Associations for Zion
Associations for Zion refers to Jewish associations, founded in various countries—especially in Russia and Romania—during the storm and unrest that befell Judaism following the riots among Russian Jews in 1881. The goal of all associations was to work for the revival of the Jewish people in Palestine. There were many different names for associations of this type: “Zion”, “Dorshei Zion”, “Ahavat Zion”, “Bnei Zion”, “Pirḥei Zion”, “Aḥvat Zion” and more. There was no connection between these associations, and their activity was meager. Among the associations in the Russian Diaspora, the following should be mentioned:
- The “Zionist Association” founded in Warsaw, and whose main activist was the Hebrew writer Shaul Pinchas Rabinowitz, (SPR), who translated the “Divrei Yemei Yisra’el” into Hebrew for Professor Zvi Graetz.
- The Association in Vilna, whose main activists were the researcher and scholar Shmuel Joseph Pin and the writer Yehuda Leib Levanda.
- The Association in Moscow, headed by the philanthropist Ze’ev Vysotsky, who was known in the tea trade and who donated a great deal of money to the settlement of Eretz Iisrael.