First Aliyah

The First Aliyah (Hebrew: העלייה הראשונה, romanized: HaAliyah HaRishona), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (aliyah) to Ottoman Palestine between 1881 and 1903.^[1]^[2] Jews who migrated in this wave came mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen, stimulated by pogroms and violence against the Jewish communities in those areas.^[3]^[4]^[5] An estimated 25,000^[6] Jews immigrated. Many of the European Jewish immigrants during the late 19th-early 20th century period gave up after a few months and went back to their country of origin, often suffering from hunger and disease.^[7]

During the first Aliyah, agricultural settlements called Moshava were established. The immigrants engaged in various professions, including agriculture, trade, and commerce.^{[citation needed]}

At the beginning of the period, the Jewish population in the Ottoman Palestine was around 26,000. Over the course of the First Aliyah, many immigrants arrived from different countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. By the end of this period, the Jewish population in the land had grown to approximately 55,000.

Because there had been a wave of immigration to Ottoman Syria starting in the mid-19th century (between 1840 and 1880, the Jewish population rose from 9,000 to 23,000),^[8] use of the term "First Aliyah" is controversial.^[9] Nearly all of the Jews from Eastern Europe before that time came from traditional Jewish families who were not inspired by modern Zionist ideology, but rather by traditional ideas of the holiness of the land combined with practical / economic considerations.^[8] The first Aliyah represents the beginning of organized Zionism in the Land of Israel which is how it differs from earlier immigration.^[10]

^ Bernstein, Deborah S. Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State IsraelState University of New York Press, Albany. (1992) p.4
^ Scharfstein, Sol, Chronicle of Jewish History: From the Patriarchs to the 21st Century, p.231, KTAV Publishing House (1997), ISBN 978-0-88125-545-4
^ "Modern Zionist Aliyot". The Jewish Agency. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
^ "Immigrants to Israel, The First Aliyah (1882–1903)".
^ Goldin, Semion (October 2014). "Antisemitism and Pogroms in the Military (Russian Empire)". 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Archived from the original on November 15, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
^ "New Aliyah – Modern Zionist Aliyot (1882–1948)". Jewish Agency for Israel. Archived from the original on 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ Joel Brinkley, As Jerusalem Labors to Settle Soviet Jews, Native Israelis Slip Quietly Away, The New York Times, 11 February 1990. Quote: "In the late 19th and early 20th century many of the European Jews who set up religious settlements in Palestine gave up after a few months and returned home, often hungry and diseased.". Accessed 4 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b Salmon, Yosef (1978). "Ideology and Reality in the Bilu "Aliyah"". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 2 (4). [President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]: 431. ISSN 0363-5570. JSTOR 41035804. Retrieved 2023-02-03. Jewish influx into Palestine. Between 1880 and 1907, the number of Jews in Palestine grew from 23,000 to 80,000. Most of the community resided in Jerusalem, which already had a Jewish majority at the beginning of the influx. [Footnote: Mordecai Elia, Ahavar Tziyon ve-Kolel Hod (Tel Aviv, 1971), appendix A. Between 1840 and 1880 the Jewish settlement in Palestine grew in numbers from 9,000 to 23,000.] The First Aliyah accounted for only a few thousand of the new-comers, and the number of the Biluim among them was no more than a few dozen. Jewish immigration to Palestine had begun to swell in the 1840s, following the liberalization of Ottoman domestic policy (the Tanzimat Reforms) and as a result of the protection extended to immigrants by the European consulates set up at the time in Jerusalem and Jaffa. The majority of immigrants came from Eastern and Central Europe – the Russian Empire, Romania, and Hungary – and were not inspired by modern Zionist ideology. Many were motivated by a blend of traditional ideology (e.g., belief in the sanctity of the land of Israel and in the redemption of the Jewish people through the return to Zion) and practical considerations (e.g., desire to escape the worsening conditions in their lands of origin and to improve their lot in Palestine). The proto-Zionist ideas which had already crystallized in Western Europe during the late 1850s and early 1860s were gaining currency in Eastern Europe.
^ Halpern, Ben (1998). Zionism and the creation of a new society. Reinharz, Jehuda. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-585-18273-5. OCLC 44960036.
^ "About the First Aliyah". First Aliyah Museum. Retrieved 2023-11-14.

[1] Bernstein, Deborah S. Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State IsraelState University of New York Press, Albany. (1992) p.4

[2] Scharfstein, Sol, Chronicle of Jewish History: From the Patriarchs to the 21st Century, p.231, KTAV Publishing House (1997), ISBN 978-0-88125-545-4

[3] "Modern Zionist Aliyot". The Jewish Agency. 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2023-11-14.

[4] "Immigrants to Israel, The First Aliyah (1882–1903)".

[5] Goldin, Semion (October 2014). "Antisemitism and Pogroms in the Military (Russian Empire)". 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Archived from the original on November 15, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2023.

[jafi-6] "New Aliyah – Modern Zionist Aliyot (1882–1948)". Jewish Agency for Israel. Archived from the original on 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2008-10-26.

[Soviet-7] Joel Brinkley, As Jerusalem Labors to Settle Soviet Jews, Native Israelis Slip Quietly Away, The New York Times, 11 February 1990. Quote: "In the late 19th and early 20th century many of the European Jews who set up religious settlements in Palestine gave up after a few months and returned home, often hungry and diseased.". Accessed 4 May 2020.

[Salmon-8] Salmon, Yosef (1978). "Ideology and Reality in the Bilu "Aliyah"". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. 2 (4). [President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]: 431. ISSN 0363-5570. JSTOR 41035804. Retrieved 2023-02-03. Jewish influx into Palestine. Between 1880 and 1907, the number of Jews in Palestine grew from 23,000 to 80,000. Most of the community resided in Jerusalem, which already had a Jewish majority at the beginning of the influx. [Footnote: Mordecai Elia, Ahavar Tziyon ve-Kolel Hod (Tel Aviv, 1971), appendix A. Between 1840 and 1880 the Jewish settlement in Palestine grew in numbers from 9,000 to 23,000.] The First Aliyah accounted for only a few thousand of the new-comers, and the number of the Biluim among them was no more than a few dozen. Jewish immigration to Palestine had begun to swell in the 1840s, following the liberalization of Ottoman domestic policy (the Tanzimat Reforms) and as a result of the protection extended to immigrants by the European consulates set up at the time in Jerusalem and Jaffa. The majority of immigrants came from Eastern and Central Europe – the Russian Empire, Romania, and Hungary – and were not inspired by modern Zionist ideology. Many were motivated by a blend of traditional ideology (e.g., belief in the sanctity of the land of Israel and in the redemption of the Jewish people through the return to Zion) and practical considerations (e.g., desire to escape the worsening conditions in their lands of origin and to improve their lot in Palestine). The proto-Zionist ideas which had already crystallized in Western Europe during the late 1850s and early 1860s were gaining currency in Eastern Europe.

[9] Halpern, Ben (1998). Zionism and the creation of a new society. Reinharz, Jehuda. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-585-18273-5. OCLC 44960036.

[10] "About the First Aliyah". First Aliyah Museum. Retrieved 2023-11-14.

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