David Tidhar

David Tidhar (דוד תדהר; 6 June [7 Sivan] 1897 – 15 December 1970) was a Jewish-Israeli police officer, private detective and author, widely known as “the first Hebrew detective”. He was modern Israel’s first celebrity, referred to by the public as the "Israeli Sherlock Holmes”.

Early Life
Tidhar, who originally bore the name Todrosovitz, was born in Jaffa. He was involved in community affairs from an early age. Among his many accomplishments as a young man was chasing out Christian missionaries who were trying to kidnap Jewish souls in the land of Israel.

Career
Prior to the outbreak of World War I, he had already started a lengthy career of founding organizations. One was a sanitary corps that offered advice on how to prevent cholera during the 1916 epidemic, while the other was a clothing and shoe distribution program for the impoverished Jewish community.

Tidhar was one of the men who volunteered for the Jewish Legion in 1918 and helped protect the Jews of Jaffa during the Jaffa riots of 1921. He was among the first people to join the Haganah self-defense group. Post-war he served in the British-run Palestine Police Force in Jerusalem. In 1926 he left the force and established his own private investigation office in Tel Aviv, which he ran for decades.

This attracted the notice of author Shlomo Ben-Yisrael, who founded The Detective Library in 1930, a series of chapbooks which featured the adventures of David Tidhar: The First Hebrew Detective. These were perhaps the first example of genuine mystery fiction published in Israel (then Mandatory Palestine) and brought Tidhar (whose picture adorned the covers) much publicity. The series ran 1930-1932 and some 28 volumes. Tidhar later withdrew his name, following which the series continued with the adventures of a new, fictional Hebrew Detective.

Tidhar was known to help everyone, was friends with all factions, and did not belong to any political party. He worked nonstop and participated actively in many organizations.

In 1927 he moved to Egypt out of fear that his criticism of the British Mandate Police would bring his arrest, and for several years he lived in Cairo. In 1931 he returned to Palestine and worked as Head of the Private Investigation Office.

In 1934 he purchased land and built a four-story stone house where the Geha Interchange is currently located. A year later the country had a serious economic crisis following the Second Italy-Ethiopian War and Tidhar had to sell the building at half price to return his debts. The purchaser, Dr. Beitan, founded the Geha Hospital instead of giving the Geha junction his name. In 1974, the house was destroyed to allow the expansion of the intersection and create the Geha Interchange.

Tidhar went on to edit the monumental 19-volume Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel; a non-fiction study of crime in Palestine; and an autobiography. He is, however, best remembered for the Detective Library, individual volumes of which have since become collectors' items.

For some time, Uri Avnery served as an assistant in his office.

Tidhar was in the business of encouraging sports, mainly within the Maccabi Organization (now Maccabi World Union). He also wrote one of the first books dealing with the history of the Association.

He was a member of the Berkai Bureau of the Freemasonry Organization and wrote some of the first Hebrew books on the history of the organization in Palestine.

Personal Life
He was married to Rebecca Tidhar and had a son and daughter.

Death


He died on December 15, 1970 and was buried at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery.

In modern fiction

 * The figure of David Tidhar appears several times in the works of author Lavie Tidhar (no relation), notably in the stories "The Projected Girl" (in Naked City, ed. Ellen Datlow, 2011) and "The Time Slip Detective" (in Tel Aviv Noir, ed. Etgar Keret and Assaf Gavron, 2014).