Itzhak Ben Zvi (1884–1963) was a yishuv leader and the second president of Israel. Ben-Zvi was a founder and leader of Zionist Socialism, of the pioneering Zionist labor movement, and of Jewish self-defense, both in Russia and in Erez Israel. He also made important contributions to the historiography of Erez Israel and of ancient and remote Jewish communities. His personal simplicity, modesty, and empathy for all the communities and sects of the country endeared him to the citizens of Israel. Ben-Zvi was born in Poltava, Ukraine, the eldest son of Zevi Shimshelevich (Shimshi). His father, a member of Benei Moshe, went to Erez Israel in 1891 to explore possibilities for settlement. Educated in both a traditional and a modernized heder, Ben-Zvi later studied at a Russian gymnasium (1901–05). He visited Erez Israel for the first time in 1904 for a period of two months. Ben-Zvi settled in Erez Israel at the beginning of 1907. In the same year he was a Po'alei Zion delegate from Erez Israel to the Eighth Zionist Congress held in the Hague. Ben-Zvi participated in the founding of the Bar Giora organization (in Jaffa, 1907), and in 1909 of Ha-Shomer, along with Rahel Yanait (Ben-Zvi), who had settled in Erez Israel in 1908. (They were married in 1918.)