The Second Aliyah refers to the massive influx of immigrants during the years 1904-1914. Between these years approximately 35 thousand Jews arrived, mainly from Russia and Poland.
Primary Motivations
Like the First Aliyah, the Second Aliyah was motivated by a combination of ideology coupled with anti-Jewish violence and pogroms. It was brought to a halt by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
The Immigrants
Unlike the immigrants of the First Aliyah, the majority of immigrants during the Second Aliyah were single young people, many with a socialist ideology coupled with a belief in the national redemption of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel. While some of the immigrants were established adults with families, who settled in the cities, the majority, being young and single, tended to find employment as laborers in the agricultural settlements. During the Second Aliyah more immigrants also arrived from Yemen. Some of these immigrants came on their own initiative while others arrived as a result of the efforts of emissaries from the HaPoel HaTzair movement. Some of the Yemenite immigrants settled among the earlier immigrants in Jerusalem and Jaffa, while others chose to join the agricultural settlements. While the Yemenites of the Second Aliyah also encountered many difficulties, most of them eventually succeeded integrating fully into life in the Jewish Yishuv.
Main Enterprises
The immigrants of the Second Aliyah founded many of the institutions and social and political organizations of the Jewish Yishuv. They established several kibbutzim, the city of Tel Aviv, and HaShomer, the first organization to undertake the defense of the Jews in the Land of Israel. They also established the Histadrut, as well as the first health and welfare organizations. Second Aliyah immigrants continued to strengthen the revived Hebrew language. They promoted and improved education on the primary and intermediate levels, and paved the way for the development of higher education, as well as the arts, literature, and journalism.