In his memoirs of Borochov, AZR describes the nucleus from which the leadership of Labor Zionism grew:
"This was the national nucleus of the young Hebrew generation in Poltava. Among them grew our comrades Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak Klugai, and the sons of Eliyahu the physician, and others." AZR, "Dov Borochov in His Youth," "Chapters of Memoirs" (Pirkei Zichronot); Project Ben-Yehuda.
AZR, a member of "Bnei Zion" in Poltava, was a senior and respected figure in this young circle, from which came Ben-Zvi (later the State's second president).
AZR describes the Borochov home: the father, R. Moshe Aharon Borochov, "a Hebrew teacher in Poltava and a zealot for the Hebrew language, who began to teach Hebrew in Hebrew, and even in a girls' school." The son Dov, "possessed of an original talent," clashed with the pedantic teachers and invented "new theories." And here, according to AZR, the great synthesis was born:
"Dov Borochov, with his fine sensibility and his deep understanding, grasped that in the Jewish heart… these two elements [socialism and Hibbat Zion] must fuse together through real, creative work — and precisely in Zion — and he created the 'Poalei Zion' movement." Ibid.
Borochov left the gymnasium with a "wolf's certificate" (a grade of "three" in conduct) that barred his way to the university, "but he advanced in his knowledge from books and from life itself."
Yosef Vitkin (author of the famous "Call" (Kol Koreh) to the youth of Israel, 1905) was known to AZR at close hand, and AZR wrote the introduction to his "Selected Writings" (5672/1912). For the expanded page: "Yosef Vitkin — the Call, the Network, and the Covenant" (from his letters). He was drawn to "the wonderful refinement of his spirit" — Vitkin, who dedicated his entire salary to his mother and sisters, and who returned from difficult surgery in Vienna so that he would not be buried "in the land of the gentiles." AZR also documented his crisis of faith:
"I suffer torments greater than those of Job, he once said to me; Job, at least, had someone to protest against." AZR, "Yosef Vitkin of Blessed Memory," introduction to "Selected Writings of Y. Vitkin" (5672/1912); Project Ben-Yehuda.
And the source of his self-sacrifice — the figure of his father:
"The image of my father always stood before my eyes, and with its great power it drew me toward my people… He was a ritual slaughterer in Kursk, humble and modest, but he had a great heart, a great Jewish heart." Ibid. (Vitkin's words to AZR).
The connection is documented from Vitkin's side as well. During the Brenner Affair (1911), AZR, A. Tsioni (Yitzhak Vilkansky), and R. Binyamin sent a letter to Vitkin and to others — the three of them being the conveners of the writers' assembly that protested the decision of the Odessa Committee. Vitkin replied (to Y. Aharonovitz):
"I received the letter of AZR, A. Tsioni, and R. Binyamin concerning the shrewd decision of the Hovevei Zion… I too think that articles like Brenner's are downright dangerous, but the proposal that came after the decision is nothing but the fruit of a foolish love." Yosef Vitkin, "Letters to Friends and Public Figures" (Rishon LeZion, 5671/1911), Ben-Yehuda read/17992.
The note in the Yad Ben-Zvi edition confirms: these three invited writers and journalists to the protest assembly; Vitkin even signed the protest resolution; and "both AZR and R. Binyamin were religious, observant men." Secondary source · Yad Ben-Zvi