View source for First Aliyah

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{{Short description|Jewish immigration to Palestine (1881–1903)}}
{{Expand Hebrew|topic=hist|date=November 2023}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2024}}{{Aliyah}}
The '''First Aliyah''' ({{langx|he|העלייה הראשונה|HaAliyah HaRishona}}), also known as the '''agriculture Aliyah''', was a major wave of Jewish immigration (''[[aliyah]]'') to [[History of Israel#Ottoman period |Ottoman]] [[Palestine (region) |Palestine]] between 1881 and 1903.<ref>Bernstein, Deborah S. ''Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State Israel''State University of New York Press, Albany. (1992) p.4</ref><ref>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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-11-13 |title=Modern Zionist Aliyot |url=https://archive.jewishagency.org/historical-aliyah/content/28841 |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=The Jewish Agency |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Immigrants to Israel, The First Aliyah (1882–1903) |url=https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/Guides/the-aliya-story?chapterIndex=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldin |first=Semion |date=October 2014 |title=Antisemitism and Pogroms in the Military (Russian Empire) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/antisemitism_and_pogromsin_the_military_russian_empire |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115004207/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/antisemitism_and_pogromsin_the_military_russian_empire |archive-date=November 15, 2023 |access-date=November 15, 2023 |website=1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War}}</ref> An estimated 25,000<ref name="jafi">{{cite web|url=http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/aliyah3.html|title=New Aliyah – Modern Zionist Aliyot (1882–1948)|publisher=[[Jewish Agency for Israel]]|access-date=2008-10-26|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090623204122/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/aliyah3.html|archive-date=2009-06-23}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Soviet>Joel Brinkley, [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/11/world/as-jerusalem-labors-to-settle-soviet-jews-native-israelis-slip-quietly-away.html?pagewanted=all 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.</ref>

During the first Aliyah, agricultural settlements called [[Moshava]] were established. The immigrants engaged in various professions, including agriculture, trade, and commerce.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

At the beginning of the period, the Jewish population in 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 Ottoman Palestine had grown to approximately 55,000. 

The use of the term "First Aliyah" is controversial because there had been a previous wave of immigration to [[Ottoman Syria]] starting in the mid-19th century (between 1840 and 1880, the Jewish population in Ottoman Syria rose from 9,000 to 23,000).<ref name="Salmon">{{cite journal | last=Salmon | first=Yosef | title=Ideology and Reality in the Bilu "Aliyah" | journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies | publisher=[President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute] | volume=2 | issue=4 | year=1978 | issn=0363-5570 | jstor=41035804 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41035804 | access-date=2023-02-03|page=431|quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Halpern|first=Ben|title=Zionism and the creation of a new society|url=https://archive.org/details/zionismcreationn00halp|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Reinharz, Jehuda|year=1998|isbn=978-0-585-18273-5|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/zionismcreationn00halp/page/n61 53]–54|oclc=44960036}}</ref> However, nearly all of the Jews from Eastern Europe before the First Aliyah came from traditional Jewish families who were inspired by traditional ideas of the holiness of the land combined with practical/{{wbr}}{{Zwsp}}economic considerations, rather than by modern [[Zionist]] ideology.<ref name="Salmon" /> Thus the First Aliyah represents the beginning of organized Zionism in the [[Land of Israel]], differentiating it from earlier immigration.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About the First Aliyah |url=https://www.museumzy.com/en/a-journey-into-the-past-1 |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=First Aliyah Museum |language=en}}</ref>

== Background ==
The migration to Ottoman Palestine at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century took place during a period of mass global emigration from Eastern Europe to the Western World. From the early 19th century until [[World War II]], approximately 65 million people, including around 4.5&nbsp;million Jews, migrated to countries in Central and Western Europe and the Americas, including North and South America, Australia, and South Africa. The majority of Jewish emigrants went from Eastern Europe to the United States, with additional destinations in North and South America, Western Europe, Australia, and South Africa. A small minority of the Jewish emigrants moved to Palestine during the early waves of migration, and some of them settled there.

Among the reasons for the mass migration from Eastern Europe were economic hardships resulting from rapid population growth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hatton |first1=Timothy J. |last2=Williamson |first2=Jeffrey G. |date=1994 |title=What Drove the Mass Migrations from Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2137600 |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=533–559 |doi=10.2307/2137600 |jstor=2137600 |issn=0098-7921|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Jewish community from the [[Pale of Settlement]] in western  Russia, Galicia, and [[Kingdom of Romania| Romania]], in particular, suffered from economic difficulties. Most of the Jewish emigrants (who mainly migrated to America) were families seeking to escape persecution and aiming to improve their personal and economic security.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The European Experience – 1.3.2 Migration and Diaspora in Modern History (ca. 1800–1900) |date=2023 |url=https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0323/ch8.xhtml |doi=10.11647/obp.0323|isbn=978-1-80064-870-8 |doi-access=free |editor-last1=Hansen |editor-last2=Hung |editor-last3=Ira |editor-last4=Klement |editor-last5=Lesage |editor-last6=Luis Simal |editor-last7=Tompkins |editor-first1=Jan |editor-first2=Jochen |editor-first3=Jaroslav |editor-first4=Judit |editor-first5=Sylvain |editor-first6=Juan |editor-first7=Andrew }}</ref> [[Antisemitism|Antisemitic]] persecution both by authorities and by the local population in Eastern Europe, primarily in the Russian Empire, intensified the Jewish migration. Prominent antisemitic incidents in this context included the "[[Kiev pogrom (1881)|Kiev pogrom]]" in 1881, the "[[May Laws]]" in 1882, and the [[History of the Jews in Moscow|expulsion of Moscow's Jews]] in 1890.

== Reasoning and motives ==
This migration to Ottoman Palestine was influenced by extensive Zionist activity in Eastern Europe, which inspired a sense of historical and religious connection between the Jewish people and the ancient land, despite its difficult political and economic environment compared to other migration destinations.

After widespread pogroms in the Russian Empire, known as the "[[Kiev pogrom (1881)|Kiev Pogrom]]" (1881), the pamphlet "[[Auto-Emancipation]]!" by Leon Pinsker was published and the organization "[[Lovers of Zion|Hibbat Zion]]" (Lovers of Zion) was established. Its members opened branches in many cities and towns, leading to a national awakening among part of the Jewish population in the [[Pale of Settlement]] areas, extending beyond the borders of Russia. The rise in antisemitism made the Zionist movement popular, replacing the attitude of integration into European societies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Radio Romania International – 135 Years Since the Focsani Zionist Congress |url=https://www.rri.ro/en_gb/135_years_since_the_focsani_zionist_congress-2557955 |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Radio Romania International}}</ref> On January 11, 1882, the first Lovers of Zion congress, the [[Focșani]] Zionist Congress, was held. Its participants represented around 70,000 activists, which accounted for one third of Romanian Jews at the time.<ref name=":0" /> [[Mosheh Halevy Goldrin]], a leader and visionary, called the convention 'the Union for the Agricultural Settlement' and presented a bold plan to organize group emigration to Palestine and Syria and establish farming communities there.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-05 |title=Israel's future: A tale of two (or three) Zionisms – opinion |url=https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-745206 |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}}</ref> 

There, the Central Committee for Settling the Land of Israel and Syria was established. It was the first organization dealing with organized immigrant groups to the Land of Israel. The committee organized expeditions from [[Galați]] on the [[Danube]] to the Land of Israel, bringing emigrants from Jewish communities in Romania. Through the committee's activities, about 600 people, out of approximately 1,000 early immigrants, settled in nine Moshava, including [[Rosh Pinna|Rosh Pina]] and [[Zikhron Ya'akov|Zichron Yaakov.]] In 1883, the committee ran into financial difficulties and transferred the assets of Zichron Yaakov to [[Edmond James de Rothschild|Baron Rothschild]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=גלעד (גולדנברג) |first=ישראל |date=2022-01-16 |title=הקונגרס שבאמת היה הקונגרס הציוני הראשון |url=https://blog.nli.org.il/chov-congress-focsani/ |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=הספרנים |language=he-IL}}</ref>

==History==
The First Aliyah occurred from 1881 to 1903 and did not go as planned as Zionists ran out of funds.<ref name="ajzenberg">{{cite web |url=http://www.ajzenberg.com/Book/185.htm |title=Palestine/Israel}}{{bsn|date=January 2023}}</ref> The [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] organization helped the Zionist movement by funding Zionists and by purchasing large settlements and by creating new settlements.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Malley|first=JP O’|title=With spy Sarah Aaronsohn's suicide, Israeli history was rewritten, claims author|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-spy-sarah-aaronsohns-suicide-israeli-history-was-rewritten-claims-author/|access-date=2020-12-12|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

After the first wave in the early 1880s, there was another spike in 1890.  The [[Russian Empire]] officially approved the activity of [[Hovevei Zion]] in 1890. The same year, the "[[Odessa Committee]]" began its operation in [[Jaffa]]. The purpose of this organization was to absorb immigrants to Ottoman Syria who came as a result of the activities of Hovevei Zion in Russia.  Also Russian Jewry's situation deteriorated as the authorities continued to push Jews out of business and trade and Moscow was almost entirely cleansed of Jews.<ref>[[History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union#Mass emigration]]</ref>

The Ottoman authorities recognized the Jewish immigration wave to the land as early as November 1882. They understood from the beginning of the 1880s that it was part of a larger Jewish national plan. Consequently, they took steps to limit the entry options for Jews into the country. Restrictions were imposed, despite the Sultan's permit for Jewish settlement given during a meeting with two Jewish representatives from Romania in May 1882. The scope of the immigration diminished due to these restrictions and the difficulties faced by the immigrants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mandel |first=Neville J. |date=1974 |title=Ottoman Policy and Restrictions on Jewish Settlement in Palestine: 1881–1908: Part I |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4282539 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=312–332 |jstor=4282539 |issn=0026-3206}}</ref> 

===From Eastern Europe===
Jewish immigration to Ottoman Palestine from Eastern Europe occurred as part of mass emigrations of approximately 2.5&nbsp;million people<ref>{{cite web |title=Industrial Revolution |url=http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/migration/chapter3.html |website=www.let.leidenuniv.nl |access-date=13 February 2020}}</ref> that took place towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.  A rapid increase in population had created economic problems that affected Jewish societies in the [[Pale of Settlement]] in Russia, [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]], and [[Romania]].<ref name="ajzenberg"/>

[[Antisemitism in the Russian Empire|Persecution of Jews in Russia]] was also a factor.  In 1881, Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]] was assassinated, and the authorities blamed the Jews for the assassination. Consequently, in addition to the [[May Laws]], major anti-Jewish [[pogrom]]s swept the Pale of Settlement. A movement called [[Hovevei Zion|Hibbat Zion]] (lovers of Zion) spread across the Pale (helped by [[Leon Pinsker]]'s pamphlet ''[[Wikisource:Auto-Emancipation|Auto-Emancipation]]''), as did the similar [[Bilu (movement)|Bilu]] movement. Both movements encouraged Jews to emigrate to Ottoman Palestine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dubnow |first=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL60sEf7OPoC&dq=lovers+of+zion+first+colony&pg=PA392 |title=History of the Jews in Russia and Poland |date=2000 |publisher=Avotaynu |isbn=978-1-886223-11-0 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1882, many Jews who were preparing to immigrate, and several organizations that were on the verge of finalizing land purchases for establishing settlements were thrown into disarray and decided not to immigrant because of the Ottoman's restriction.

The immigration renewed in 1890 for several reasons, the prominent among them were:

# The [[Russia]]n government granted official approval for the activities of the [[Lovers of Zion|"Hibbat Zion]]" movement in 1890. Starting from this year, the "[[Odessa Committee]]" began operating in the Land, aiming to give home to immigrants who arrived in the country legally due to the Zionist activity in Russia. The Jews arrived to the land as Russian citizens.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=Zionism and Israel – Encyclopedic Dictionary 'Hovevei Tziyon – Definition |url=https://zionism-israel.com/dic/Hovevei_Tzion.htm |website=Zionism and Israel Information Center}}</ref>
# The economic situation of Russian Jews worsened, as the authorities continued to push Jews out of trade and industry. In 1891, Jews were expelled from Moscow. This difficult situation increased immigration from Russia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MOSCOW - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11042-moscow |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref>
# The economic condition of the settlements from the first wave of immigration improved during the period of the first Aliyah, thanks to the assistance of [[Edmond James de Rothschild|Baron Rothschild]] (through planting orchards, establishing vineyards, etc.). This phenomenon attracted the second wave of the first Aliyah to the Land of Israel.

===From Yemen===
The first group of immigrants from [[Yemen]] came approximately seven months before most of the Eastern European Jews arrived in Palestine.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

Due to the changes in the [[Ottoman Empire]], citizens could move more freely, and in 1869, travel was improved with the opening of the [[Suez Canal]], which reduced the travel time from Yemen to Ottoman Syria. Certain [[Yemenite Jews]] interpreted these changes and the new developments in the "Holy Land" as heavenly signs that the time of redemption was near. By settling in Ottoman Syria, they would play a part in what they believed could precipitate the anticipated messianic era. Emigration from Yemen to the [[Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem]] ([[Ottoman Syria]]) began in early 1881 and continued almost without interruption until 1914. It was during this time that about 10% of the Yemenite Jews left. From 1881 to 1882, a few hundred Jews left [[Sana'a|Sanaa]] and several nearby settlements. This wave was followed by other Jews from central Yemen who continued to move into [[Ottoman Syria]]n provinces until 1914. The majority of these groups moved into [[Jerusalem]] and [[Jaffa]]. In 1884, some families settled into a new-built neighborhood called Yemenite Village ''Kfar Hashiloach'' ({{langx|he|כפר השילוח}}) in the Jerusalem district of [[Silwan]], and built the [[Old Yemenite Synagogue]].<ref name=Jaskow>{{cite news|last1=Jaskow|first1=Rahel|title=Jewish activists move into building in Arab Jerusalem neighborhood Structure in Silwan was once the synagogue of a village built there for Yemenite immigrants in the 1880s, NGO claims|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-activists-move-into-building-in-arab-jerusalem-neighborhood/|access-date=8 May 2015|publisher=[[The Times of Israel]]|date=6 May 2015}}</ref><ref name=BenGedalyahu>{{cite news|last1=Ben-Gedalyahu|first1=Tzvi|title=Jews Move into Former Yemenite Synagogue in Silwan Valley The building is one of many where the British Mandate evicted Jews and let Arabs take over.|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/jews-move-into-former-yemenite-synagogue-in-silwan-valley/2015/05/07/|access-date=8 May 2015|publisher=The Jewish Press|date=7 May 2015}}</ref>

Before [[World War I]], there was another wave that began in 1906 and continued until 1914. Hundreds of Yemenite Jews made their way to Ottoman Syria and chose to settle in the agricultural settlements. It was after these movements that the [[World Zionist Organization]] sent Shmuel Yavne'eli to Yemen to encourage Jews to emigrate to the Land of Israel. Yavne'eli reached Yemen at the beginning of 1911 and returned to Ottoman Syria in April 1912. Due to Yavne'eli's efforts, about 1,000 Jews left central and southern Yemen, with several hundred more arriving before 1914.<ref>''The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times'', by Reeva Spector Simon, Michael Menachem Laskier, Sara Reguer editors, Columbia University Press, 2003, page 406</ref>

==Settlement==
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 5736 Kindergarten at Rishon-Lezion.jpg|thumb|Kindergarten in Rishon Lezion, c.1898]]
The First Aliyah laid the cornerstone for Jewish settlement in Israel and created several settlements – [[Rishon LeZion]], [[Rosh Pinna]], [[Zikhron Ya'akov]], [[Gedera]], among others.  Immigrants of the First Aliyah also contributed to existing Jewish towns and settlements, notably [[Petah Tikva]]. The first neighbourhoods of Tel Aviv ([[Neve Tzedek]], 1887; and [[Neve Shalom, Tel Aviv|Neve Shalom]], 1890) were also built by members of the aliyah, although it was not until the [[Second Aliyah]] that [[Tel Aviv]] was officially founded.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
 
The settlements established by the First Aliyah, known in Hebrew as [[moshava|moshavot]] are:
{{columns-list|
*[[Rishon LeZion]] (1882)
*[[Rosh Pinna]] (1882, taking over and renaming the colony of Gei Oni established in 1878 and down to three families by 1882)
*[[Zikhron Ya'akov]] (1882)
*[[Petah Tikva]] (1882; reestablished after first attempt in 1878)
*[[Mazkeret Batya]] (1883 established as "Ekron")
*[[Ness Ziona]] (1883; began as "Nahalat Reuven")
*[[Yesud HaMa'ala]] (1883)
*[[Gedera]] (1884)
*[[Bat Shlomo]] (1889)
*[[Meir Shfeya]] (1889)
*[[Rehovot]] (1890)
*[[Mishmar HaYarden (moshava)|Mishmar HaYarden]] (1890)
*[[Hadera]] (1891)
*[[Ein Zeitim]] (1892)
*[[Motza]] (1894)
*[[Hartuv]] (1895)
*[[Metula]] (1896)
*[[Be'er Tuvia]] (1896 reestablished and renamed by [[Hovevei Zion]]; first settled in 1887 under the name Castina)
*Bnei Yehuda (1898; not identical with the new [[Bnei Yehuda, Golan Heights]])
*[[Mahanayim]] (1898–1912)
*[[Ilaniya|Sejera]] (1899)
*Mas'ha (1901), renamed [[Kfar Tavor]] in 1903
*[[Yavne'el]] (1901)
*[[Menahemia]] (1901)
*[[Beit Gan]] (1903; next to [[Yavne'el]])
*[[Atlit (modern town)|Atlit]] (1903)
*[[Binyamina-Giv'at Ada|Giv'at Ada]] (1903)
*[[Kfar Saba]] (1904)
}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
===Sources===
* {{cite book|author=Kark, Ruth|author-link=Ruth Kark|author2=Oren-Nordheim, Michal|year=2001|title=Jerusalem and Its Environs|publisher=Magnes Press|isbn=978-0-8143-2909-2 |ref=refKark}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons cat}}
*[[David Ben-Gurion|Ben-Gurion, David]] (1976), ''From Class to Nation: Reflections on the Vocation and Mission of the Labor Movement'', Am Oved {{in lang|he}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aliyah 1}}
[[Category:Aliyah waves|First]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Europe]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Yemen]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Ottoman Palestine]]
[[Category:1882 in Ottoman Syria]]
[[Category:Political movements of the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Ottoman Galilee]]