The Palestinian movement which had shortly before come into being [1] attracted many enthusiasts from among the Jewish youth.

In the spring of 1882, a society of Jewish young men, consisting mostly of university students, was formed in Kharkov under the name _Bilu_, from the initial letters of their Hebrew motto, _Bet Ya'akob leku we-nelka_"O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us go." [2] The aim of the society was to establish a model agricultural settlement in Palestine and to carry on a wide-spread propaganda for the idea of colonizing the ancient homeland of the Jews.
As a result of this propaganda, several hundred Jews in various parts of Russia joined the _Bilu_ society.

Of these only a few dozen pioneers left for Palestine -- between June and July of 1882.
[Footnote 1: See later, p.

268.] [Footnote 2: From Isa.

2.5.] At first, the leaders of the organization attempted to enter into negotiations with the Turkish Government, with a view to obtaining from it a large tract of land for colonizing purposes, but the negotiations fell through.