Introduction to "Training for Aliyah: Young Jews in Hachsharot across Europe between the 1930s and late 1940s"

This monographic issue of Quest deals with the history of the hachsharah (pl. hachsharot) from the 1930s to the postwar period. Though the nature of hachsharot varied in space and time, the term steadily referred to the practical preparation of young Jews for emigration to Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel), through both mental and physical training based on work, collective living, and the study of the Hebrew language, Jewish history and culture. This preparation was often carried out in collective centers gathering (generally) young Jews. The creation and development of the hachsharot in the Diaspora is part of a unique and complex chapter within the history of Zionism, that of the He-Halutz, i.e. the pioneering movement, and its collaboration with Jewish organizations in their respective countries. Through case studies on wartime Sweden and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and post-war Greece, Italy, Romania, and Hungary, in this issue discusses Jewish experience(s) and daily life in the hachsharot.