Bilu

Bilu (Hebrew acronym ???"?; based on a verse from the Book of Isaiah (2:5) "??? ???? ??? ?????" "Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Ve-nelkha" ("House of Jacob, let us go ") was a group of Jewish idealists aspiring to settle in the Land of Israel with the political purpose to establish Jewish National Homeland there.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Acronym - Verse - Book of Isaiah - Jacob - Jew - Idealist - Settle - Land of Israel - Political - Jewish National Homeland

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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. Vast majority of them emigrated to the United States, but some decided to make aliyah.

Related Topics:
Pogroms - 1881 - 1884 - Anti-Semitic - May Laws - 1882 - Tsar - Alexander III of Russia - Russian Empire - 1880 - 1920 - United States - Aliyah

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The first group of Biluim was founded by fourteen ex-university students from Kharkov who in July 1882 arrived to Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman Empire. The same month, after an unsuccessful attempt to attend a Jewish farming school in Mikveh Israel, they joined Hovevei Zion pioneers in establishing Rishon LeZion ("First to Zion") as an agricultural cooperative on the purchased lands of the Arab village Eyun Kara. It lacked sufficient fresh water and within a few months, facing starvation, most of them left.

Related Topics:
Kharkov - 1882 - Palestine - Ottoman Empire - Mikveh Israel - Hovevei Zion - Rishon LeZion - Zion - Agricultural - Cooperative

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They turned to Baron Edmond James de Rothschild for help, and he provided funds in order to create wine industry in Palestine. In 1886, construction began on the Rishon Le-Zion winery and eventually it became a successful wine-exporting enterprise.

Related Topics:
Edmond James de Rothschild - Wine - 1886

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According to Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (86-volume edition), the region's export of wine and cognac in 1895 alone amounted to ? 277,000. http://www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/007/076/76301.htm

Related Topics:
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary - ?

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With Rothshild's help, the Biluim also founded Zichron Yaakov. In 1884, eight members of the group were offered land in Gedera.

Related Topics:
Zichron Yaakov - 1884 - Gedera

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