The Ahavat Zion (Love of Zion) association was founded on February 18, 1906 by Ashkenazi young people in Cairo, most of them new immigrants from the lower socio-economic classes. One of ten Zionist associations founded in Cairo between 1905 and 1913, it had several dozen members, mostly Ashkenazim, and a program of national education, diffusion of the Zionist idea, and fund-raising for Zionist causes. Its president, Elkana Waisel, was also the licensed representative of the Jewish National Fund in Egypt. In December 1908, Ahavat Zion sponsored a new organization, Yalde-Ṣiyyon (Child…