1871 - 1924.
Menahem Sheikin was a Zionist leader and one of the founding figures of Tel Aviv.
In 1900, after he completed his studies in Odessa (Ukraine), he was elected as a delegate to the 4th Zionist Congress in London. He explained to Congress the problems he witnessed in the Yishuv during his previous visit that same year.
In 1906, he made Aliyah and settled in Jaffa, where he established an office for the Hovevei Zion movement to assist prospective immigrants. He preferred that those with means immigrate to Israel and advised those without not to come.
Menahem Sheinkin was among the first to settle in "Ahuzat Bait", one of the first quarters outside Jaffa (established in 1909), and proposed to change its name to "Tel-Aviv".
"With this name, our leader Herzl expressed hope for our future in the Land of Israel. The Tel Aviv name has a local, Arab tone, and all the inhabitants of the country will soon get used to it."
The name "Tel Aviv" is Nahum Sokolov's Hebrew translation of Herzl's book Altneuland, originally published in German seven years earlier.
In 1909, the Jaffa Hebrew Gymnasium was established and soon renamed the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. Menahem Shinkin was among its founders.
In 1910 he created an organization aimed at buying lands in Israel, which contributed to the establishment of Allenby Street, and in 1912 he established the Independent Craftmanship Organization (Merkaz Ba'alei Melakh) neighborhood, which aimed to unify the independent craftsmen of Tel Aviv. The main street of the neighborhood was named after him.
During WW1, he cared about food and money distribution and provided work for unemployed workers.
He died in 1924 in Chicago in a car accident, during a visit as a delegate to the Aliya department of the Zionist administration.
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