- Bilu
Bilu ( _he. ביל"ו;
acronym based on a verse from theBook of Isaiah (2:5) "בית יעקב לכו ונלכה" ""Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Ve-nelkha" ("House ofJacob , let us go [up] ") was a group ofJew ishidealist s aspiring to settle in theLand of Israel with thepolitical purpose to redeemEretz Yisrael and re-establish theJewish State on it.The wave of
pogroms of 1881-1884 andanti-Semitic "May Laws " of 1882 introduced byTsar Alexander III of Russia prompted mass emigration of Jews from theRussian Empire . More than 2 million Jews fled Russia between 1880 and 1920. Vast majority of them emigrated to theUnited States , but some decided to makealiyah .The first group of Biluim was founded by fourteen ex-university students from
Kharkov who in July 1882 arrived inPalestine , a province within theOttoman Empire which in ancient times had been the site of the historical Jewish homeland. The same month, after an unsuccessful attempt to attend a Jewish farming school inMikveh Israel , they joinedHovevei Zion pioneers in establishingRishon LeZion ("First toZion ") as anagricultural cooperative on the purchased lands of the Arab villageEyun Kara . It lacked sufficient fresh water and within a few months, facing starvation, most of them left.They turned to Baron
Edmond James de Rothschild for help, and he provided funds in order to create awine industry in Palestine. In 1886, construction began on the Rishon Le-Zion winery and eventually it became a successful wine-exporting enterprise.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]With Rothshild's help, the Biluim also founded
Zichron Yaakov . In 1884, eight members of the group were offered land inGedera .See also
*List of Rishon LeZion notables contains Biluim, among others
*Immigration to Palestine and Israel The Bilu's aspirations were linked to those of other Zionists of the time such as Hillel and Leon Pinsker.
External links
* [http://www.wzo.org.il/home/movement/bilu.htm The BILU movement and Hovevei Zion] at the WZO
* [http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Zionism/bilu.html BILU] at the Jewish Virtual Library
* [http://www.multied.com/Israel/1882Bilu.html A history of Israel: Bilu]
* [http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/ZA/SiteE/pShowView.aspx?GM=Y&ID=16&Teur=The%20%93Bilu%94%20movement%20%201882%20%96%201883 Statutes of the BILU Society] at zionistarchives.org.il
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