Bilu

For places in Iran, see Bilu, Iran.

Bilu (Hebrew: ביל"ו‎) (also Palestine Pioneers) was a movement whose goal was the agricultural settlement of the Land of Israel. Its members were known as Bilu'im.

Etymology

"Bilu" is an acronym based on a verse from the Book of Isaiah (2:5) "בית יעקב לכו ונלכה" Beit Ya'akov Lekhu Venelkha ("House of Jacob, let us go [up]"). The movement was also known as The Bilum and the people bila. The variants in spelling appear is widespread in a number of English version secondary texts.

History

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. In July 1882, the first group of Bilu pioneers arrived in Ottoman Palestine. The group consisted of fourteen university students from Kharkov led by Israel Belkind, later a prominent writer and historian. After a short stay at the Jewish farming school in Mikveh Israel, they joined Hovevei Zion members in establishing Rishon LeZion ("First to Zion"), an agricultural cooperative on land purchased from the Arab village of Ayun Kara. Plagued by water shortages, illness and financial debt, the group abandoned the site within a few months. They then sought help from Baron Edmond James de Rothschild and Maurice de Hirsch, who provided funding that led to the establishment of the local wine industry. In 1886, construction began on a winery in Rishon Lezion that became a successful wine-exporting enterprise.

In the winter of 1884, another group of Bilu pioneers founded Gedera. Gedera was established on a tract of land purchased from the Arab village of Qatra by Yehiel Michel Pines of the Lovers of Zion through the auspices of the French consul in Jaffa.

See also

• Aliyah
• First Aliyah
• Hechalutz

External links

• A history of Israel: Bilu
• Statutes of the BILU Society at zionistarchives.org.il