Gaza's : Why It's The Main Home Of Refugees, Terrorists and What Jews Had To Do With It

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

Gaza is a 25-mile long stretch of coastal land (141 square miles, 365 square kilometers).  The average width is 8 miles.  The whole of Gaza (aka the Gaza Strip) is about twice the size of Washington, D.C. and three times the population, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and Israel.  The Gaza Strip is geographically about the size of Philadelphia, Detroit or the country of Grenada.

The Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza were initially established to accommodate Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (also known as the Nakba). The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1949 specifically to provide relief and works programs for these refugees. 

It's important to note that the ongoing conflict in the region has caused significant displacement, with the UN estimating that about 1.9 million people (roughly 90% of the population) have been displaced across the Gaza Strip. This displacement makes it challenging to provide precise, real-time population figures. 

Jews lived here but left in 1917 at the end of WWI.  Those left, really left during the 1929 Arab riots against Jews.  The city of Gaza in 1949 had 30,000, filled with many refugees.  

Egypt had Gaza originally since 1949.  Gaza fell into Israel's hands in November 1956 in the Sinai Operation .  Israel returned the Gaza Strip in March 1957 when Egyptians resumed control with a UN Emergency Force.  In May 1967, the UN secretary-general U Thant obeyed Nasser's demand to withdraw the force allowing the Six Day War to take place.  The 1967 census found 352,260 in the Gaza Strip of whom 172,520 were refugees.  

                                  IDF in Jerusalem 

• Israel had occupied the Gaza Strip since the 1967 Six-Day War.
• Prior to the 2005 disengagement, there were approximately 9,000 Israeli settlers living in 21 settlements within Gaza.  That means that before refugees arrived, there were 179,740 Palestinians 
• living in Gaza.  

Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, as part of its unilateral disengagement plan. Israel had only held it for 38 years.

  

This plan, announced in late 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, aimed to withdraw Israeli soldiers and dismantle settlements in Gaza. Control of the Gaza Strip was then transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA). 

What Israel left For The Palestinians in Gaza:  

Based on the provided search results, when Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the following infrastructure was left behind: 

• Greenhouses: Israeli settlers left behind agricultural greenhouses, which were intended to be used by Palestinians for economic development. Some sources suggest these greenhouses were later looted or destroyed.
• Road networks: A network of roads, including highways and smaller roads, was left behind.
• Other facilities: Educational institutions and healthcare facilities were also left intact.
• Public Buildings: Public buildings, factories, and greenhouses that could not be dismantled were left intact.
• Water Systems: Israel left behind water supply systems that had served the Israeli settlements, including wells, reservoirs, and a transmission system.
• Water and Electricity Networks: Israel continued to provide Gaza with water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks. 

Refugees that entered Gaza:  

• 1948 Arab-Israeli War (Nakba): The initial influx of refugees to Gaza occurred during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, known to Palestinians as the Nakba ("catastrophe").
• Forced Displacement: Approximately 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from or fled their homes as a result of the war.
• Concentration in Gaza: Gaza became a major area for their concentration.
• Descendants Classified as Refugees: UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, classifies those original refugees and their descendants as refugees, regardless of where they were born.

• Many in Refugee Camps: A significant portion of these refugees reside in recognized UNRWA refugee camps within the Gaza Strip.
• Impact of Recent Hamas Terrorist Attack on Israel of October 7, 2023 : Recent War;  particularly the Israeli military campaign starting in October 2023, has resulted in a further wave of internal displacement within Gaza.
• Humanitarian Crisis: The situation has led to a severe humanitarian crisis with significant challenges regarding food security, water, healthcare, and access to essential services.    Hamas has stolen food meant for civilians, sold it at high prices, hidden in their homes, hospitals, mosques, tunnels, 

Islam allows 4 wives per man, so population has grown 4 times faster than the norm. 

Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip and removed the Palestinian Authority (PA) from power in the following way: 

1. Electoral Victory in 2006:

• In the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections, Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
• Hamas ran under the banner of "Change and Reform" and secured 74 out of 132 available seats, while the incumbent Fatah party received 45 seats.
• Hamas' victory was seen as a manifestation of public disenchantment with the prevailing Fatah leadership and its perceived corruption. 

2. Formation of a Hamas-led Government and International Backlash:

• Following the election, Hamas formed a government led by Ismail Haniyeh.
  
  
  
• However, due to Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and adhere to previous agreements, Israel, the United States, and the European Union imposed sanctions and cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) government, putting immense pressure on the Hamas-led government.  who, by the way, never paid Israel their water
• or electric bills, even with all the money they received from
• their other backers;  Muslim communities.  

                         Russian soldier in 1791

            

Just a quick comparison with Gaza to the Jewish Land of Pale Of Settlement of eastern Europe:  

(Gaza Strip : 365 kilometers) (1.9 million people)   (Pale of Settlement 1,224,008 sq  km) (4 million people) 

On December 23, 1791, Catherine II (“the Great”), the empress of Russia, authorized the creation of the Pale of Settlement, an area in the western part of the empire in which Jewish subjects would be required to reside.  None could live in 

Russia proper.  Catherine the Great did not acquire the Pale of Settlement; it was created by her in 1791 as a way to manage the Jewish population within the Russian Empire after territorial gains from Poland and the Ottoman Empire. The Pale of Settlement was an area within which Jews were permitted to live and work, but it also restricted their movement and commercial activities within the larger Russian Empire.  The first significant decree in this direction was issued on December 23, 1791, which restricted the commercial rights of Jews to certain areas newly annexed from Poland and Turkey, effectively creating the initial boundaries of what would become the Pale of Settlement. 

The Pale of Settlement was a territory within the Russian Empire where Jews were "permitted" to reside permanently, encompassing roughly 472,590 square miles (1,224,008 sq km). This area included parts or the whole of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Moldova from 1791 to 1917's end of WWI.  That

means that the Jews could only live in the Pale of Settlement and that was it for 126 years.   The borders of the Pale of Settlement were formally abolished by the Russian Provisional Government on March 20th (April 2nd, New Style) 1917, following the February Revolution. This action effectively dismantled the Pale, ending the restrictions on Jewish residency and movement within the Russian Empire.  About 4 million Jews were living in the Pale of Settlement.  

Resource:

https://www.anera.org/how-big-is-gaza/

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-19/israel-hamas-war-why-gaza-has-so-many-palestinian-refugees

World War I's War Brought On Overt Anti-Semitism On Top Of Present Anti-Semitism

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

    More than a century after World War I, war continues to be the  same.....

Jews suffered significantly during World War I, experiencing a range of harms across different regions and in the context of their military service. 

Jews were confined to the Pale of Settlement, a Russian holding by Catherine II in 1791.  It was made up of 25 provinces of Czarist Russia of Poland, Lithuania, White Russia, Ukraine, Bessarabia, and Crimea; the home of "Fiddler On The Roof." 

"Fiddler on the Roof" is set in 1905 in the fictional Jewish village of Anatevka, located in the Pale of Settlement within the Russian Empire (now part of Ukraine). The story follows Tevye, a Jewish milkman, as he navigates the challenges of tradition, family, and societal changes amidst a backdrop of poverty and anti-Semitism.   World War I began in Ukraine when the Russian Empire invaded Galicia (part of modern-day western Ukraine) in August 1914.

The war on the eastern front between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria) was conducted on territories that were home to almost four million Jews. In the autumn of 1914 and the winter of 1915, Russian forces occupied Austrian Galicia, and in the spring and summer of 1915, Germany and Austria conquered Congress Poland (the duchy annexed by Russia according to the treaties of 1815), Volhynia, Lithua­nia, and western Belorussia. Under Russian rule, the Jews were suspected of collaboration with the enemy, and 600,000 of them were banished from the front by the czarist army, a traumatic experience and an economic catastrophe that was still felt long after the war

For instance;  

• Mass expulsions and forced resettlement: Between March and September 1915, the Russian army expelled over half a million Jews from frontline areas. For example, all 40,000 Jews in Kovno (Kaunas) were forcibly removed within 48 hours in May 1915. Similar expulsions occurred in Courland and northern Lithuania in 1915.
•  The Russian army expelled Jews from areas near the front lines, restricted their movements, and took hostages as a way of instilling fear and submission in the Jewish population.

1. Displacement and Persecution:

• Eastern Europe: As the reader now knows, the war on the Eastern Front, fought in territories with a large Jewish population, resulted in massive displacement.  Russian forces, suspecting collaboration with the enemy, expelled an estimated 600,000 Jews from frontline areas. This caused economic hardship and trauma that lingered long after the war. Many other Jews, fearing the violence, fled their homes voluntarily.
• Widespread Suspicion and Hostage-Taking: The Russian military command, in particular, displayed overt anti-Semitism, viewing the Jewish population as disloyal and involved in espionage. They implemented repressive measures, including mass deportations, expulsions, and the taking of hostages as a means of control and fear. These actions were justified as necessary to protect against perceived "enemy aliens".
• Pogroms: Following World War I, pogroms (violent attacks and riots against Jews) reignited in Eastern Europe, often instigated by soldiers. In Ukraine and Poland between 1918 and 1921, there were over 1,500 pogroms resulting in the deaths of over 100,000 Jews. 

2. Casualties and Military Service:

• Serving on All Sides: Jews fought in the armies of their respective countries, often finding themselves on opposing sides of the conflict.
• High Casualties: Over 1.5 million Jewish soldiers participated in the war, and an estimated 150,000 were killed.
• Antisemitic Claims and Discrimination: Despite their service, Jews in many countries faced harassment and false accusations of responsibility for the war or shirking duty. 

3. Long-Term Consequences:

• Eastern European Jewry Devastated: The war and subsequent violence led to the disruption or destruction of countless Jewish communities, a catastrophe from which East European Jewry never fully recovered.
• Radicalization and Political Change: The war's upheaval contributed to the radicalization of some Eastern European Jewish youth towards secular and Marxist ideologies. The Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent Soviet regime attempted to suppress the practice of Judaism.
• Continued Anti-Semitism: The war exacerbated existing anti-Semitism in various countries. In Germany, the "stab-in-the-back" myth, which blamed Jews for the country's defeat, contributed to a climate of hatred.
• Foundation for the Holocaust: The virulent unleashing of anti-Semitism during WWI is seen as having paved the way for the horrors of the Holocaust. 
  
  French Troops driving back the Germans in 1918 

During World War I, Jewish communities faced devastation, displacement, and persecution, especially in Eastern Europe. The war also contributed to a rise in antisemitism that had tragic consequences later. 

As the perennial scapegoat, the Jews were also blamed by many for the Bolshevik coup d’etat of October 1917; approximately 100,000 Jews were killed in the anti‑Bolshevik campaigns conducted by Ukrainians, Poles, and Russians.

 update:  6/29/25 8:44am:  The Pale of Settlement was a territory within the Russian Empire where Jews were permitted to reside permanently, encompassing roughly 472,590 square miles (1,224,008 sq km). This area included parts or the whole of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Moldova. 

• Jewish Service in WWI: Despite facing pervasive antisemitism and discrimination, many Jews served in World War I, including in the German and Allied armies. Some were even overrepresented on the front lines, according to a German "Jewish census" conducted in 1916. 

Resource:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/wwi-and-the-jews/#:~:text=As%20the%20perennial%20scapegoat%2C%20the,map%20of%20the%20Jewish%20people.

https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/antisemitism-and-pogromsin-the-military-russian-empire/

Not Just Any Old State But A Very Special State and Why: Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

A picture of Tel Aviv in 1924 would likely show a young city, still developing, with a mix of buildings and perhaps some camels. Tel Aviv was officially founded in 1909, and by 1924 it was experiencing rapid growth. The city was known for its modern architecture, particularly the "White City" style, which became prominent in the 1920s and 30s, according to Tourist

Israel.                                                                                         

        Rabbi Kook with Mayor of New York John F. Hylan (1924) on right with fur hat.  The climate in both Palestine and New York City was of Anti-Semitism. 

      Times Square, New York City 1924  notice the 2 boys sitting atop a building on right are wearing kippas.  

 John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868 – January 12, 1936), also known as "Red Mike" Hylan, was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the

 five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925.

 .  

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק הַכֹּהֵן קוּק; in 1924, First Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine,

and  philosopher of religious Zionism.  Born September 7, 1864 in Griva, Russian Empire (today's Daugavpils, Latvia) , died in Israel on September 1, 1935.  He was 71 years old.  

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, traveled to New York City in 1924 as part of a rabbinical delegation with a specific purpose: to raise funds for Torah institutions in both Eretz Yisrael and Europe. WWI had begun on July 28, 1914.  These institutions, such as yeshivas and talmud torahs, were facing financial difficulties, especially in the wake of the First World War. The Central Relief Committee was founded by leaders of the Agudat Ha-Rabbanim, the Union of American Orthodox Congregations, and other Orthodox Jews on October 8, 1914, to raise funds for the assistance of the masses of Jews overseas left homeless and impoverished as a result of the upheavals of World War I. On October 25, 1914, the American Jewish Relief Committee was formed by a more heterogeneous religious group. The committees decided to pool the funds they collected into the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), formed on November 27, 1914 to act as a disbursing agency. In mid-1915, the labor groups formed the People’s Relief Committee, which also joined the JDC.

Meeting with the Mayor:

Upon his arrival in New York, Rabbi Kook and his fellow delegates were given an official reception at City Hall by Mayor John P. Hylan and other public officials. During this reception, Rabbi Kook delivered a message in Hebrew, translated by Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein, in which he: 

• Thanked the American people for their support of the Balfour Declaration, recognizing the right of the Jewish people to establish a state in the Land of Israel.
• Stated that the honor shown to the delegation was an expression of honor for the Jewish people and the Torah, which he described as the "light of the world".
• Indicated that this honor demonstrated America's commitment to its ideals of equality and brotherly love. 

This meeting with the Mayor was a symbolic gesture recognizing the importance of the rabbinical delegation's mission and served to garner support for their cause among the Jewish community in New York. 

 In 1924, antisemitism was a significant issue in New York City, as it was across the United States during the early 20th century. While New York City was home to a large and growing Jewish population due to immigration, particularly from Eastern Europe, the presence of this large minority also coincided with increasing anti-Jewish sentiment and discrimination. Evidence of antisemitism in New York City and the U.S. in 1924 and surrounding years:

• Discrimination and Exclusion: Jewish people in New York City faced discrimination in various areas of life, including housing, employment, and access to social clubs. For instance, some hotels and resorts, such as the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs and the Manhattan Beach resort on Coney Island, openly excluded Jews.
• Quotas in Education: Universities, including some in the Northeast, adopted quotas to limit the number of Jewish students admitted. Columbia College, for example, established the country's first Office of Admissions in 1910 after a dean expressed concerns about the growing number of Jewish students.  To venture from the Lower East Side to Morningside Heights was also to cross a great cultural divide. By entering Columbia, Zukofsky was leaving the predominantly Jewish world of his family's neighborhood and entering an Ivy League that was still largely Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. About half of the student body at New York University was Jewish, as was the overwhelming majority--over 80 percent--of the students at City College. In contrast, Jews were distinctly in the minority at Columbia. (2) This was not merely an effect of Columbia's comparatively high tuition. There was an institutional climate of unspoken anti-Semitism in the University: there were very few Jews on the faculty--none at all in the English department--and anti-Semitic admissions policies had been established in the years after the First World War. The college administration, acutely conscious of Columbia's tenuous position within the elite ranks of the Ivy League, was worried that Columbia was becoming "too Jewish," too much a reflection of the city in which it was located. (As an Ivy League college song of the 1920s had it, "Oh, Harvard's run by millionaires, / And Yale is run by booze,/Cornell is run by farmers' sons,/Columbia's run by Jews." (3)) In response, college officials instituted ostensibly "regional" quotas whose effect was to reduce the Jewish population of Columbia from around forty percent--New York City itself was about thirty percent Jewish in 1920--to approximately twenty percent.
• Propaganda and Negative Stereotypes: Anti-Semitic publications, like Henry Ford's "The Dearborn Independent," which had a wide circulation, promoted harmful stereotypes and conspiracy theories about Jews. This type of rhetoric fueled the hostility against the Jewish community.
• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: A revitalized Ku Klux Klan directed hostility towards Catholics and Jews in the 1920s.
• "Great Replacement" Conspiracy Theory: The "Great Replacement" theme, which posited that immigrants, including Jews, were attempting to replace native-born Americans, gained traction and contributed to antisemitic attitudes.
• Christianity's “supersessionism,” also called “replacement theology,” entered the church. First, we need to understand what replacement theology is. Replacement theology teaches that all of God’s covenants and their promises have been stripped from Israel and given to the Gentiles. It teaches that because of Israel’s rebellion against God and their rejection of the Messiah, the predominantly Gentile Church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people—a new Israel.
  This theology often leads to a spiritualization of the Old and New Testament prophesies regarding the Jewish people. It supports amillennial theology, which teaches that we are now living in the one-thousand-year reign of Christ, where there is no rapture of the Church and no future promises for the nation of Israel.  They decided they are now like the past Jewish people and have no need of Jews today.  Often claimed by later Christians to have originated with Paul the Apostle in the New Testament, supersessionism has formed a core tenet of Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches for the majority of their history.^] Many early Church Fathers—including Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo—were supersessionist.  In 1924, the Pope was Pius XI. He was elected in 1922 and reigned until 1939. 
• Rabbinic Judaism rejects supersessionism as offensive to Jewish history.  

I note that immigrants to the USA that were Jewish and Italian had their new communities with delis of each on corners near to each other, and they were friends.  This development of the Pope towards Jews didn't seem to take in reality.  We got along fine.  

• Immigration Restrictions: The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 severely curtailed immigration, including Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, reflecting the prevailing sentiment of xenophobia and antisemitism. 

Rabbi Kook has become the most famous rabbi we have had in recent centuries. In 1887, at the age of 23,  Kook entered his first rabbinical position as rabbi of Zaumel, Lithuania. Zamelis is a small town in northern Lithuania, 40 km to the north from Pakruojis, near the border with Latvia.(In August 1941, a total of 160 Jews from Žeimelis were murdered by an Einsatzgruppe. The mass execution was perpetrated by Germans and local collaborators.) Looks like his anti-Semitic town never improved from  54 years ago when he had become a rabbi.  

  Between 1901 and 1904, he published three articles which anticipate the philosophy that he later more fully developed in the Land of Israel.  His work as a rabbi had a great thing to do with creating the government,  but as a Chief Rabbi of Israel, sharing with another, a chief Sephardic Rabbi, oversaw the Ashkenazi Jewish belief and practices for Ashkenazi Jews who had spread out all over the world with many languages and foods available.  Israel would need advice. 

These 3 articles demonstrate his early thinking on key themes such as Jewish nationalism, the role of Zionism, and the relationship between religious and secular Judaism.   The Orthodox rabbinic journal Ha-Peles  foreshadowed the philosophical ideas he would later develop more fully in the Land of Israel. The three articles are: 

"Teudat Israel VeLeumioto" (1901):

This essay likely addresses the destiny and national identity of the Jewish people. It can be inferred from other sources that Kook saw Jewish national revival as part of a divine plan.

He saw the return to the Land of Israel as laying the groundwork for ultimate spiritual and messianic redemption.

1. "Etzot MiRahok" (1902):   While specific details of this essay are not provided in the search results, the title suggests advice or insights from a distance.Given the context, it would likely elaborate on his views concerning the unfolding events and ideas related to Jewish nationalism and the return to Zion.

"Afikim BaNegev" (1903):This essay, and the series as a whole, focused on Jewish nationalism.Kook viewed Zionism as a potential source of cultural renaissance.He urged religious Jews to recognize Zionism's positive emphasis on Jewish peoplehood and to engage with it.

He called on secular Zionists to appreciate the value of traditional religious life and to return to its practice.

He stressed the importance of mutual respect and understanding between different groups within the Jewish people, urging them to put aside cynicism and sarcasm. 

In essence, these early articles reveal Rabbi Kook's emerging philosophy that sought to bridge the divide between traditional Judaism and modern ideas, particularly in the context of the growing Zionist movement. He saw the potential for a unified Jewish people and a spiritual renewal connected to the return to the Land of Israel. This inclusive approach, which sought to find the divine spark even in seemingly secular aspects of the Zionist endeavor, would become a hallmark of his later philosophical development. 

 Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook) was involved in governmental affairs, particularly during his time as the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He actively engaged with and influenced institutions and officials connected to the British Mandate government. 

Lobbying the British Mandate: Rav Kook lobbied British Mandate institutions regarding issues important to the Jewish community, such as permitting Jewish immigration and securing the rights of Jews to oversee the Western Wall.

Appearing before Commissions: He testified before a commission established to address the matter of the Western Wall, strongly asserting the Jewish people's divine right to the holy site.

Meeting with Officials: He met with important figures like President Calvin Coolidge at the White House during his trip to America. He also addressed government officials in various cities, like Mayor John Hylan of New York City. 

While he wasn't a governmental official in the traditional sense, his position as Chief Rabbi and his strong support for the Zionist cause positioned him to interact with and influence governing bodies. He even advocated for specific legislation, such as supporting a law in Tel Aviv against public Sabbath violation. This shows his willingness to engage directly with governmental processes to advance his vision for the Jewish community and the land of Israel. This is the guidance the new country needed at this time.  If we were to have a state for Jewish people again such as we had over 2,000 years ago, we had to have a semblance of Jewish mores and reasons.  It is not to be just another state.  The Jews'return was something prophesized about in our Torah, our Bible.  At this period, it wasa necessity!  Jews had been the scapegoat for cultures forever, it seemed, and nowwas the time to re-new again.                 

The first Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine was Rabbi Yaakov Meir, who served from 1921 to 1939.  Meir was born in Jerusalem in 1856, the son of successful merchant Calev Mercado.  He died May 26, 1939 in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine at age 83.   He was succeeded by Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, who served from 1939 until the end of the British Mandate in 1948. Yaakov Meir CBE (Hebrew: יעקב מאיר; 1856–1939), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Sephardic Chief Rabbi appointed under the British Mandate of Palestine. A Talmudic scholar, fluent in Hebrew as well as five other languages, he enjoyed a reputation as one of Jerusalem's most respected rabbis. 

Sephardis:  When the Romans burned down Jerusalem in the year 70, some Jews escaped to Spain and became the Sephardi Jews.  They were thrown out of Spain in 1492 and had to find new lands, Portugal being the first one to enter, but soon that leader got wind of how to deal with Jews, so they were to leave as well.  It's a miracle that they were able to hold onto their Judaism beliefs and continue our religion, whereas Ashkenazi were almost all wiped out in the Holocaust-WWII of 1939-1945.  Actually, after this, it was hard for these Jews to continue on in some cases.  

Under Turkish rule of the Ottoman Empire, he often interceded with the authorities on behalf of the Jewish community; he also encouraged the construction of new Jewish quarters of Jerusalem, helping establish the new neighborhoods of Ezrat Yisrael, Yemin Moshe, and the Bukharim Quarter. He worked to bring the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities together, and established an association called Hitachadut composed of Sephardim and Ashkenazim. He helped establish the Sha'ar Zion Hospital in Jaffa in 1891.

Meir was committed to the Revival of the Hebrew language, and together with Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Chaim Hirschensohn, and Chaim Kalmi, he co-founded the Safa Brura ("clear language") association, which was created in 1889 to teach and encourage the use of Hebrew. He was a founding member of the Hebrew Language Committee, which was established by Ben-Yehuda in 1890 and was later succeeded by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.                                          

   Out of Holocaust chambers fleeing to Israel in time to fight for its life

After all Jews have gone through, in a world saturated in anti-Semitism, it is admirable that they returned to Israel for a purpose;  a purpose of continuing something they felt was most important to keep on going as well as survival for their own family they hoped to have.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Isaac_Kook