Odessa Committee

The Odessa Committee, officially known as the Society for the Support of Jewish Farmers and Artisans in Syria and Palestine,[1] was a charitable, pre-Zionist organization in the Russian Empire, which supported immigration to the Biblical Land of Israel, then a part of the Ottoman Empire.

The pogroms of 1881-1884 and the May Laws of 1882 gave impetus to political activism among Russian Jews and mass emigration.

In 1882, members of Bilu and Hovevei Zion made what came to be known the First Aliyah to Palestine, then a part of the Ottoman Empire.

After arduous negotiations, the Russian government approved the establishment of the "Society for the Support of Jewish Farmers and Artisans in Syria and Palestine" early in 1890.

[2] It was based in Odessa (now in Ukraine), headed by Leon Pinsker, and dedicated to practical aspects of establishing Jewish agricultural settlements in the Palestine.