A film shot in Mandatory Palestine and handed to the Israeli Film Archive from the Dovzhenko Centre, Ukrainian Film Archive. The film is apparently a collection of films shot in the 1930's that document aspects of settlement and city life from a religious and ultra-Orthodox perspective, which were edited together, probably by the Dovzhenko Centre, Ukrainian Film Archive. The film was presumably commissioned by the Agudat Yisrael movement for the purpose of fundraising and showcasing the activities of Agudat Yisrael and also Poalei Agudat Yisrael, which was a religious trade union and workers movement, in which ultra-Orthodox pioneers integrated agricultural work with a life of Torah in Eretz Yisrael. The film offers a unique depiction of two religious agricultural settlements, including a rare documentation of daily life in the ultra-Orthodox settlement "Mahane Israel" in the Jezreel Valley, which was abandoned in 1938. The ultra-Orthodox pioneers are seen plowing, praying, and riding horses, in a fascinating documentation of the Haredi pioneer figure of those years. The film opens with the journey of the "Polonia" ship in 1935 from Romania to Haifa port, with a delegation of Agudat Yisrael rabbis on board, about to visit Palestine-Eretz Yisrael. Some of the rabbis perished in the Holocaust and the film provides a short but rare documentation of these public leaders. The film also documents a visit to Tel Aviv, where a group of ultra-Orthodox construction workers of Poalei Agudat Yisrael are seen at work, as well as a visit to a religious kindergarten. A visit to Jerusalem depicts the alleys of the Old City, as well as the "Bnei Zion" Talmud Torah in the Bukharan neighborhood, an educational institution which belonged to Agudat Yisrael during those years, where teachers and their students are documented. The film ends with a rare documentation of a Hakhshara Group (agricultural training group) of Agudat Yisrael in Sobków, Poland, in which young men undergo agricultural training prior to their immigration to Eretz Yisrael, and are seen in work, prayer and dance. The archive team wishes to thank Rabbi Jacob Shlomo Levi, Dr. Chaim Shalem, Shula Widrich, Rabbi Moshe Hillel of "Ahavat Shalom" Institute, Ephraim Levi of the Jerusalem City Archives, Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi, Dr. Ada Gebel, Dr. Pnina Steinberger, Prof. Aviva Halamish, Prof. Yossi Katz, Dr. Esther Yankelevitch, Prof. Margalit Shilo and Dr. Yochanan Ben Yaacov, for their scientific consultation concerning this footage.
The Israel Film Archive has made every effort to locate the rights holders of this film, but without success. If anyone contacts us claiming the aforementioned rights, the issue of the claimed rights will be reviewed and resolved.
