.
Between Israel and England, Zerach visited Jewish communities in Europe and told about life in the new colonies.
In the summer of 1884 he went to Leipzig, which was then a world center for the trade in hides and furs, and his business bore fruit there.
After accumulating capital, he founded the "Yishuv Eretz Yisrael" company in Leipzig, returned to London and organized a similar company there as well.
On behalf of the company, he participated in the famous Katowice Conference, which was held in November 1884 and was in fact the first official conference of "Hibat Zion", initiated by, among others, Dr. Yehuda Leib Pissenker and Rabbi Shmuel Mohliver.
Without prior notice and without anyone present at the conference knowing him and his work, Zerach decided to use what he defines as a "sensational ploy."
He put on a red Turkish turban and immediately piqued the curiosity of those present.
Zerach explained to the deputies the experiences of the agricultural settlement in the country, and offered them to invest money in the agricultural settlement.
In a vote, 30,000 francs were allocated to the Gedera colony, and 10,000 francs to Petah Tikva.
At the end of the conference Zerach returned to London, and on the way stopped again in Paris, for another meeting with Baron Rothschild.
This time the Baron took an interest in the guest's remarks and promised to build a new plan for the colonies, including Petah Tikva.
Berlowitz: "The settlement situation in Israel was unbearable. The people of the colonies depended on the alms of Zionists in the Diaspora and philanthropists like Rothschild, but Zerach Brent was different.
capitalist? In the country he was many times almost destitute. Where did all the money he raised on his trips to London come from?
"This is something I came across when I went after Zerach to London and researched the history of the family. Apart from my grandmother, Dina, Zerach had two brothers, Yaakov and Meir. Yaakov immigrated to Paris and worked there at the stock exchange, and Meir, who was a rabbi and a wise student The first to land.
"Both Yaakov and Meir had what is called 'Head of Business', and they both ran the business that started as the small fur workshop he founded. ".
• • •
ב־1885 נולד לזרח ולרחל לאה בן הזקונים, אליעזר (לזרוס), והמשפחה חזרה מלאת תקווה ארצה. באותה שנה, בעזרת הכספים שגייס, נבנו בפתח תקווה בתים חדשים ורפתות, ברחוב שנקרא על שם חובבי ציון.
במושבה בנה זרח בית אבן, וביולי 1886 ערך חגיגה גדולה לחנוכתו, בטקס מפואר שתואר בעיתון "המגיד" כ"חג לאומי". אלא שערביי האזור התנכלו לתושבי פתח תקווה, שלחו את עדריהם להרוס את השדות החקלאיים, ואף תקפו את המתיישבים בצורה מאורגנת. היהודים התבצרו בבית האבן של משפחת ברנט והצליחו להדוף את התוקפים, אולם מצב הרוח הפך ירוד.
ב־1887 זרח שוב בלונדון, עם משפחתו, והפעם נשאר בה שלוש שנים. הוא הפסיק לראות את עצמו עובד אדמה, ופתח את העידן המאוחר שלו בארץ ישראל, שיתאפיין מעתה ביזמות ובניהול.
"מדי חושבי לשוב ולחדש את ניסיון ההתארחות שלי בפתח תקווה, הרגשתי את תשות כוחי", הוא כותב. "אני בן 47 ואין ביכולתי להמשיך בעבודת האדמה ולשאת את העול הקשה. במשך 14 שנה ששתי לקראת עבודה זו, על סכנותיה ותלאותיה, אך אין אני מסוגל עוד". עם זאת, זרח הבהיר: "לא נואשתי מלהשתתף בבניין הארץ באופנים שונים".
ב־1890 חזר זרח עם משפחתו לארץ, לא לפני שמכר את כל הבתים שברשותו לצבירת הון נוסף. הפעם התיישב ביפו, שם הבחין שכמות היהודים בעיר גדלה ושרבים גרים בבתים רעועים וקטנים בבעלות ערבית.
הוא רכש מאהרון שלוש "15 אלף אמות מרובעות (כ־7,000 מ"ר) אדמת חול בגבול העיר", במחיר פרנק אחד לדונם, וחגג הנחת אבן הפינה לשכונה, שעתידה להיקרא נווה שלום.
רבים מבני יפו לעגו לו וכינו את מעשיו "מעשי שטות ואיבוד ממון - יעלו עשבים על לחייך ושוב לא יצמח על החולות האלה", אולם זרח לא התרגש וכתב: "האמנתי בכל ליבי כי סוף היישוב העירוני להתרחב גם הוא בארץ, וזכות המצווה הגדולה של בניין היישוב תעמוד לי שלא אאבד את כספי לשווא".
הוא בנה במהירות את שורת הבתים הראשונה בשכונה והציע אותם לתושבי יפו במחירים נוחים מאוד - אולם איש לא היה מעוניין לעזוב את חומות העיר. זרח עבר להתגורר באחד הבתים החדשים, ובלילה השלישי לשהותו שם הגיע השודד מתחילת סיפורנו.
למרות השוד, זרח לא נרתע והעביר את אשתו וילדיו לגור איתו, לבדם, בשכונה החדשה. באותו זמן חלתה אשתו של הרב הראשי של יפו, נפתלי הרץ הלוי, והרופאים יעצו לה לחפש אוויר צח לטובת בריאותה.
הרב עבר עם משפחתו לימי הקיץ לאחד הבתים החדשים בשכונתו של ברנט, והאוויר הנקי והמרחב אכן השפיעו לטובה על בריאות הרבנית. הזוג החליט להשתקע בבית ולרכוש אותו.
בעקבות הרב הגיעו לשכונה יהודים נוספים, וזרח שמח לראות את מפעלו צומח ומצליח. בזיכרונותיו הוא מכנה את קבוצת הבתים המבודדת "מפעל" - כלומר, פעולה חשובה ורחבת היקף.
"בנווה צדק גרו אנשים כבר מ־1887, אבל היא היתה מעין רובע יהודי לעשירים שרצו לצאת מהצפיפות של יפו - ולהמשיך לעבוד בה", אומר מייקל, "לזרח, בנווה שלום, היה חזון אידיאולוגי אחר. הוא רצה לבנות עיר חיה ונושמת, עם חנויות, מקווה, בתי כנסת. הוא ראה בדמיונו מקום שבו אנשים גרים ועובדים.
"בצילומים של תחילת תל אביב משנת 1909 מקפידים שייראה כאילו האנשים עומדים באמצע חול, בשממה, אבל זו פוליטיקה, כי סמוך אליהם כבר היו נווה צדק ונווה שלום. הוא החשיב את תל אביב כעיר שנבנית לעשירים, והחזון שלו היה לבנות לעולים החדשים בתים לגור בהם".
זרח ברנט (עם זקן לבן, יושב שני משמאל כשילד על ברכיו), עם חלק מילדיו, נכדיו, ניניו וחברים נוספים, ב־1931. מייקל ברנט: "אני מעריך שבעולם יש היום כמה מאות ברנטים", צילום: מהאלבום המשפחתי
שכונת נווה שלום עלתה כפורחת, וזרח המשיך במסעותיו הלוך ושוב ללונדון, להביא כספים להמשך בנייתה.
מייקל: "הוא היה בונה בתים של שתי קומות, כשבקומה הראשונה היתה חנות ובשנייה דירה למגורים. את הדירות מכר, ואת החנויות השכיר. מעל כל חנות היו חקוקות האותיות ZB, כלומר זרח ברנט (Zerach Barnett), ולפי הסיפורים הוא נהג לדפוק על דלתות החנויות בכל יום שישי, כשעה לפני כניסת השבת, כדי שיסגרו ולא יחללו שבת. כך כמעט עד יום מותו.
"אגב, בגלל שהעולים החדשים היו מגיעים ראשית ליפו, הוקמו בשכונה גם בתי מלון עבורם. לפני מותו של זרח, בשנות ה־30 של המאה ה־20, כבר גרו בשכונה עד כמה שידוע לי כ־3,800 משפחות".
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ב־1904 עשה זרח את מסעו האחרון ללונדון, ובשובו כעבור שנה קנה 20 אלף אמות מרובעות (כ־9,500 מ"ר) על יד נווה שלום, במחיר 40 אלף פרנק. על קרקע זו בנה בתים נוספים והקים בית כנסת בשם "שונה הלכות". במקביל, התחיל בבניית הישיבה "אור זורח" ליד ביתו, שנקראה על שמו ונחנכה בספטמבר 1914, בראש השנה. בנוסף, הוא תרם שני דונמים ברחוב הבעל שם טוב למוסד "שערי תורה" של הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק, שהגיע לארץ ב־1904 וכיהן כרב הראשי של יפו והמושבות. במסגרת זו נבנו ברחוב בית כנסת, ישיבה ובית מלאכה, ששימש גם ללימוד עבודה בברזל.
כשמלחמת העולם הראשונה פרצה באירופה, זרח, שהיה בעל אזרחות בריטית, חשש מהתעמרות השלטון הטורקי ועבר עם משפחתו לאלכסנדריה שבמצרים, שהיתה בשלטון בריטי.
"קשה היה לי להיפרד מהארץ כלהיפרד מן החיים", כתב, "הרגשתי את חרדת הגלות במצרים עם כל זעזועיה, וחשתי בנפשי כאילו היא נתונה בכלא, ושם, על יד שערי הארץ, ציפיתי ליום בשורה על גאולתה".
הגאולה הגיעה ב־1917, כשהבריטים כבשו את ארץ ישראל וזרח חזר לנווה שלום ושמח לראות את השכונה חיה ותוססת. ב־1921, לציון יובל לעלייתו הראשונה ארצה, ערכו לו ידידיו ובני משפחתו חגיגה גדולה, שאליה הגיעו "כל ראשי היישוב היהודי בארץ ישראל וידידיו", כפי שכתב בזיכרונותיו. בשנים הבאות המשיך זרח לחיות בנווה שלום, עד למותו ב־15 באוקטובר 1935, בגיל 92.
רחוב הבעל שם טוב וישיבת "אור זורח" שבנה זרח ברנט בשכונת נווה שלום, שנות ה-30, צילום: מאוסף אברהם ברנט
הוא נקבר בהר הזיתים, לצד רעייתו רחל לאה שנפטרה ב־1924. בסיום ספר זיכרונותיו הקדיש לה מקום של כבוד, כשכתב: "היום אני זוכר בכאב לב את רעייתי רחל לאה, שלולא היתה לי בעזרי, לא יכולתי לבצע את כל תוכניותיי".
"זרח ידע להעריך את אשתו, ואף הצהיר 'שלי - שלה'", אומרת ברלוביץ. "רחל לאה היתה אשת חיל שניהלה את עסקיו של זרח יד ביד עימו, ועצותיה הטובות סייעו לו וקידמו אותו. יחד הם שיתפו פעולה במעין חיים כפולים, שהרי זרח נסע 15 פעמים הלוך וחזור מאנגליה לארץ, שבחלקן טלטל יחד איתו אותה ואת ילדיהם הקטנים באוניות, ברכבות ובכרכרות רתומות לסוסים. כמשפחה חרדית, כל המסעות הללו נעשו תוך שמירת השבת והקפדה על אוכל כשר.
"When asked about the sources of his money, Zerach would answer: 'This is all a deposit from God to build the Land of Israel.'
In the first aliyah there was also room for people like him, who understood that the building of the land and its redemption had to be bought both in labor but also in capital.
Zerach undertook to be one of these capitalists. "
shishabat@israelhayom.co.il
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