Hovevei Zion

Hovevei Zion (Hebrew: חובבי ציון‎, lit. [Those who are] Lovers of Zion), also known as Hibbat Zion (Hebrew: חיבת ציון‎), refers to organizations that are now considered the forerunners and foundation-builders of modern Zionism.

Many of these first groups were established in Eastern European countries in the early 1880s with the aim to promote Jewish immigration to Palestine, and advance Jewish settlement there, particularly agricultural. Most of them stayed away from politics.

Background

Since the first centuries of the Common Era most Jews have lived outside the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel, known also as Palestine), although there has been a constant presence of Jews. According to the Bible and Judaism, Eretz Israel is a land promised to the Jews by God. The Diaspora began in 586 BCE during the Babylonian occupation of Israel.

In 1850, Palestine had about 350,000 inhabitants. Roughly 85% were Muslims, 11% were Christians and 4% Jews.

In 1854, Judah Touro bequeathed money to fund Jewish residential settlement in Palestine. Sir Moses Montefiore was appointed executor of his will, and used the funds for a variety of projects, including building the first Jewish residential settlement and almshouse outside of the old walled city of Jerusalem in 1860, which is known today as Mishkenot Sha'ananim. Laurence Oliphant failed in a like attempt to bring to Palestine the Jewish proletariat of Poland, Lithuania, Romania, and the Turkish Empire (1879 and 1882).

Chen Aharoni

Chen Aharoni (in Hebrew: חן אהרוני‎) (also known as Chen and also transliterated as Hen Aharoni) (born in Holon, Israel on 12 April 1990) is an Israeli singer-songwriter, musician and television presenter

Career

Kokhav Nolad (2007)

He came into fame after taking part in 2007 in season 5 of Kokhav Nolad (כוכב נולד meaning A Star Is Born) structured on the international Idol series. He was eliminated after a showdown with Shlomi Bar'el before the finals. Aharoni finished 4th overall, with Bar'el ending up third. The 2007 title was won by Bo'az Ma'uda with Marina Maximilian Blumin as runner-up.

Solo career

After Kokhav Nolad, Chen Aharoni went on to sign a deal with the Israeli record label NMC Music and gaining popularity.

While Chen made musical performances throughout Israel, he started hosting TV show called "Ra'ash" (meaning noise in Hebrew) on the Israeli music channel Music 24 for 2 seasons. In August 2008 he was drafted into the Israeli army (IDF).

In 2009, he started to release singles from his forthcoming debut album. The self-titled debut album Chen Aharoni (חן אהרוני) was released on 23 December 2010 and received critical acclaim.Yedioth Ahronoth in its Entertainment Plus special supplement published on the occasion of the Hebrew New Year picked the album as one of the Top 10 best albums of the year 2010–2011 alongside names like Dudu Tasa, Berry Sakharof and Noam Rotem.