GOLDSTEIN, ALEXANDER

GOLDSTEIN, ALEXANDER (1884–1949), Russian Zionist leader. Born in Minsk, Goldstein studied law at the University of St. Petersburg and took an active part in Zionist student circles. In 1903 he published his first article (in Russian) and eventually became one of the outstanding writers on Zionist affairs, contributing to the Zionist monthly, Yevreyskaya Zhizn, and primarily to Razsvet, when this weekly was founded in 1907. He also traveled throughout Russia in order to promote the Zionist idea. He was one of the originators of the Helsingfors Program which sought to incorporate Diaspora activities into the Zionist program. At the Seventh Convention of Russian Zionists, held in Petrograd in 1917, Goldstein submitted a proposal to hold a national "referendum," which would demand equal rights for the Jews in the Diaspora as well as a national home for the Jews in Ereẓ Israel. In 1919 he left Russia, and, when Keren Hayesod was established, he entered its service and traveled extensively on its behalf. In 1933 he settled in Palestine, where he continued his work for Keren Hayesod. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tidhar, 2 (1947), 793; He-Avar, 14 (1967), 3–87. (Getzel Kressel)