User:Ryebreadm3/Katowice Conference

Decisions
At the proposal of Pinsker the conference established an institution named Agudat Montefiore to promote farming among the Jews and support Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel. A decision was reached to send immediately 10,000 francs to Petaḥ Tikvah and 2,000 rubles for Yesud ha-Ma'alah. It was also decided to send a reliable emissary to Eretz Israel to investigate the standing of the colonies there. Nineteen members were elected to the central committee, including Leon Pinsker (chairman), Samuel Mohilewer (president), Kalonymus Ze'ev Wissotzky, Judah Leib ben Moses Kalischer (the son of Ẓevi Hirsch Kalischer), Max Emmanuel Mandelstamm, Ch. Wollrauch, and others.

At the first meeting of the central committee, which took place at the time of the conference, it was decided that two committees, one in Odesa and the other in Warsaw, should temporarily manage the organization's affairs. The central committee, to be headed by Pinsker, was to reside temporarily in Odesa, and a subcommittee was to be established in Warsaw, subject to Pinsker's authority. Many fundraising attempts failed, especially the attempts by the committee in Odesa. This led to the Jewish colonies in Palestine being mostly dependent on Baron Edmond de Rothschild, who was a strong supporter of zionism and the future founder of the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA). Rothschild donated ₤1.5 million to the efforts of the Hovevei Zion groups. Kalischer announced his presentation of land acquired by his father near Rachel's Tomb to the central committee.