(Workers of the Association of Israel)
A religious labor ,ovement dedicated to the development of the land and the building of a Jewish state in the spirit of the Torah and tradition. Founded in 1922 in Poland to counteract the growth of secularism, socialism, and antireligious tendencies among Jewish workers, this organization was the labor wing of Agu-dat Israel. In the late 1920s, the first Poalei Agudat Israel pioneers arrived in Palestine. In 1933, they founded Kibbutz Hafetz Hayim. In 1946, the World Union of Poalei Agudat Israel was founded. Its members joined the Hagana to fight the Arab invasion in 1948, and it joined the trade union department of the Histadrut under a special arrangement. In 1960, it officially split from Agudat Israel and became independent. It joined with a splinter group from the National Religious Party to form Morasha to contest the 1984 Knesset election .
See also Political parties.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..