Addition

Hachshara.

The “hachshara” was a training for living the life in Palestine and especially in a kibbutz, an agricultual colony which was socialistic orientated. The youngsters who received the training, were called Palestine pioneers or “chalutzim”. The traning consisted of practical skills for a life in agriculture and going with that, learning the Hebrew language, which would be the main language in the country.

The first training started in 1918 and the students learned the agricultural profession from farmers all over The Netherlands. The society building Beth Chalutz, was located in Deventer and in 1940 there were ± 250 members. In 1933, a similar hachshara was founded by the Mizrachi movement on a religious bases under the name of Dath-va-Eretz, with two kibbutzim, one in Franeker and one in Beverwijk.

In 1933 the Agoedat Jisraeel founded an own hachshara with an orthodox religious impact. This society did not support Zionism but saw it as an opportunity to settle on holy Jewish places. They moved in a villa at Strootweg 460 in Twekkelo near Enschede and named it Haimers Esch. In 1940 they had 55 chalutzim.

Source: partly copied from the wegsite www.joodsamsterdam.nl/hachsjara

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