#124 Pioneers & Early Zionism
#124 Pioneers & Early Zionism
In this lesson you will learn about the early pioneers to the Land of Israel in the 18th and 19th Century. This was a return from exile for most of the Jewish world. You have studied The Babylonian and Roman Exile and you know that for 2000 years, most of the Jewish people in the world lived outside of Israel. But in the late 1800’s, there was a push to return to the biblical land of Israel and to make it a modern political state. This lesson will cover approximately 150 years of history starting with the start of the Yishuv and leading up to the British Mandate (lesson #130). But first, what is Zionism?
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#1 MEET MOSES MONTEFIORE AND LEARN ABOUT THE YISHUV
CB can you edit this?
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, FRS (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Jewish family, he donated large sums of money to promote industry, business, economic development, education and health among the Jewish community in the Levant, including the founding of Mishkenot Sha’ananim in 1860, the first settlement of the New Yishuv. As President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, his correspondence with the British consul in Damascus Charles Henry Churchill in 1841–42 is seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism.[1][2]
Jewish philanthropy and the Holy Land were at the center of Montefiore’s interests. He traveled there by carriage and by ship seven times, sometimes accompanied by his wife. He visited there in 1827, 1838, 1849, 1855, 1857, 1866, and 1875. In Montefiore’s time, these voyages were arduous and not without danger. He made his last journey there at the age of 91.
Although Montefiore only spent a few days in Jerusalem, the 1827 visit changed his life. He resolved to increase his religious observance and to attend synagogue on Shabbat, as well as Mondays and Thursdays when the Torah is read. While his observance of Jewish law was not as strict in his younger years (evidenced by Judith’s descriptions of the meals they enjoyed in inns along the south coast of England on their honeymoon in 1812), from then on, he lived a life of piety and Jewish observance.
In 1854 his friend Judah Touro, a wealthy American Jew, died having bequeathed money to fund Jewish residential settlement in Palestine. Montefiore was appointed executor of his will, and used the funds for a variety of projects aimed at encouraging the Jews to engage in productive labor. In 1855, he purchased an orchard on the outskirts of Jaffa that offered agricultural training to the Jews.[12]
In 1860, he built the first Jewish residential settlement and almshouse outside the old walled city of Jerusalem, today known as Mishkenot Sha’ananim. This became the first settlement of the New Yishuv. Living outside the city walls was dangerous at the time, due to lawlessness and bandits. Montefiore offered financial inducement to encourage poor families to move there. Later on, Montefiore established adjacent neighborhoods south of Jaffa Road, the Ohel Moshe neighborhood for Sephardic Jews and the Mazkeret Moshe neighborhood for Ashkenazi Jews.
Montefiore donated large sums of money to promote industry, education and health amongst the Jewish community in Palestine. The project, bearing the hallmarks of nineteenth-century artisanal revival, aimed to promote productive enterprise in the Yishuv. The builders were brought over from England. These activities were part of a broader program to enable the Old Yishuv to become self-supporting in anticipation of the establishment of a Jewish homeland.[13]
Seal of the “Kerem Moshe Montefiore and Yehudit” Society in Jerusalem (“Vinyard of Moses and Judith Montefiore” Society in Jerusalem); inscribed in Hebrew and German.
Montefiore built the Montefiore Windmill in an area which later became the Yemin Moshe neighbourhood, to provide cheap flour to poor Jews, a printing press and textile factory, and helped to finance several Bilu agricultural colonies. He also attempted to acquire arable land for Jewish cultivation, but was hampered by Ottoman restrictions on land sale to non-Muslims. The Jews of Old Yishuv referred to their patron as “ha-Sar Montefiore” (‘The Prince’ or simply ‘Prince’ Montefiore), a title perpetuated in Hebrew literature and song.
A major source of information about the Yishuv, or Jewish community in Palestine during the 19th century, is a sequence of censuses commissioned by Montefiore, in 1839, 1849, 1855, 1866 and 1875. The censuses attempted to list every Jew individually, together with some biographical and social information (such as their family structure, place of origin, and degree of poverty).[citation needed]
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Aliyah (US /ˌæ.lɪ.ˈɑː/, UK /ˌɑː.li.ˈɑː/; Hebrew: עֲלִיָּה aliyah, “ascent”) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel in Hebrew). Also defined as “the act of going up”—that is, towards Jerusalem—”making Aliyah” by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism. The opposite action, emigration from the Land of Israel, is referred to in Hebrew as yerida (“descent”).[1]The State of Israel’s Law of Return gives Jews and their descendants automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship.
For much of Jewish history most Jews have lived in the diaspora where aliyah was developed as a national aspiration for the Jewish people, although it was not usually fulfilled until the development of the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century.[2] The large-scale immigration of Jews to Palestine began in 1882.[3] Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, more than 3 million Jews have moved to Israel.[4] As of 2014, Israel and the Palestinian territories together contain 42.9% of the world’s Jewish population.[5]
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#4. WATCH THIS:
CB, can you find the audio to this?
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#5. THE KIBBUTZ
A kibbutz (Hebrew: קִבּוּץ / קיבוץ, lit. “gathering, clustering”; plural kibbutzimקִבּוּצִים / קיבוצים) is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania.[1] Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-techenterprises.[2] Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism.[3] In recent decades, some kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle. A member of a kibbutz is called a kibbutznik (Hebrew: קִבּוּצְנִיק / קיבוצניק).
The kibbutzim were founded by members of the Bilu movement who emigrated to Palestine. Like the members of the First Aliyah who came before them and established agricultural villages, most members of the Second Aliyah planned to become farmers; almost the sole career available in the agrarian economy of Ottoman Palestine. The first kibbutz was Degania Alef, founded in 1909.
Joseph Baratz, one of the pioneers of the kibbutz movement, wrote a book about his experiences.[6]
- “We were happy enough working on the land, but we knew more and more certainly that the ways of the old settlements were not for us. This was not the way we hoped to settle the country—this old way with Jews on top and Arabs working for them; anyway, we thought that there shouldn’t be employers and employed at all. There must be a better way.”[7]
Though Baratz and others wanted to farm the land themselves, becoming independent farmers was not a realistic option in 1909. As Arthur Ruppin, a proponent of Jewish agricultural colonization of the Trans-Jordan would later say, “The question was not whether group settlement was preferable to individual settlement; it was rather one of either group settlement or no settlement at all.”[8]
Ottoman Palestine was a harsh environment. The Galilee was swampy, the Judaean Mountains rocky, and the south of the country, the Negev, was a desert. To make things more challenging, most of the settlers had no prior farming experience. The sanitary conditions were also poor. Malaria, typhus and cholera were rampant. Bedouins would raid farms and settled areas. Sabotage of irrigation canals and burning of crops were also common.[citation needed] Living collectively was simply the most logical way to be secure in an unwelcoming land. On top of safety considerations, establishing a farm was a capital-intensive project; collectively, the founders of the kibbutzim had the resources to establish something lasting, while independently they did not.
Finally, the land had been purchased by the greater Jewish community. From around the world, Jews dropped coins into Jewish National Fund “Blue Boxes” for land purchases in Palestine. In 1909, Baratz, nine other men, and two women established themselves at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee near the Arab village of Umm Juni/Juniya. These teenagers had hitherto worked as day laborers converting wetlands for human development, as masons, or as hands at the older Jewish settlements. Their dream was now to work for themselves, building up the land. They called their community “Kvutzat Degania” (lit. “collective of wheat” or “community of cereal grains”), now Degania Alef.
The founders of Degania endured backbreaking labor: “The body is crushed, the legs fail, the head hurts, the sun burns and weakens,” wrote one of the pioneers. [9] At times, half of the kibbutz members could not report for work and many left. Despite the difficulties, by 1914, Degania had fifty members. Other kibbutzim were founded around the Sea of Galilee and the nearby Jezreel Valley.
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#6 WATCH THE KIBBUTZ
CB, can you find a video on Kubbutz?
#7 RESPOND AND REACT
- What is Zionism?
2. What is Aliyah?
3. Who was Moses Montefiore
4. What is the tribute to Moses Montefiore in Jerusalem?
5. What is a Kibbutz?
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Need some help? We’re here for you. At any time, if you have any questions, please contact one of our teachers so we can help you. Also, at the end of the session, remember to review your responses in your Tamid Workbook so you can get credit for this lesson. Behatzlacha (Hebrew for good luck)! You can reach us at (646)360-0689 or [email protected]