September 7, 1907
David Gruen, who in 1910 would change his name to David Ben-Gurion, and his then-girlfriend, Rachel Nelkin, arrive in Jaffa with a group of other young adults from Plonsk, Poland, making aliyah to the Land of Israel. Upon arriving in Jaffa, the new immigrants are carried off the boat by Arab dockworkers, and Gruen goes to settle in Petah Tikvah to work in agriculture.
In his first postcard to his family in Poland after his arrival, he writes, “My dear ones, hurrah. Today at the ninth hour I alighted on the shore of Jaffa. … We’re going to Petah Tikvah. I’ll write in more detail from there. I wasn’t ill on the journey even once! I’m feeling well, full of courage, and full of faith.” (Peres, Shimon, and David Landau, “Ben-Gurion: A Political Life,” New York: Schocken Books, p. 13.)
