- Second Aliyah
The Second Aliyah was arguably the most important and influential
aliyah . It took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 40,000 Jews immigrated into Ottoman Palestine, mostly fromRussia andPoland [ [http://www.moia.gov.il/Moia_en/AboutIsrael/aliya2.htm Israeli government site on the Second Aliyah] ] , some fromYemen .The prime cause for the aliyah was mounting
antisemitism in Russia andpogrom s in thePale of Settlement , notably theKishinev Pogrom and the Pogroms that attended the1905 Russian Revolution .Although the aliyah contributed to Jewish settlement in Palestine in many ways, many see it as a failure, as nearly half of the immigrants left Palestine by the time
World War I started.ettlement
The Second Aliyah immigrants were primarily idealists, inspired by the revolutionary ideals then sweeping the
Russian Empire who sought to create a communal agricultural settlement system in Palestine. They thus founded thekibbutz movement. The first kibbutz,Degania , was founded in 1909.Those among the immigrants who preferred to settle in cities, created
Ahuzat Bayit nearJaffa , which was later renamed toTel Aviv .Culture
The Second Aliyah is largely credited with the
Revival of the Hebrew language and establishing it as the standard language for Jews in Palestine.Eliezer Ben-Yehuda contributed to the creation of the firstmodern Hebrew dictionary. Although he was an immigrant of theFirst Aliyah , his work mostly bore fruit during the second.The Second Aliyah also established the first Hebrew high school in Palestine, the
Herzliya Hebrew High School ,Tel Aviv .Defense
The Second Aliyah created the security organization,
HaShomer , which was the first major Jewish self-defense organization sinceBar Kokhba's revolt ,fact|date=April 2008 and became the precedent for future Jewish defense organizations such as theHaganah .References
Further reading
* Ben-Gurion, David, "From Class to Nation: Reflections on the Vocation and Mission of the Labor Movement" (Hebrew), Am Oved (1976)
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