Forty American chalutzim, pioneers for Palestine, sailed Saturday night on the liner Vulcania for Palestine, where they will join the chalutzim of many countries in the work of building up Palestine.
All the members of the group belong to the Hechalutz and the Hashmar Hatzair, and underwent a period of preparatory training in this country on farms located near Baltimore and Minneapolis.
Fifteen of the group are girls. All speak Hebrew and more than half of the forty are college graduates. Many are going to Dgania Beth in the Jordan valley and all will work either on the land or at various trades for which they have been trained. Most of the group, at their own demand, will be assigned to farm work.
“It is too small a group to bring
America into line with the accomplishments of the other countries of the world in the Hechalutz movement,” said Eliezer Galili, member of the executive of the Histadruth in Palestine and now in charge of the Hechalutz work in the United States. “But as a beginning it is an encouraging sign. Small as the group is, it is paving the way for a larger immigration of American chalutzim into Palestine. Their experience in Palestine will bring many other Americans, I am sure.
“They are chalutzim doubly—chalutzim in that they will share in the building of Palestine, and also in the sense that they are the vanguard of many American chalutzim.”
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