Hechalutz (Hebrew: החלוץ, lit. The Pioneer) was an association of Jewish youth whose aim was to train its members to settle in the Land of Israel, which became an umbrella organization of the pioneering Zionist youth movements.
Hechalutz was originally a spontaneous, but loose affiliation of Lovers of Zion in the 1880s.
During World War I, Hechalutz branches blossomed across Europe, Russia, America and Canada. The organization was boosted by strong leadership by, for example, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (second President of Israel) and David Ben Gurion (first Prime Minister of Israel) in America, and Joseph Trumpeldor in Russia. At its peak between 1930-1935, Hechalutz flourished in 25 countries throughout Europe, North South Africa, the Middle East, and North South America. By the eve of Second World War in 1939, Hechalutz numbered 100,000 members worldwide, with approximately 60,000 having already made aliyah, and with 16,000 members in hakhsharot (training centres) for the pioneering life in the Land of Israel.[1].