26 August 1903 – 3 Elul 5663
The first general congress of the pre-state Jewish community in the land of Israel came to an end in Zikhron Yaakov. Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin opened the congress by discussing the need for a representative body to negotiate with the Ottoman authorities on behalf of both the traditional Orthodox Jewish community and the newer, more secular Zionists, irrespective of their deep ideological differences. Although most of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community ignored the congress, representatives of the city’s Yemenite and Persian Jews attended, as well as Ashkenazi intellectuals, making the Jerusalem delegation the most culturally diverse. The final issue raised at the congress was the question of women’s representation.
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