Honorary Membership Certificate issued by the Bar Kochba Student Union – Written and Decorated by Hand – Vienna, 1903

Honorary Membership Certificate issued by the Bar Kochba Student Union – Written and Decorated by Hand – Vienna, 1903
Honorary membership certificate, presented to Zionist activist Leopold Kahn by the Bar Kochba Galician High School Students Union, written and decorated by hand. Vienna 1903. Hebrew and German.
The certificate states that "the Bar Kochba Galician High School Students Union in Vienna has chosen during the general meeting on the 15th of Kislev… Dr. Mr. Leopold Kahn, an attorney in Vienna, as an honorary member, acknowledging and appreciating his work for the cultural development of our people and of our union". The certificate is signed by Avraham Shalom Lebensart, union chair, and Ze'ev Leshner, secretary. In addition, the certificate is signed with the union stamp – "Vereinigung Jüd. Hochschüler aus Galizien Bar Kochba".
The "Bar Kochba" Jewish student union was founded in Prague in 1893 under the name of "Maccabee"; after a while, it was renamed "Bar Kochba" and started identifying with the cultural Zionism of Achad HaAm and Martin Buber. Groups bearing this name which united Jewish students in various universities operated in several cities in central and western Europe, the most prominent of them being the Prague union.
Leopold Kahn (1851-1909), an attorney and a prominent activist of early Zionism. In the first days of the Zionist Movement in Vienna, he dedicated his time and efforts to the Zionist idea and for a while, published the weekly founded by Herzl, "Die Welt". He was a member of the World Zionist Organization since its establishment after the first Zionist Congress in Basel and for several years sat on the Zionist executive. In 1904, he was sent by the Zionist leaders to Istanbul to study the Ottoman land laws in order to promote the enterprise of land acquisition and settlement in Palestine. He was a gifted speaker and worked for the revival of the Hebrew language. After Herzl's death, he retired from public activity.
51.5X38.5 cm. Good condition. Damp damage. Stains. Closed tears and small open tears to edges.