The propaganda of these _Hobebe Zion_--the Hebrew equivalent for "Lovers of Zion"-- who acknowledged as their leaders the first exponents of the territorial restoration of Jewry, Pinsker and Lilienblum, led to the organization of a number of societies in various cities.

Towards the end of 1884 the delegates of these societies met at a conference in the Prussian border-town Kattowitz, such a conference being impossible in Russia, in view of the danger of police interference.

On that occasion a fund was established under the name of _Mazkeret Moshe_, "A Memorial to Moses," in honor of the English philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, whose hundredth birthday was celebrated in that year.

The fund, which formed the main channel for all donations in favor of the Palestinian colonies, was administered by the two _Hobebe Zion_ centers in Odessa and Warsaw.

The movement which had been called into life by representatives of the _intelligenzia_ succeeded in winning over several champions of rabbinical orthodoxy, among them Samuel Mohilever, the well known rabbi of Bialystok; their affiliation with the new party was largely instrumental in weakening the opposition of the orthodox masses which were inclined to look upon this political movement as a rival of the traditional Messianic idea of Judaism.