Sunday, September 10, 2006

Pre-Zionism Zionists (part 2)

Here are some more interesting historical articles about Jews who worked towards the establishment of a Jewish state in the years before the First Aliya.

First, we have a reference to a wealthy Jewish woman who was reported to have bought the Mount of Olives in 1856:

Secondly, here is an excerpt from an article about the life of Sir Moses Montefiore, showing some of his charitable acts towards the Jews in Palestine:

Finally, we have this article from 1879, right before the "First Aliya", describing how Jews were already flocking to Palestine, purchasing land as fast as they could and improving the economy:

There is much more to research and write on this topic, including the parallel Christian movement advocating "the restoration of the Jews" - which, as far as I can tell, was relegated to preaching about it but no real action.

Other fascinating topics are popping up as I am looking through these old newspapers - the informal and subconscious anti-Semitism that pervades many of the newspapers, and notably the period coverage of a number of New York hotels (upstate and in Coney Island) who banned Jews in the late 1870s.