First Aliyah

Jewish immigration to Palestine (1881–1903)

The First Aliyah (העלייה הראשונה), also known as the agriculture Aliyah, was a major wave of Jewish immigration (aliyah) to Ottoman Palestine between 1881 and 1903. 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. An estimated 25,000 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. During the first Aliyah, agricultural settlements called Moshava were established. The immigrants engaged in various professions, including agriculture, trade, and commerce. 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), use of the term "First Aliyah" is controversial. 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.

The migration to the Land of Israel at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century took place during a period of mass global immigration from Europe to the Western World. From the early 19th century until World War II, approximately 65 million people, including around 4.5 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 immigrants came 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 Jewish immigrants arrived in the Land of Israel during the early waves of migration, and some of them settled there. Among the reasons for the mass migration from Eastern Europe were the rapid demographic growth in the European population and the economic hardships resulting from it. The Jewish community from the Pale of Settlement in western Russia, Galicia, and Romania, in particular, suffered from economic difficulties. Most of the Jewish immigrants (who mainly migrated to America) were families seeking to escape persecution and aiming to improve their personal and economic security. The persecution of minorities, Antisemitism, pogroms, and persecution by both authorities and 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" in 1881, the "May Laws" in 1882, and the expulsion of Moscow's Jews in 1890.

This migration to the Land of Israel, then under Ottoman control, 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); the pamphlet "Auto Emancipation!" by Leon Pinsker was published; and the organization "Hibbat 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. On January 11, 1882, the first congress of the "Lovers of Zion", the Focșani Zionist Congress, was held. Its participants represented around 70,000 activists, which accounted for one third of Romanian Jews at the time. 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 immigrants from Jewish communities in Romania. Through the committee's activities, about 600 people, out of approximately 1,000 early immigrants, settled in nine points of settlement, including Rosh Pina and Zichron Yaakov. In 1883, the committee ran into financial difficulties and transferred the assests of the Moshava Zichron Yaakov to Baron Rothschild.

The First Aliyah occurred from 1881 to 1903 and did not go as planned as Zionists ran out of funds. The Rothschild organization helped the Zionist movement by funding Zionists and by purchasing large settlements and by creating new settlements. 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. 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.

The first group of immigrants from Yemen came approximately seven months before most of the Eastern European Jews arrived in Palestine. 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 Sanaa and several nearby settlements. This wave was followed by other Jews from central Yemen who continued to move into Ottoman Syrian 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 in the Jerusalem district of Silwan, and built the Old Yemenite Synagogue. 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.