First Aliyah

1. First Aliyah • This report is about the First Aliyah and Jewish immigration. The word “Aliyah” means to rise and go up to the beemah or to move to Israel. Each Jew that moves to Israel gets an honored title of oleh (for a man or a boy), olah (for a women or a girl), or olim (plural) meaning someone who goes up or makes Aliyah. • The first Aliyah was between 1882 and 1904. • When the Jews were living in Russia, pogroms were sweeping the country. That terrified and shocked the Jews. Mobs were killing innocent Jewish people. • Inspired by Theodore Herzl telling them to settle in Palestine, 25,000 olim moved to where 25,000 other Jews were already living, in the four holy cities in Israel- Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed. • During the First Aliyah, the first farming settlements that were formed were Petach, Tikvah, Rishon Le-Zion, Rosh Pinah and Zichron Yaakov. • The developing Jewish community of Palestine was known as the Yishuv. The new settlements were helped financially by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. He also sent experts to help them with their farming problems. • Under the leadership of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the Hebrew language was modernized. Within ten years Hebrew was the principal language of the Yishuv.

2. Edmond de Rothschild • The family name Rothschild is made of two German words. Rothmeaning“red” and Schild meaning “shield” Redshield • Born in Paris in 1845, he did not enter the family banking empire. In 1877 he married Adelaide daughter of Wilhelm Karl . • His father Mayer Amschel Rothschild, a descendant of Isaac Elhanan, was a banker. His five sons established branch banks in major European Capitals such as: Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, Napels and London. • Wherever the Rothschild family settled, they used their wealth and economic power to help their fellow Jews. • Rothschild wanted to help the Jewish immigrants who were going to the Jewish homeland. • When the settlers of the 1stAliyahencountered great difficulties from the rocky and barren land infested with malaria, they asked for his help. Later he helped them when the Ottoman authorities started banning Jewish immigration. • He managed to purchase 125,000 acres of land for their farms and settlements. • The Baron’s agricultural experts came and taught the settlers how to work the land and how to plant a variety of crops. • He also started a wine industry in the land of Israel. • There are now 21 wineries in Israel located in every section of the country. • He also found time to fund the Hebrew University In Jerusalem. • Baron Edmond de Rothschild was a public figure, known as the “Founder Father of the Yishuv” during the time of the first Aliyah. • He provided more money for the homeland- more than all the Jews in the world combined • The Rothschild family has continued its support for the state of Israel and gave money for schools, hospitals, parks, and museums. • He passed away in 1934 and he was buried in Paris, France. • In 1954, his remains and those of his wife were brought to Zikhron, Israel.