They were called “Halutzim” (pioneers), the early Jewish Zionists who immigrated to the region of Palestine as part of a movement in the years after World War I to work the land and create Jewish settlements. These farmers and laborers plowed fields and drained swamps as they settled the frontiers of old Palestine under the harsh British Mandate Period.
A young David Horowitz arrived in Palestine in 1924. As a halutz from America he spent three and a half years in the Mikvah Israel Agricultural Compound near Tel Aviv and the Ramat Gan Moshava communal farming settlement. It was during those years that he witnessed the opening of Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in April of 1925, and heard Lord Balfour hail the Jew’s return to their ancient land.
Seen here in an early photograph with a group of the halutzim, David Horowitz is pictured in the center holding the trusty canine mascot.
Ralph Buntyn is executive vice president and associate editor of United Israel World Union. A historian and researcher, his many articles and essays have appeared in various media outlets.