| Odessa Committee |
Article Index for Odessa |
Website Links For Odessa |
Information AboutOdessa Committee |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ODESSA COMMITTEE | |
| jewish russian and soviet history | |
| zionist organizations | |
| politics of imperial russia | |
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The Pogrom s of 1881 - 1884 and the May Laws of 1882 gave impetus to mass emigration and political activism among Russian Jews. More than two million of them fled Russia between 1881 and 1920, vast majority emigrated to the United States . The Tsarist government sporadically encouraged Jewish emigration. In 1882, members of Bilu and Hovevei Zion made what came to be known the First Aliyah to Palestine , then a part of the Ottoman Empire . These organizations were not official. In order to attain a legal recognition, a Jewish organization had to be registered as a charity. In 1890 , the authorities approved the establishment of the "Society..." based in Odessa (now in Ukraine ) and headed by Leon Pinsker dedicated to practical aspects in establishing agricultural Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel. It helped to establish Rehovot and Hadera and rehabilitate Mishmar Ha-Yarden in early 1890s . Before the First Zionist Congress in 1897 the Odessa Committee counted over 4,000 members. When the Zionist Organization was founded (1897), most of the Hovevei Zion societies joined it. The Odessa Committee continued to function until it was closed in 1913 . EXTERNAL LINKS
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