Zerach Barnett (Hebrew: זרח ברנט; born 16 April 1843 in Kaunas, Lithuania, died 15 October 1935 in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine - today Israel) was a Zionist pioneer.
Rachel Leah his wife refused to join him there due to the harsh conditions, which included living in a tent surrounded by ever-present malaria.
She asked for arbitration by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shmuel Salant, who having heard both sides, advised her that as a good Jewish wife, she must follow her husband.
During his residence in Jerusalem, Petah Tikva and Neve Shalom, Barnett traveled to London fifteen times in order to raise personal funds.
On two occasions 1884 and 1885, in Paris, he met with Baron Edmond James de Rothschild to request financial support for Petah Tikva's survival as a Jewish agricultural community.
At the turn of the century Barnett invested in substantial lands to the north-east adjoining Neve Shalom to be called Ahuzat Bait and later Tel Aviv which was established in 1909.