It was a week before Lag B'Omer, and the friends of the Jacobs family
continued to attend every Friday evening to hear a letter from Jerusalem
read. There was only one drawback to these Friday re-unions, and that
was that every week the little cellar-kitchen sitting-room got more and
more crowded, for each friend became so interested that he brought
another with him without asking permission. However, as no one
complained, Mr and Mrs Jacobs said nothing, and were indeed thankful
that so many were interested in those old letters; and Mr Jacobs at once
started reading as follows:--
"DEAR MILLIE,--I want to tell you how we spent Lag B'Omer here, for in
London we used not to make much of a holy day of it. Here days are taken
in preparing for it, baking cakes and preparing tasty meals. Both old
and young spend that day in visits to the graves of our great Rabbis and
in picnics on the Mount of Olives or in the cool shade of the many caves
in the neighbourhood. Those who have large families have their hands
full, for the walks in the open air give the children huge appetites;
and, unless you are prepared for such appetites it is difficult to
supply all that is needed, for you cannot buy extra food, as in England,
except perhaps a few nuts and a drink of water.
"Before dawn, our youngsters awakened us and hurried us to get ready to
start, as if we should not have quite enough of their pranks even if we
left a few hours later. As we have to form ourselves into large groups,
we arrange these a day or two beforehand, for there are a great number
of Arabs and Turks about, and many of them are very wild. If you go
alone, or even in pairs, they are often known to attack you, especially
in the case of a girl or a woman. At first I laughed at the girls
fearing to go alone when in the country, but, after having had an
unpleasant adventure myself, I determined to be more careful and obey
those who knew better than I did as to what was safe and what not.
"It happened in this way. One Sabbath afternoon I went out of the suburb
with a few girls, who, like myself, had the spirit of adventure. As we
went along chatting merrily together, we felt ourselves caught from
behind by some Turks. Fortunately we had not got far, so that when we
shrieked out our cries were heard in the town, and to our great relief
we soon heard a horse galloping in our direction. We kept on screaming,
and one Turk put his hand over my friend's mouth; but she bit and
scratched his hand. Then, suddenly, we were let loose, and the Turks
took to their heels, for they saw Europeans galloping up to us. Two of
them jumped off their horses and asked if we were hurt, for we had been
so frightened that we could not quickly leave off crying. They kindly
brought us home, and after that experience I never wanted to go out
without enough men in our party to guard us.
"Now this Lag B'Omer a number of girls wanted to go to see some special
places, so we formed ourselves into a large party and started very
early, for you rarely get such an outing. It was a most glorious spring
morning, and a few of us had donkeys to ride. To do so is not as much
pleasure as you might think, for the donkeys in Palestine stop every few
minutes, and, unless you beat them cruelly, which we did not like doing,
they will not budge an inch. Sometimes they consent to be led, but they
will not be driven, and you have a weary time of it. Now and then a
donkey will suddenly start off on a quick trot, and, being thus taken
unawares, the rider often falls off. You can imagine the laughter of
your friends and how stupid the girl feels, but somehow it is always
taken in good part.
"Our visit first was to David's Tomb, but we were not allowed to go in.
Next we walked round the walls of Jerusalem, climbed up the Mount of
Olives, then rested under the shade of a large olive-tree, where we
spread out our table-cloth and arranged on it all the good things we had
brought with us. The long walk had given us good appetites. After we had
finished our meals, other groups of friends came close to us, and then
some of the men in turns told us tales of our nation's ancient glory,
and each one had something interesting to relate. Then a middle-aged man
with a group of boys came near us. I think he must have been a teacher,
for he started telling the boys about Bar Cochba and his struggle with
the Romans.
"'Fierce struggles for Jewish freedom went on for three years, and the
Jews were proving so successful under the leadership of Bar Cochba that
the Romans thought it necessary to bring their greatest general, Julius
Severus, from Britain to command the Roman Army in Palestine. At last
the Samaritans betrayed our people: our last remaining fortified city,
Bethar, fell, and Bar Cochba died in defending it on 9th of Ab, 135 C.E.
"'The Jews were the last people under Roman rule in those days to fight
for freedom, and over half-a-million of them lost their lives in this
long struggle. Rabbi Akiba, the wise and dearly-loved Jewish scholar,
was taken prisoner and scourged, until he expired under his sufferings.
Jerusalem was turned into a Roman colony called Aelia Capitolina, and no
Jew dared appear in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, under penalty of
death. Jews under the Roman rules were forbidden to practise their
religion, and anyone found teaching or preaching Judaism was horribly
tortured.'
"The Rabbi, continuing, reminded his boys that, in remembrance of the
brave deeds of Bar Cochba and his Jewish soldiers, Jewish boys to this
present time play with bows and arrows on Lag B'Omer.
"I was most interested to hear all the Rabbi had to tell his boys, and
glad to feel I was at last living in the Holy Land where so many of our
noble heroes of past ages lived and fought and suffered martyrdom. I
could not prevent tears coming to my eyes when thinking on our nation's
past glory and praying silently we may come again into our own; but I
believe it will not be so much by the power of the sword, but as the
Prophet Zachariah foretold unto Zerubbabel: 'Not by might, nor by power
(or arms), but by MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord.' Those who have been born
here or lived here for many years cannot understand our feeling thus,
though they love their country and their nation dearly.
"When the Rabbi had ended, we all stood up and received his blessing. We
then went on to the grave of Rabbi Shiman, which was in a beautiful,
cool, and shady spot. There we found numbers of people. Some groups were
having a lively time singing and clapping their hands, while the men
were dancing; but none of the women or girls danced, as it would be
thought immodest of them, but they helped by singing and clapping their
hands. Then other folks came to pray at the saint's grave for the health
of some of their children that were ailing. Others dropped letters or
pieces of paper into the Rabbi's tomb with special requests written on
them. Some put money into the charity-boxes hanging at different parts
around the tomb. There was also no end of beggars there. One
nice-looking man went about with a red handkerchief tied up by the four
corners, asking people to put in as much as they could spare to uphold
the yeshibas and the hospital or the home for the aged, and other
institutions. But as most of the people there around the Rabbi's grave
lived on charity, I could not see what they could spare.
"I happened to mention this to Father and said how I disliked seeing
people living on Chalukha (alms sent them from Europe), and I could not
understand why they were not ashamed to take it, for they did not look
like ordinary beggars, but quite the reverse--independent, studious,
and refined-looking, as I found out later when I spoke to them. They
seemed indeed to think they were conferring a favour by accepting alms.
Father said to a certain degree they were wrong, but from another point
of view it is difficult for a man to progress in business and at the
same time devote many hours to the study of the Torah. Our ancient
Rabbis realized this, and said that those who had not the leisure or the
inclination to devote much time to the study of the Torah should make it
their duty to give of their means towards the up-keep of those who did.
If they did this God would bless them. So it is now a recognized duty
for every Jew in Europe who has any respect for the Torah and other
religious learning or teaching to send his 'bit' towards the yearly
support of the scholars here.
"The latter, who do nothing but study the Torah, think that it is
through their efforts in this direction that Israel is saved. They do
not consider the money given for their support a charity, but believe
they hold a similar position in Palestine to that of professors and
students who hold scholarships in the various universities in Great
Britain and Europe. The Jews in certain countries send more money for
the support of their fellow-countrymen who are teachers and scholars
than the Jews of some of the Eastern European countries, and that is why
some appear to be better off than many of their fellow-teachers and
scholars.
"This chat with Father helped me to understand other things as well
which had puzzled me before. About this I will write more in another
letter.
"Now I must return to Lag B'Omer, and tell you what struck me as very
strange on that day. As I went with a few of my girl-friends from group
to group to see and hear all I could about what was going on, we came to
a group of women, girls, and youngsters, and in the centre of them all a
lovely little child about three years of age sitting dressed in silk,
and a plate near by with some lovely black curls lying on it. I, of
course, asked what it all meant, and was told that those people who had
only one boy, or who had lost some by death, never cut the hair of their
children till they were between three and four years of age. Then, when
it was cut, they put all they had cut off upon a scale, and upon the
other side of the scale copper, silver, or gold money, according to
their means. If poor, they put copper coins upon the scales to test the
weight of the hair, and then distributed these copper coins among the
poor. In fact, it just looks as if those who receive charity take it
in one hand and distribute it with the other.
[Illustration: YEUSHIVA (TALMUDICAL SCHOOL)]
"Nowhere have I ever seen so much almsgiving as here. Alms-boxes are
hung up in various places, where in Europe you would see only ornaments.
For every joy or blessing and for those who have relatives or friends
ill or in danger, money is freely dropped into the box. This money is
given towards the up-keep of the hospital for the very poor, and so on.
Really, it must be very hard for those people who have little to spare,
but Father says this is one of the means by which every Jew in Palestine
is trained to love his neighbour as himself. I feel he is right, for I
never saw so much kindness and thoughtfulness for others as I have seen
since we arrived here. Everyone naturally does what the others do, and
it has proved to me how true it is that example is far more powerful
than preaching or teaching.
"As we appeared so interested in what they told us, they kindly invited
us to sit down and offered us wine, cake, delicious pasties, and jams,
and later on baked nuts, though we were quite strangers to them. It is
this kindliness that surprised me so much. Altogether we spent a very
joyful day, returning home by moonlight, when we girls and women
thoroughly enjoyed listening to the groups of men and boys who sang and
danced on the way home.
"I don't think I could ever make you realize all the drawbacks to the
life here; but yet it has a very pleasant and happy side too, and you
really see far more pleasure than you ever do in London. In my next
letter I'll tell you about the engagement and marriage of my friend who
is only fifteen years old. Now I must stop, hoping that we may see you
here some day soon."
The older folks started discussing the life in Palestine. Directly Mr
Jacobs had finished reading the letter, they agreed that it could only
be in Palestine that a truly Jewish life could be lived, for everything
depends so much on environment. "In London the surroundings are against
a consistently Jewish religious life," said one; "if you try, it is just
like swimming against a strong current." "But here comes our chance,"
replied another, "for if we fight or swim against the current, we
gradually become stronger, and at last we are able to swim well in spite
of it, and so win the race and prize. If we just swim with the current,
or just suit our life to our environment, which of course at first is
much easier and pleasanter, the current at last carries us along so
rapidly that we are unable to avoid rocks or crags in the river, and
then we 'go under,' or make shipwreck of our lives."
"That's true indeed," said all the elders, shaking their heads solemnly.
"Then," replied Mr Jacobs, "our greatest duty is to have one thought and
one aim constantly in our minds, no matter what our environment may be,
and that thought is that God's Holy Spirit is in and around all who try
to obey Him, no matter where they are; and it is only by the guidance
and help of His Holy Spirit that we can lead true, consistent, Jewish
lives, live up to the old familiar words of the Shema, and love our
neighbours as ourselves."