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        When the first group of pioneers set off for the Land of Israel, the entire town turned out to accompany them with music and song. It was a great moment. Many of the participants were crying from joy, and many Drohitchin families actually started preparing to move to Palestine.

[Photo:] All the Jews in town accompanied the first pioneers on their way to Palestine in 1922.

        However, disappointment and emptiness of the messianic dream set in very quickly. Everyone who was prepared to go to Palestine faced great hardships. First of all, they were disappointed by the certificate system that authorized entry into Palestine. Also, it became difficult for families with children to travel. Certificates were made available only to people younger than 35, and the candidate had to promise to undergo training for 2 to 4 years in advance. That immigration system immediately dashed the hopes of most of the Drohitchin Jewish families who had long dreamed of reaching the borders of the Land of Israel.

        In addition, the terrible news about the Arab pogroms against Jews in Palestine reached Drohitchin, and belief in the Zionist redemption was badly shaken. Instead of excitement and joy, Jews were filled with bitterness, rage and disappointment. The slow process of propaganda, fundraising and anticipation began.

The growth of Zionist parties

         Zionist organizations and parties began to develop in Drohitchin. The first groups were the General Zionists, the religious Zionists [Mizrachi], Poalei Zion [Workers of Zion], Hechalutz [Pioneers] and Hashomer Hatza'ir [Young Guard]. The last two groups operated as national organizations. In the early years, principal Zionist activity was undertaken through the General Zionists and Mizrachi. The Mizrachists were the pioneering experts in fundraising for the various funds. As religious Jews, the Mizrachists

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had the task of standing up in the synagogues and convince the synagogue-going Jews (who were the majority) to contribute money for the Zionist project.

        In approximately 1926, a branch of Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionists opened in Drohitchin, together with its youth arm, Betar. To offset the Betar youth group, the Poalei Zion created its own group, called Freiheit [Freedom]. From then on, the ideological battle between the Poalei Zion and the Revisionists began, with both sides maneuvering for the best positions in town, and seeking to increase their memberships as much as possible.

[Photo:] The Poalei Zion Party and the Freiheit youth group in 1928.

        There was a radical shift of party power in Drohitchin in 1929. Due to the awful Arab pogroms against Jews in Palestine, a large number of Drohitchin young people and adults over night switched allegiance to the Revisionists, who advocated a much more drastic approach to the British mandatory government and the Arabs. The balance between the Poalei Zion-Freiheit and the Revisionists-Betar became equalized. The two groups remained the two largest and aggressive forces in town, and the Poalei Zion and Revisionists had the allegiance of 90 percent of the youth in Drohitchin. The politically unaffiliated and inactive Jews also joined up with the two groups. Some joined the Poalei Zion, and others joined the Revisionists. The General Zionists and Mizrachi, because they had no youth wing, remained passive. In many areas, the General Zionists, Mizrachi and Revisionists joined together against the left-wing groups; there were friendly relations among these three groups, and they sought recruits among the same religious element in town.

        The Hashomer Hatsa'ir didn't have many members, but it was very popular in town anyway, because it had very energetic and fiery young people. There was never a group of the anti-Zionist Agudath Israel in Drohitchin.

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