Background: The settlement in the Land of Israel in the 19th century split in two, the Old vs. the New. The outlook of the New Yishuv, the secular outlook – was to establish a Jewish society in the Land which lives from the toil of its hands, and whose children work in productive occupations, such as working the land, craft and industry. The Old Yishuv naturally rejected this with both hands, as for them, working the land is expressed by observing mitzvahs and Torah study. This is indeed the ideological foundation of the patriarchs of the Old Yishuv, who left the life of this material world, the place of their birth, and their source of income – not for money, but to dwell in G-d’s house and rise ever higher in His service. Despite this, there is no mistaking that the Old Yishuv did not include laborers and craftsmen. There were wealthy merchants, owners of large workshops and capitalists. Obviously, there were also merchants, shopkeepers, paid laborers and the like. This archive opens a wide window into the attempt to found an agricultural settlement, an initiative taken by the extremists in the community – this is a historic discovery! Completely unknown association in the Jerusalem Yishuv – a society called “Agudat HaYishuv,” founded in the winter of 1921. The society’s leaders were: Dov Ludmir, Dov Ber Abramowitz, Chaim Michel Michlin. The discovery lies in the involvement of R’ David Bahara”n, one of the major zealots of the city, who acquired membership for his son R’ Nachum, and added a number of supplements to sections, which characterize his personality: “Jewish agricultural settlement in the Land of Israel based on religion and tradition according to all the customs and resolutions accepted over the generations. Every one of these customs has already been privileged to be accepted by our forefathers, there is no right [to differ], even in one’s personal property in the agudah, and the Va’ad must remove …” R’ David also added many comments connected to the financial aspect of the agudah and the composition of the committees. R’ Alter Barkav added, in a similar style, “If a transgressor is found on some matter, even for a light custom, he is to be expelled from the moshav, even after many years, with no recourse.” Heads of the association turned to the institutions that dealt with supporting the Yishuv, and also to Agudat Yisrael in Vienna [Rabbi Binyamin Wolf Pappenheim’s response is included in this lot] and Agudat Yisrael in London, as well as individual community activists. After registering “hundreds of members” who were prepared to establish an agricultural moshav, at the end of the winter they turned to the heads of the supporters of settlement in the Land to advance the project: They turned to Nachum Sokolov, Minister Ya’akov de Rothschild, the administrators of “Agudat HaNeta’im” and Mr. Yitzchak Chorush. And to Dr. Melech Zagorsky, who was one of the prominent agronomists in the country. They also appealed to the heads of all the Zionist institutions, including: Ettinger, Eisenberg, Ya’akov Shapira, Chaim Weizmann, Brandeis, and the heads of the Mizrachi movement – led by Maimon and Berlin. Towards the end of the winter, they received authorization from the “governor of the city” to hold a founding meeting. On chol hamoed Sukkot 1921, more than 40 members took part in selecting the members of the committee to administer the association. Various ways were explored over the entire year to optimize members for agricultural work. They began to arrange for books on agriculture, collect agricultural material, and so on. The administrators did not sit on their feet: they prepared several levels of plans, with full details of a price list for purchasing the tools and the construction of barracks and all this entails. The idea did not progress from there, apparently because the Zionist institutions did not want to reach out for the project. Leading up to the 13th Zionist Congress in Carlsbad in the winter of 1923, the heads of the association sent a letter of request and plea, “until now, you have not forgotten us.” Efforts to revive this idea continued through the end of that winter, when they understood that there was no choice but to [dis]continue advancing the idea. Highlights of the folder: notebook with meeting protocols; lengthy letter by Rabbi Yerucham Diskin, in which he presents the idea from all sides, positive and otherwise. He hesitates to decide, recommending consultation with his friend, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, and proceeding with his recommendation. This association has not been researched; almost nothing is known of it. It opens a new window into the Old Yishuv – that even the extremists among them prepared to establish an agricultural settlement. Not only that, they even turned to the Zionist institutions for assistance. Historic discovery! The archive is comprised of 70 original certificates and documents. Overall fine condition.
