HOBHÉBHÉ ŠIJJÓN (Friends of Zion). - Followers of the Palestinianophile Jewish movement that preceded by two decades the political Zionism of Theodor Herzl. The aim of the Hibbath Šijjón was the colonization of Palestine.
The first beginnings date from 1840; in the journal *Orient* an anonymous writer advocated the return to Palestine, and in Vienna the future bibliographer Moses Steinschneider presented to Adolphe Crémieux a project for the founding of a colony in Palestine. The head of Orthodoxy, R. Zébhí Kalischer, founded in 1860 an association similar in tendency to that founded by Steinschneider twenty years earlier. In 1862 Moses Hess took up the subject in his book *Rome and Jerusalem*, considering the cultural factor. In 1868 Charles Netter examined, on behalf of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, the possibility of establishing in Palestine a Jewish agricultural school and colony. In 1873 R. 'Aqibá' Jóséph Schlesinger saw in the return to Palestine the only means of salvation for the dispersed Jews. Negotiations were initiated with the Turkish government for the concession of lands in Palestine and Syria. Soon, through the efforts of Netter in 1870, the agricultural school Miquel Šijvá'el (Hope of Israel) was established near Jaffa. The year 1881 brought with it the massacres of Jews, the pogroms, in Russia. Jewish literati, including David Gordon, Smolenskin, Lilienblum, and Rabinowicz, raised the cry "To Palestine!" In various Russian and Rumanian cities and in Vienna, Palestinianophile societies arose. University youth participated with enthusiasm. Requests were made to the Turkish and English governments, but with no result: the Alliance thought to divert its emigrants to America. But the H. Š. founded in 1882 in Judea the first colony, which they called R'isón le-Šijjón. They rebuilt the colony Petah Tiqvah, which had been destroyed, and founded two new ones. In July 1882, thirteen students of the "Bilu" arrived in Jaffa; the Chief Rabbi of France, Zadok Kahn, informed Rabbi Samuel Mohilewer that Baron Edmond de Rothschild was willing to transplant a group of Jewish farmers from Russia to Palestine. Leo Pinsker published (1882) his *Autoemancipation*: the solution to the grave Jewish problem could only be national-territorial, in Palestine "as far as possible." The first conference, in which representatives of various European countries participated, took place at Kattowitz (Nov. 1884) but failed to harmonize the various tendencies. Meanwhile, there were nine colonies in Palestine.
At the conferences of Druskeniki the Palestinianophiles adopted the name H. Š. in place of that of "Memory of Moses" (Montefiore). In 1890 the journalist Zederbaum requested and obtained from the Russian government authorization to officially constitute a society for the colonization of Palestine. Delegates from 26 Russian cities met in 1890 in Odessa and founded the "Society for Aiding Jewish Farmers and Artisans in Palestine and Syria." Other colonies arose. Israel Belkind founded in Jaffa the first school in which instruction was given in Hebrew. Following the persecutions of 1891, other emigrants arrived in Palestine. But a Turkish decree forbade immigration and the purchase of land in Palestine.
On 21 Dec. 1891 Leo Pinsker died, the strongest representative of the H. Š. In 1898 the writer 'Ahad hâ-âm' (= Asher Ginsberg, 1856–1927) founded the association Béné Móshé (Sons of Moses) and proclaimed the spiritual and national rebirth of Judaism as a prerequisite for Palestinian colonization. The "poetic" H. Š. rallied around Lilienblum. Meanwhile, the number of colonies rose to nineteen; in the cities, particularly in Jerusalem and Jaffa, the Jewish population was increasing. In the villages, the first attempts were made to develop citrus groves; in the cities, to develop industry.
The new leader of the H. Š., Ussischkin, opposed the project to colonize Uganda with Jewish emigrants. Under his direction (elected in 1906, he held the post until 1918, the year in which he moved to Palestine) three new workers' colonies arose. The H. Š. were entirely one with Zionism.
In 1920 the Bolsheviks conquered Odessa and put an end to the committee of the H. Š. (v. SIONISMO).