Various organizations were established in the pre-State period to address certain needs. These operated in unusual circumstances: lack of sovereignty on the one hand and social cohesion on the other. After the establishment of the State, the authorities filled in those services still wanting. This centralist mode of government was evident in all aspects of public life in the first generation of the young State. The publications of these institutions provide an accurate representation of day-to-day life in Israel, given their status as the primary means of communicating with the public. Local authorities, both pre- and post-State; health services – hospitals, medical aid societies, and paramedical services like Magen David Adom and public health facilities; professional associations such as agricultural, commercial and craftsmen's unions; women's organizations and sectorial organizations that brought together immigrants from different countries and cultures all, along with many others like them, created the infrastructure on which pre- and post-State society was founded. They lent it stability and shaped its character and trajectory.