Born in the town of Zhashkiv in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine),[1] he joined the Zionist movement as a boy and emigrated to Palestine, then under Ottoman rule, in 1908.

He worked in agriculture in Petah Tikva, Rehovot, Yavne'el and Kinneret until 1911,[2] when he became active in Hapoel Hatzair (the Young Workers Party).

He was also one of the earliest settlers in Degania, the country's first kibbutz, though he left in 1921 to help establish the moshav Nahalal.

According to his grandson, he, as opposed to his wife Devorah (Dvora Zotolovsky 1890-1956, born in Prochorovska, Ukraine), never personally worked more than 2 weeks at the kibbutz, but spent most of his life in hotels.

[3] As one of the leaders of the nascent Moshav Movement, he made several trips to the United States and Poland as a Zionist emissary.