Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines

Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines, born in 1839 near Pinsk, was a respected Talmudist who served from 1885 as rabbi of Lida in today's Belarus. He was one of the few leading rabbis to join Herzl. In 1902 he founded Mizrachi at a conference in Vilna; the name comes from "merkaz ruchani", "spiritual center". Its program combined Zionism with Torah observance: "the Land of Israel for the people of Israel according to the Torah of Israel".

Reines argued that Zionism was a practical rescue of a persecuted people, not a claim to bring the Messiah. For that reason he even supported the 1903 Uganda proposal as a temporary refuge. In 1905 he opened a yeshiva in Lida that taught secular subjects alongside Talmud, a bold step at the time. Mizrachi grew into the Religious Zionist movement and later the National Religious Party. The moshav Sde Ya'akov is named for him.