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At the beginning of the 19th century, there were only a few thousand Jews living in the Land of Israel, mostly in Jerusalem. The Sephardi Jews made a living from cottage industries and trade, whereas the Ashkenazis studied Torah and lived of charity. In the decades that followed, Jews from around the world came and settled in the country. The Jewish population increased and numbered over twenty thousand.At the initiative of Moses Montefiore, a new neighborhood was built outside the Old City walls in Jerusalem, named Mishkenot Sha’ananim. A group of Jews from the Old Yishuv who wanted a self-sufficient life founded the first agricultural colony, Petach Tikva.
