textbooks gave Bilu the credit for the establishment of Rishon LeZion, but in the last decades — after a campaign by the veterans of Rishon and their descendants — Hovevei Zion were given the credit as the founders of the city. The Hovevei Zion tract Aruchas bas-ami was authored by Isaac Rülf in 1883, and in 1884, 34 delegates met in Kattowitz, Germany (today Katowice, Poland). Rabbi Samuel Mohilever was elected the president and Leon Pinsker the chairman of the organization they named Hovevei Zion. The group tried to secure financial help from Baron Edmond James de Rothschild and other philanthropists to aid Jewish settlements in Palestine and to organize educational courses. In June 1887, another conference was held in Druskininkai. The Warsaw chapter was founded by L. L. Zamenhof, who was working on the first grammar textbook of Yiddish ever written, published under the pseudonym "Dr. X" only in 1909, in Lebn un visnshaft, in the article "Vegn a yidisher gramatik un reform in der yidisher shprakh". In order to attain legal recognition by the authorities, the Russian branch of Hovevei Zion had to meet a demand to be registered as a charity. Early in 1890 its establishment was approved by the Russian government as "The Society for the Support of Jewish Farmers and Artisans in Syria and Eretz Israel," which came to be known as The Odessa Committee. It was dedicated to the practical aspects in establishing agricultural settlements and its projects in 1890–1891 included help in the founding of Rehovot and Hadera and rehabilitation of Mishmar HaYarden. One of the major donors was the famous tea merchant, Kalonimus Wolf Wissotzky, who founded the largest tea company in Russia, Wissotzky Tea. Wissotzky financed agricultural colonies in Palestine and visited the country in 1884-1885. He later published a book about his visit. In 1897, before the First Zionist Congress, the Odessa Committee counted over 4,000 members. Once the Congress established the Zionist Organization, most of the Hovevei Zion societies joined it. See also Homeland for the Jewish people Mikveh Israel Moses Gaster References External links The BILU movement and Hovevei Zion at the WZO YIVO The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot: The Jewish Community of Odessa Draft of the Statutes of the Odessa Committee at zionistarchives.org.il Zionist organizations