A Zionist society and movement of Palestinian pioneers from the nonreligious Jewish-Russian intellectual leadership, founded in Kharkov in 1882, which spearheaded the First Aliya. It derived its name from the Hebrew acronym of the Biblical verse: "Bet Yaakov Lkhu Vnelha" ("House of Jacob, come ye and let us go," Isaiah 2:5), which served as its slogan. Its aim was the national renaissance of the Jewish people, the development of its productiveness, and its return to agriculture. The society was founded after the pogroms of 1882 and the arrival of the first group of Bilu settlers in Palestine in July 1882. Although their concrete achievements of establishing settlements were limited, the moral and historical effect of the movement was substantial because the ideals it represented continued to inspire successive generations.
See also Aliya.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..