Један од претеча циониста, Београдски и Земунски рабин (1825)
То је било време пада Турског царства, Српски и остали национализми су јачали као и Грчки рат за независност. настајале су Балканске државе и то еј инспирисало Алкалаја и уверило га да је дошло време за појаву Јеврејског национализма.
Alkalai studied in Jerusalem under different rabbis and came under the influence of the Kabbalah - Jewish mysticism. In 1825 he became Rabbi of Semlin, capital of Serbia. The Turkish empire was undergoing one of its periodic crises. Serbian nationalism was growing. The Serbs and other Balkan nationalities were influenced by the Greek War of Independence and the rebellion against foreign Turkish rule. The Balkan states became to be claimed by different ethnic groups and peoples. These events influenced Alkalai and brought him to the realization that the time had come for Jewish nationalism to reassert itself among the Jewish people.
http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/alkalai_biography.htm