Pinhas Rutenberg - from Scowling Socialist to Zionist Hydro-Power Visionary

The Israel Electric Corporation didn’t just build itself, it was the brainchild of the scowling ex-Socialist Pinhas Rutenberg. After almost getting shot in the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1905, he gravitated to Zionism, Zev Jabotinsky, and eventually building a hydro-electric station on the banks of the Jordan river. Learn about the humble beginnings of Palestine Electric Company and the First Jordan Hydro-Electric Power House in Naharayim.

Pinhas Rutenberg, 1941. Credit: G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, US Library of Congress.

Lord and Lady Reading with Pinhas Rutenberg at a power station in the Land of Israel. Credit: United States Library of Congress

Diesel engines at the first power plant in Tel Aviv. Credit: IEC.

Electric company employees who were recruited into the British army. Credit: IEC

NOTES:

• Hydro-electric development of Palestine : the Rutenberg project : detailed prospectus - 1922. Full text

• History of the Israel Electric Corporation - IEC website

• Forgotten Biography of the uncompromising Pinchas Rutenberg - The Jewish Chronicle

• Pinhas Rutenberg bio - Jewish Virtual Library

• The Rutenberg Institute

• The National Revival of the Jewish People by Pinhas Ben-Ami (Rutenberg) - Yiddish, 1915. Full Text

• Palestine Electric Company Ltd. - Center for Israel Education