Bilu
- For the World War Two association sometimes called the Palestine Pioneers, see Hechalutz
Bilu (Hebrew: ביל"ו) (or Palestine Pioneers[1]) was a movement whose goal was the agricultural settlement of the Land of Israel. "Bilu" is an acronym based on a verse from the Book of Isaiah (2:5) "בית יעקב לכו ונלכה" Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Venelkha ("House of Jacob, let us go [up]"). Its members were known as the Bilu'im.
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[edit] History
The wave of pogroms of 1881-1884 and anti-Semitic May Laws of 1882 introduced by Tsar Alexander III of Russia prompted mass emigration of Jews from the Russian Empire. More than 2 million Jews fled Russia between 1880 and 1920. The vast majority of them emigrated to the United States, but some decided to make aliyah.
The first Biluim group consisted of fourteen university students from Kharkov who reached Ottoman Syria in July 1882. They were led by Israel Belkind, who later became a prominent writer and historian.[2] After a short stay at the Jewish farming school in Mikveh Israel, they joined Hovevei Zion colonists in establishing Rishon LeZion ("First to Zion") as an agricultural cooperative on land purchased from the Arab village Ayun Kara, as they had also done in Argentina and the USA.[3] Plagued by water shortages, illness and financial debt, the group abandoned the site within a few months.
The group then sought help from Baron Edmond James de Rothschild and Maurice de Hirsch, who provided the funding that led to the establishment of a wine industry at their first venture: the Wine Cellars at Rishon Le Zion and Zikhron Ya'aqov.[4] In 1886, construction began on the Rishon Le-Zion winery, which became a successful wine-exporting enterprise. According to Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, the region's export of wine and cognac in 1895 alone amounted to ₣ 277,000.[5]
With financial assistance from Rothschild, the Biluim also founded Zikhron Ya'akov. In 1884, eight members of the group were offered land in Gedera.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Gunther, John (June 12, 1939). "CHAIM WEIZMAN ZIONIST LEADER". LIFE. http://books.google.com/books?id=c0kEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=bilu++%22palestine+pioneers%22&hl=en&ei=DXMrTZnDIIP58AaY_OWxAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bilu%20%20%22palestine%20pioneers%22&f=false.
- ^ Israel Belkind (1861-1929) - Jewish Virtual Library
- ^ Aharonson, Ran, Rothschild and early Jewish colonization in Palestine, Rowman & Minefield Publishers. Ine., 2000, pp.35-37
- ^ Annual: a survey of Israel's economy, 1955, p.66
- ^ [1][dead link]
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bilu'im |
- A history of Israel: Bilu
- Statutes of the BILU Society at zionistarchives.org.il
