Hechalutz was an association of Jewish youth whose aim was to train its members to settle in the Land of Israel

Land of Israel

The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

, which became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movement

Zionist youth movement

A Zionist youth movement is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational, social, and ideological development, including a belief in Jewish nationalism as represented in the State of Israel...

s.
Hechalutz was originally a spontaneous, but loose affiliation of Lovers of Zion

Hovevei Zion

Hovevei Zion , also known as Hibbat Zion , refers to organizations that are now considered the forerunners and foundation-builders of modern Zionism....

 in the 1881s. The organization was established in the USA in 1905 by Eliezer Yafe as a non-political pioneering movement aimed to train and bring young Jews to Palestine to practically and physically work to redeem the land and build the nation.

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Hechalutz branches blossomed across Europe, Russia, America and Canada. The organization was boosted by strong leadership by, for example, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, the second and longest-serving President of Israel.-Biography:...

 (second President of Israel) and David Ben Gurion (first Prime Minister of Israel) in America, and Joseph Trumpeldor

Joseph Trumpeldor

Joseph Trumpeldor , was an early Zionist activist. He helped organize the Zion Mule Corps and bring Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel. Trumpeldor died defending the settlement of Tel Hai in 1920 and subsequently became a Zionist national hero...

 in Russia. At its peak between 1930-1935, Hechalutz flourished in 25 countries throughout Europe, North South Africa, the Middle East, and North South America. By the eve of Second World War in 1939, Hechalutz numbered 100,000 members worldwide, with approximately 60,000 having already made aliyah, and with 16,000 members in hakhsharot (training centres) for the pioneering life in the Land of Israel..

External links

• Hechalutz website

This article incorporates text from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...

, and has been released under the GFDL.