Chovevei Zion in Manchester
Popular interest in the aims of the colonisation movements was sparked in 1890 with the arrival of Rev Hayyim Zundel Maccoby – ‘the Maggid of Kamenets’– from Russia where he had been very active for the Chovevei Zionist movement. In early August, he spoke for the cause at New Synagogue and Manchester Jew’s School, persuading over 160 persons to enrol. From reports in the Jewish Chronicle, members of the Chovevei Zion movement could be numbered at over 400 by April 1891. However, it was very much a socially stratified movement. In 1893, Rev H Cohn of University College Manchester complained, "…at present we have no means of making the Chovevei Zion known amongst the great middle class and the well-to-do."
