Esra (association)

Esra was an association founded in Berlin in spring 1884 for the purpose of supporting the Jewish colonies in Palestine and counteracting missionary efforts there.

The founders for the foundation on January 26, 1884 were the "unknown young men" Behrmann, J. Cohn, H. Hirschfeld, Max Karfunkel, Hermann Norwitzky, Isaak Turoff and Weinreich. The association magazine Esra, collecting box for Palestine first appeared on March 24, 1884.

By this time, Russian and Romanian associations had already founded the colonies Mikveh Israel , Rishon LeZion , Rosh Pina , Yesod-Hamalo, Samarin, Ekron and Gadra.

The price for the workers' family houses in the Rechovot colony , which was initially estimated at 1,000 francs, quickly doubled. Other houses followed in Hadera and Kfar Saba .

In order to emphasize the close connection with the Russian Chowewe Zionists , the name was changed to "" ESRA "Association for the Support of Agricultural Jews in Palestine and Syria".

literature

• Festschrift for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Esra Association for the Support of Agricultural Jews in Palestine and Syria, together with a report for the years 1906, 1907, 1908 , Wittenberg: Herrosé & Ziemsen, 1909; Digitized from the Freimann Collection of the Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main
• Curt Nawratzki: The history of the colonization of Palestine until 1919 , pp. 97 f., 119 f.
• Jehuda Reinharz: Documents on the History of German Zionism 1882–1933 , p. 7 f.