The Year 1906――The Pogroms――Emigration――Conder and his
Activities――An Emigration Conference――The Eighth Congress
――The Question of the Headquarters.
THE year 1906 was one of the _ans terribles_ in the annals of Jewish
history. It was a year of bloodshed and terror. Not even the dark ages
extracted so heavy a toll of Jewish blood: something like 1400 pogroms
took place all over the Ghetto. In many districts the Jewish population
were completely exterminated. The number of persons directly affected,
that is to say of those whose houses, shops, or factories were the
objects of attack and pillage, reached a total of some 200,000 to
250,000. To this number must be added that of the clerks, workmen,
etc., indirectly affected by the destruction of factories and shops,
which could not be ascertained. The casualty list was estimated at
approximately 20,000 murdered and 100,000 injured. Public opinion was
stirred up. Why had those Jews suffered; what sins had they committed?
Their loyalty and steadfastness to Judaism, instead of winning
respect and admiration for their faithfulness, had called down upon
them a treatment so immeasurably atrocious that it outdistanced the
conventional words of sorrow and suffering and tempted many thinking
men to ask whether the vaunted tolerance of the twentieth century
was anything but an extravagant dream. If other nations suffer,
they afterwards get freedom and indemnity. If in 1860 the Christians
in Syria had suffered, their suffering afterwards brought them an
autonomy. But what of the Jews? Every day it becomes clearer that it
is impossible to allow the Jews to remain a prey to revolution and
counter-revolution, between which they are crushed just as the corn
is ground between the upper and nether millstones. “Emigration, then.”
But whither? The mass of Jewish emigrants, in spite of all Emigration
Committees (which were established in America), resists dispersion; it
holds together like a swarm of bees. In New York and elsewhere gigantic
Jewish cities have sprung up that have become a menace to the safety
of the present inhabitants and therefore to the possibility of further
Jewish immigration. Attempts made to substitute agricultural colonies
at an enormous expense by philanthropists have met with failure
everywhere except in Palestine, where it seems that at last an
effective form of organization has been discovered. There alone the
immigrant Jew finds himself at ease in language and customs, and to
that land he brings the indescribable imperishable feeling of home that
elsewhere comes to him but slowly and gradually.
Palestine is not far from Russia and Roumania, and is unquestionably so
adapted for cultivation that as soon as the soil has been prepared the
main stream of present emigration can be directed thither. And, further,
it is the connecting link between the three great human divisions of
the earth, while its commercial future promises to be of the brightest.
It is therefore natural that the Jews, longing to possess the land of
their fathers, should be encouraged to immigrate both on political and
industrial grounds.
This great and powerful problem has roused English public opinion, but
the Zionist propaganda has made considerable progress since 1900. One
of the foremost English authorities who supported a Zionist solution of
the Jewish problem was Colonel Claude Reignier Conder, to whom we have
referred several times in this book. Some space must be devoted to a
brief reference to the activities of this wonderful man in connection
with Palestine.
Colonel Conder’s name will always be associated with the exploration
of Palestine and with the history of Christian sympathy in this country
for the colonization of Palestine by the Jewish people. No other person
has ever done as much as he for the correct interpretation of the Bible
with reference to Palestine. He was born on December 29, 1848, and was
trained for the Royal Engineers. He was associated, almost from its
creation, with the Palestine Exploration Fund, which was founded in
1865. He was only twenty-six when, as a Lieutenant, he went out to join
in the survey of Western Palestine. He returned to England in September,
1875, having surveyed 4700 square miles. He brought with him a mass
of notes, special surveys, observations and drawings, which formed
the bulk of the material for a work which may be said to have become
historical: _Tent Work in Palestine_. It is a book which even now well
repays perusal, if only for the light it throws upon the geography and
topography of Palestine, and the many incidents and experiences it
records. The remaining 1300 square miles of the survey were finished
by Lieutenant (later Lord) Kitchener in 1877. The scientific results
of the work occupied some twenty-six memoirs, one to every sheet of
the map. The whole of Western Palestine was mapped out on a scale which
showed every ruin and waterway, every road, forest and hillock. More
than a hundred and fifty biblical sites were ascertained and from these
the boundaries of the tribes were worked out and the routes taken by
the invading armies traced. The other books and memoirs on Palestine
which Conder published form a library in themselves. In addition to
the one already mentioned, there are _Heth and Moab_ and _Memoirs of
the Survey of Western Palestine_ in 1883. This was followed in 1890
by _Memoirs of the Survey of Eastern Palestine_, _The Bible in the
East_ in 1896, _The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_ in 1897, _The Hittites
and their Language_ in 1898. Besides these must be mentioned his
_Handbook to the Bible_ (1879), _Primer of Bible Geography_ (1884), and
_Palestine_ (1891), which contained in one small volume a handy summary
of all that was known of the geography of the country up to date. His
last work, published only a year before he died, was on the City of
Jerusalem. Special notice is also due to his _Judas Maccabeus_ and _The
Jewish Tragedy_, in which he deals with Jewish history from a national
point of view.
Conder pointed out that Zionists are the natural leaders to whom
the destitute and oppressed Jews turn for counsel and guidance, that
“emigration has not settled the eternal question,” and that “a nation
without a country must be content with toleration as all that it can
expect.” He, too, sees the only solution in Palestine, and declares
that Englishmen should be “only too glad to see Palestine increasing
in civilization and prosperity as an outpost in the neighbourhood of
Egypt.” (_See_ Appendix LXXXV.)
The Zionist Organization called, in 1906, mainly under the pressure of
the pogroms, a conference of representatives of Jewish organizations
at Brussels, to discuss the question of emigration, particularly
to the East. A number of organizations――including the Anglo-Jewish
Association――sent their delegates; others, probably in consequence
of their anti-Zionist tendencies, declined. Resolutions in favour of
investigating the condition of the emigration to the East were accepted,
and a committee was elected; but nothing practical resulted from
these efforts, except a little “rapprochement” between Zionism and
the “Hilfsverein” which, however, in consequence of deep differences
of principle, was only superficial and of a short duration.
The work of the Zionist Organization, without losing sight of the
political aspect, devoted itself more and more to the work in Palestine.
The Eighth Zionist Congress at the Hague, August, 1907, with Wolffsohn
and Nordau as Presidents, was attended by a considerably increased
number of delegates, and among them a number of English Zionist leaders.
The report says about Zionism in England: “In England the devoted zeal
of the Zionists has removed the difficulties which formerly existed.
The Federation worked systematically and well, and the Movement has
received a considerable impetus. The old and trusted workers co-operate
with the younger spirits.”
The Ninth Zionist Congress at Hamburg, December, 1909, with Wolffsohn
and Nordau again as Presidents, was well attended (about four hundred
members――and for the first time in the history of the movement,
delegates were in attendance from Turkey). The impression driven home
with irresistible force was the sustained and unflagging interest
of all present in the movement. Among the English delegates were:
Dr. Gaster, Dr. Samuel Daiches, Mr. Joseph Cowen, Dr. Chaim Weizmann,
Mr. L. J. Greenberg, Mr. Herbert Bentwich, Mr. Norman Bentwich, Dr.
Fuchs, the Rev. J. K. Goldbloom, and Mr. Leon Simon.
The Congress found itself confronted with the problem of organization.
Several delegates were of the opinion that the task of leadership
was too difficult for a Small Actions Committee, consisting of three
persons, and that the headquarters should be removed to a larger centre.
This view was not influenced by any personal sympathies or antipathies:
it was dictated by considerations of an important character. Others
were opposed to any change. This was an internal fight which had to be
fought out, as in any other democratic movement, with the weapons of
reason and conviction, and it was fought out. This Congress could not
radically solve the question and it was left to the next one to bring
the solution.
Zionism, however, remained as strong as ever. The disputes, far from
being symptoms of weakness, were symptoms of growing interest, devotion
and enthusiasm for the common cause.