The Hero from the Lionʹs Cage

Yehiel Halperin, one of the most colorful figures of the early Jewish settlers in Turkish Palestine, was an anarchist in his youth in Russia. He arrived in Jaffa in 1887 and made his way to Rishon Lezion, the village of vineyards supported by the Rothschild family. Halperin deplored Rothschild’s capitalist type of organization and attempted to introduce socialism in the vineyards. When the other settlers failed to back him, Halperin was banished from Rishon Lezion and resumed his wanderings through the Turkish colony.

In 1911, the Egyptian circus arrived in Jaffa. Challenged to enter the lion’s cage, Halperin saw an opportunity to defend Jewish honor. He stepped into the lion’s cage and became known as the “fearless man.” This portrayal of turn-of-the-century Eretz Israel is packed with eccentric characters and exotic, entertaining scenes.