Hechalutz

Founded in 1905

Association of Jewish youth whose aim was to train its members to settle on the land in Israel. The original meaning of the Hebrew word is the vanguard that leads the host on its advanceץ

The idea of Hechalutz was conceived during the crisis that overtook Russian Jewry in the aftermath of the 1881 pogroms. This awakening was influenced indirectly by the Russian revolutionary movement, which called upon the intelligentsia to "go out to the people." Two of the societies that were formed at this time – *Bilu, which called for settlement in Ereẓ Israel, and *Am Olam, which advocated settlement in the United States – were pioneer movements that imposed the concepts of "self-fulfillment" upon their members and planned for collective or cooperative settlement. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Jewish youth movement made up of small groups gradually came into being. Menaḥem *Ussishkin gave impetus to this development in 1904, when he called for the establishment of "a general Jewish workers' organization made up of unmarried young people of sound body and spirit. Each member would be committed to settle for a period of three years in Ereẓ Israel, where he would render army service for the Jewish people, his weapons being not the sword and the rifle, but the spade and the plow" (in Our Program). Such movements arose under different names in various countries: in America He-Ḥalutz, founded by Eliezer *Joffe in 1905 (see below); in Russia, a number of societies, among them Bilu'im Ḥadashim (new Bilu'im) and He-Ḥalutz. They were encouraged by the Ereẓ Israel workers, who called for the settlement of ḥalutzim (A.D. Gordon in 1904, Joseph *Vitkin in 1905, the Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir in 1908, etc.) and sent emissaries abroad to urge young Jews to settle in Ereẓ Israel.

When World War II broke out, Hechalutz had a membership of 100,000. In 1927, according to statistics published by the Histadrut, 43% of all workers in Ereẓ Israel and 80% of the members of kibbutzim had been trained by Hechalutz before settling in Ereẓ Israel. After the war, the world movement of Hechalutz ceased to exist, although the activities that it had conducted were renewed on a smaller scale in Europe, the United States, and other countries. Pioneering youth movements, like all Zionist youth movements, now conduct their work under the auspices of the Youth and He-Halutz Department of the World Zionist Organization.