Yaakov Dori

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Yaakov Dostrovsky (later Dori)[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ae1uKw5yLtcC&dq=josef+boxenbaum&pg=PA105 Builders and Dreamers: Habonim Labor Zionist Youth in North America] was born in Odessa in present-day Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) to Tzvi and Myriam Dostrovsky. The family immigrated to Ottoman Palestine following the anti-Jewish pogrom in Odessa in 1905.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/30/archives/gen-yakov-dori-haganah-leader-jewish-defense-head-first-israelli.html |title=Gen Yakov Dori, Haganah Leader - The New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=1973-01-30 |access-date=2020-02-17}} Upon completing high school at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, he enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I. Following the war he studied engineering at the University of Ghent.

His son, Yerachmiel Dori, served as commander of the IDF's Engineering Corps. His daughter, Etana Padan, is a biochemist and a professor of microbial ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His youngest son, Zvi Dori, was a Chemistry Professor at the Technion and the founder of the first Israeli Science Museum (Technoda). Israel Dostrovsky, physical chemistry and former President of the Weizmann Institute of Science, was his first cousin.:he:אריה דוסטרובסקי

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When he returned to Palestine in 1926, he joined the Haganah and adopted the underground name of "Dan". In the Haganah, he was the commander of the Haganah Forces of Haifa.{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Gilbert |title=Israel: A History |location=New York |publisher=Morrow |year=1998 |page=[https://archive.org/details/israelhistory00gilb/page/101 101] |isbn=0-688-12362-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/israelhistory00gilb/page/101 }}

In 1939, Dori was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah, a position he held until 1946.{{Cite book |last=Ḳoleḳ |first=Ṭedi |title=Ein Leben für Jerusalem |last2=Ḳoleḳ |first2=ʿAmos |last3=Ḳoleḳ |first3=Ṭedi |date=1992 |publisher=Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verl |isbn=978-3-596-11269-2 |edition=Ungekürzte Ausg |series=Fischer-Taschenbücher |location=Frankfurt am Main}} As CoS Haganah it was Yaakov Dori's duty to take the Haganah from a diffuse self-defense organisation to a model army. From 1946-47 he also headed the Palestinian Jewish delegation sent to purchase arms in the United States.

When the IDF was formed, Dori took over as its first Chief of Staff. Yet, despite his good command and organizational skills, he was already suffering from failing health and had difficulty commanding his troops during the 1948 Palestine War, so he was forced to rely heavily on his deputy, Yigael Yadin. He completed his term as Chief of Staff on November 9, 1949, and retired from the military. He was succeeded by his deputy, Yadin. After his release from the army, however, he continued to wear the officer's pin he was awarded when he first became a second lieutenant.

Upon leaving the IDF, Dori was appointed chairman of the nation's Science Council, attached to the Prime Minister's office. He was later appointed president of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa in 1951, a position he held until 1965.{{cite web|url=https://www.technion.ac.il/en/former-presidents/ |title=President | Technion - Israel Institute of Technology |date=9 August 2015 |publisher=Technion |access-date=2020-02-17}} He followed Shlomo Kaplansky, and was followed by Alexander Goldberg.

The Israel Defense Forces base at Tel HaShomer, one of the largest in Israel, is named after Ya'akov Dori. A prominent road in Haifa and a street in Beersheba are both named after him.

{{Reflist}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010435/http://dover.idf.il/IDF/About/Commanders/past/yaakov_dori.htm Yaakov Dori's biography, IDF Spokespersons Unit (Hebrew)]
• [http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_pintov_dori.html Pintov-Dori Family page]

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Category:1899 births

Category:1973 deaths

Category:Royal Fusiliers soldiers

Category:Odesa Jews

Category:Technion – Israel Institute of Technology presidents

Category:Ukrainian emigrants to Israel

Category:Ukrainian Zionists

Category:Jewish Legion personnel

Category:Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:Immigrants of the Second Aliyah