Ze'ev (Wolf) Yavetz was born in Kolno in the Russian Empire (today in Poland).

He initially worked in a vineyard in the Yehud moshava, before being recruited by Edmond James de Rothschild to be headmaster of a school in Zikhron Ya'akov.

In 1903, at a reception for Theodor Herzl, he presented the Zionist leader with a small Torah scroll in a carved holder as a gift of honor from the Vilna community.

[3] Yavetz used the Bible in a new thematic and stylistic manner with the object of reviving ancient ways of life.

"[4] In his later years he moved to England, where he completed his 14-volume history of the Jews entitled Toldot Yisrael.