| March of the Living 2011 |
| On Monday, May 2, 2011 Jewish Life Foundation will broadcast live from Poland for the second year in a row. |
Chapter I — Setting the Stage for the Pioneers
In the early 1800’s, Sir Moses Montefiore, a British Sephardic Jew whose family came from Italy, and had originally emigrated from Spain, was a classic example of the consequence of the movement and relocation of the Jews in the Diaspora. Montefiore, an Orthodox Jew, traveled from Great Britain to Eretz Yisrael in 1827 and became enamored with the Holy Land. It was men like Montefiore who saw the promise of the land of Israel and encouraged and supported Jewish settlers. With Montefiore’s financial backing, land was purchased and houses and synagogues were built; the land beckoned to Jewish immigrants to come and reclaim their homeland.
Chapter II — Early History—Breaking New Ground
The Zionist movement, which may be said to have begun in Russia and Poland as a result of the horror of the Russian pogroms of 1881, encouraged immigration and settlements in Israel (then Palestine). One of the first groups that moved to Palestine in 1882 called themselves BILU—the first group of immigrants that were inspired by the political purpose of establishing a Jewish homeland. The early settlers encountered and overcame tremendous adversity resulting from lack of water, unhygienic conditions, malaria and hostile tribes. These pioneers had been students and intellectuals in Europe and now in the new country were struggling to become farmers—an occupation unfamiliar to these Jews that had been forbidden to own land for centuries. Assistance from bankers like Baron Edmund de Rothschild was essential to these early settlers who needed cultural, financial, and political support.
It soon became apparent that the practical elements of Jews settling the land would merge with the principles of political Zionism and the World Zionist Organization (WZO) was born. With this group there was an established framework for the Jewish settlers: the practical development of the land which converged with the philosophic and ideology of the 5000 year history and culture of Judaism. Small farms developed into towns, education became a priority. Land was purchased, economic and political issues were confronted. Self-defense was a primary concern and the Haganah was organized to help the pioneers defend their new communities. Electricity was introduced by Pinchas Rutenberg; a new language of Modern Hebrew was created by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. This new national language was widely circulated through Hebrew newspapers and thus communication was expanded.
Chapter III — Young Patriots
As Eretz Yisrael developed in the early in the early 20th century, anti-Semitism was on the rise in Europe. Out of a need to fight for Jewish freedom both in Israel and other parts of the world, there came a new breed of young people. These young people were dedicated to the cause of Jewish freedom in their homeland. Thus a young group of Jewish activists was born, dedicated to the Zionist dream of a Jewish state. These young Jews fought alongside the British in Palestine to conquer the Turkish Empire and break down its tyrannical rule in Palestine. Many of these young pioneers belonged to a group known a NILI, whose purpose was to acquire rights in their new land under the auspices of Great Britain.
In the meantime, the global political climate was also changing rapidly and World War I and World War II were contributing more instability in the world and anti-Semitism continued to rear its ugly head, encouraging increased immigration for Jewish survival. The emphasis turned to political and cultural elements, and the survival of the Jews became conditional to their becoming organized and able to defend their rights as a cogent and convincing group.
Chapter IV — Zionism — From the Beginning
From Theodor Herzl to Henrietta Szold to Nahum Sokolow, Zionism gathered strength and a solid foundation and these ideas quickly spread throughout Israel and around the world. The “Jewish problem” was a euphemism for anti-Semitism, and became a worldwide issue with the Dreyfus trial in France. Herzl wrote “What made me into a Zionist was the Dreyfus case.” This consideration of the “Jewish problem” was first defined by Herzl in 1896 in the pamphlet he wrote, The Jewish State. It was in this document that the idea of a nation for the Jewish people was discussed within the context of political unrest at the time. As Herzl wrote:
“The Jews have dreamed this princely dream [a Jewish State] throughout the long night of our history. ‘Next year in Jerusalem’ is our age-old motto. It is now a matter of showing that the vague dream can be transformed into a clear and glowing idea.”
The path of Zionism can be traced from the beginnings of the Hovevei Zion, the growth of settlements, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) created at the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897, the Jewish National Fund, and the newspaper of the movement, Die Welt. At the Congress, the blue and white flag of the new nation was introduced by David Wolffsohn. The role of the journalists in communicating the Zionist ideology was extremely important and men like Max Nordau were quite effective in writing for the masses.
It was during this time that great strides were made to educate and organize the newly arriving immigrants, especially through such powerful organizations as Hadassah, founded by Henrietta Szold, and Hebras Zion, a group formed to communicate the fundamentals of Zionism. The young wife of a rabbi, Recha Freier, founded Youth Aliyah in Germany as a means to help the children and young people escape from Nazi terrorism and the Holocaust. The Federation of Women Zionists was created by Rebecca Sieff in Great Britain and this group became a conduit for Zionist education. Sieff and these dedicated women were instrumental in implementation of the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration, with much of the writing done by Nahum Sokolow, was finalized in 1917 on behalf of Great Britain, and was the first official document by any country committing to a national homeland for the Jewish people.
Chapter V — Artists, Poets, Writers
The Jewish people have a rich history of thinkers, writers, and artists and this chapter presents a sample of these great thinkers that represent the many. From Ahad Ha’am, who became the central figure in the movement for cultural Zionism, to Shai Agnon, considered the greatest Israeli author of the 20th century, to Chaim Bialik, the celebrated National Poet of Israel, and renowned journalist Itamar Ben-Avi, son of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. We recognize the work of Saul Tchernichowsky, a famous Hebrew poet that significantly advanced Modern Hebrew through his poetry, essayist Brenner, playwright Zangwill, archeologist Yigal Yadin and the great modern thinkers, Martin Buber and Albert Einstein. You will read about Einstein, named Time magazine’s Person of the Century, and the shock of the world when he became the subject of vigorous anti-Semitic attacks especially in Germany, ironically, the country of his birth. In his dynamic stand for Jewish individuality and the creation of their homeland, Einstein wrote:
“The “Jewish problem” cannot be solved by the assimilation of the individual Jew to his environment…. The establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine would raise the status and dignity of those who would remain in their native countries and would thereby materially assist in improving the relations between Jew and non-Jew.”
Chapter VI — Religious Influences
This chapter recounts the religious influences on the newly created Jewish state. These people were learned in Judaism and also had the sensitivity and wisdom to merge the secular and religious for the benefit of all. Men like Rav Kook, a pious and respected man, who understood the need for the religious Jew to embrace a powerful new secular movement—Jewish nationalism. The men and women who came from strong and deeply rooted religious backgrounds understood the necessity to influence pioneers from different countries and cultures and introduce Torah and Jewish law into the life of the cities and settlements. Judaism had evolved to survive in exile throughout the Diaspora. These religious men and women were able to create a common ground between traditional Orthodox Judaism and modern secular Zionism.
Chapter VII — Military Beginnings and Self-Defense
In the words of the great military tactician, Joseph Trumpeldor, “a Pioneer is everything. A worker and a fighter, a builder and a soldier…one who sacrifices everything for his country and expects no reward for his efforts.” Most of the pioneers and Israeli-born citizens were compelled to be soldiers in addition to whichever career or job they held. Trumpeldor, Jabotinsky, Sadah, Wingate, Dayan, Makleff, Marcus, an impressive list encompassing men from different parts of the world, different religions, different languages and cultural backgrounds, but all joined in one common effort—their purpose was to defend the newly developing Jewish state.
There is no corner of the world that does not understand the entrenched conflict in the Middle East and the need for the Jewish people to be on constant alert in order to defend the nation from terrorists and enemies. This chapter describes the valiant character and sacrifice of the men and women who were called upon to defend and establish the Jewish homeland.
Chapter VIII — Creating the State of Israel
The final chapter of the Pioneers of Israel is actually the first chapter in the history of Israel as a newly proclaimed nation. The foundation was laid by men like Menachem Ussishkin, chairman of the Jewish National Fund, whose passion and energy helped to secure the land. We recognize Meir Dizengoff, the 
first mayor of Tel Aviv, who had a vision for the future of the city, emphasizing its modernism while still representing the abundant history of the past. David Ben-Gurion, born in the small town of Plonsk in Poland, was an avid Zionist who went on to become the first Prime Minister of Israel and had the distinct honor to proclaim Israel as a state on May 14, 1948. We remember the many statesmen and women that followed—among them Ambassador Abba Eban, Chief Justice Louis Brandeis, Israel’s first president Chaim Weizmann, Prime Minister Golda Meir, called back to serve a second term as prime minister when she was 71 years old. The chapter concludes with Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin—two men with very different political views and social agendas, whose courage and strength and conviction paved the way for those leaders who came in the final decades of the 20th century. In the words of Prime Minister Menachem Begin, in his remarks as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978:
Reborn Israel always strove for peace, yearned for it, made endless endeavors to achieve it. My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations with which peace remains an abstract desire. We have labored long and hard to turn it into a reality—because of the blessings it holds for ourselves, our neighbors, the world.
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