arrived to restore the desolations of Zion, and to rebuild the waste
places of the land of Israel. The very existence of ‘The Syrian and
Palestine Colonisation Society,’ which is about a year old, constitutes
a striking expression of such a sentiment. This society, according
to its prospectus, has ‘been formed to promote the Colonisation of
Syria and Palestine and the neighbouring countries by persons of good
character, whether Christians or Jews. ’ This it proposes to effect by
obtaining information for intending settlers, and making arrangements
for their transport and reception; by assisting approved applicants
with advances; and by making arrangements for the purchase of land by
the emigrants, or securing suitable tracts of Government waste lands,
under certain guarantees; and by exerting themselves to improve the
communications. Having mentioned this association, let me plainly say,
from an intimate experience of this matter, that there are at present a
variety of reasons why emigration to Palestine by English people cannot
possibly be undertaken with any hope of success, in the same way as
emigrants to the United States or to a British Colony. In the first
place, the heat of the plains is too great to admit of their labouring
during summer with their own hands. The German colonists in attempting
this have suffered a fearful mortality. Again, to employ Arab labour
to advantage, and to hold any dealings with the people, the peculiar
manners and customs of the East must be known, and colloquial Arabic
to some extent be mastered. But, above all, the want of thorough
protection to life and property so long as Palestine remains in Ottoman
hands is greatly against any emigration scheme that does not include
European government for the whole colony. Hence the evident wisdom in
such a case of the plan put forth by Captain Charles Warren, R.E., in
a pamphlet, published last year, entitled ‘_The Land of Promise, or
Turkey’s Guarantee_.’ This officer, who has an intimate acquaintance
with Syria, derived from his able work there on behalf of the Palestine
Exploration Fund, proposes that, if only as a solution of the pecuniary
embarrassments of the Porte, Palestine should be handed over to
a company similar to the old East India Company, to be farmed and
governed by such an association for a period of twenty years. He
suggests that such a Company should pay to Turkey its present revenues,
and to the creditors of Turkey a proportion of the interest due to
them, taking for itself six per cent. on its capital and expending
the remaining revenue in improving the country. What he considers the
ultimate future of the land we learn from his own words. ‘Let this’
(the above arrangement), he says, ‘be done with the avowed intention
of gradually introducing the Jew, pure and simple, who is eventually
to occupy and govern this country.... Concerning what that settlement
is in part to be, I can profess no doubt, because I feel none. It is
written over and over again in the Word of God.... Israel are to return
to their own land. This event, in its incipient stage, I have shown to
be now actually taking place. That which is yet to be looked for is the
public recognition of the fact, together with the restoration, in whole
or part, of Jewish national life, under the protection of some one or
more of the Great Powers....’”¹
¹ Palestine Re-Peopled; or, Scattered Israel’s Gathering. A
Sign of the Times. By the Rev. James Neil, B.A.... Third
Edition, Revised. London.... 1877. _pp._ v.‒vi. and 34‒37.
3. _Colonel C. R. Conder on Palestinian Colonization_
The greatest authority on Palestine in our generation, Claude Reignier
Conder, wrote:――
“It has always seemed to me that the future element of prosperous
colonisation is to be found among the Jews of Eastern Europe. The
thrift and energy of the race are not their only qualifications. Those
who mean to thrive in Palestine must not only be prepared to work
on the land, but they must be accustomed to the harder conditions of
existence which are common in uncivilised countries, and almost unknown
in the west. It is true that they will have to encounter the evils due
to bad government and corruption, which are mitigated by civilisation;
but if the accounts received from America are credible it is doubtful
if these evils are less apparent in South America than they are in
Turkish dominions. A people which has not only been able to live, but
which has prospered more than the native born population, under Russian
tyranny, will not find it difficult to prosper as subjects of the
Sultan. A people which has lived under one form of Oriental despotism
will be less discouraged by another similar condition than Europeans
would be. It is from the Oriental, Jewish, agricultural class, expelled
from Russia for their religion, that the colonists most naturally
fitted for agriculture in Syria may evidently be drawn.
“I have often thought that the words of that famous passage in the Law,
which predicts the future of Israel, must have come home with a sad and
overwhelming force to the Jews in Russia during the last few years:
“‘And among these Goim shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole
of thy foot have rest, and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;
and thou shalt fear day and night; and shalt have none assurance of
thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even; and
at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning; for the fear of thy
heart wherewith thou shalt fear; and for the sight of thine eyes which
thou shalt see.’
“But what is the other picture which the Law presents of Israel in its
own land? ‘Blessed shalt thou be in basket and in store.’
“The proposal so to settle agriculturists, as freeholders tilling their
own lands, is in accord with the general tendency of all enlightened
statesmanship of the present age. We have too many artisans starved by
competition, and too few tillers of the earth. Whether is it better for
a man to sell penny toys in the streets of a foggy metropolis, or to
till the red corn lands, and make food for himself, for his wife and
for his children, for the citizens beyond the seas? Even if the whole
of Palestine east of Jordan were covered with cornfields and vineyards,
with mulberry and fig gardens, with cotton and maize, and pot herbs,
and fruit orchards, there would not be too much produce useful to man.
There would be markets in which the growers could compete with ease;
and towns would grow up, where manufactories of silk and cotton might
arise. There would be rice and indigo grown in the Jordan Valley, where
now there are only flowers, and there would be petroleum and bitumen,
and other minerals, to be worked near the Dead Sea shores. There would
in short be a return of the old prosperity, which once covered this
country with great Roman cities, and a prosperity yet greater because
of the facilities offered by modern science.
“If then I were asked for advice on this subject I would say: Buy
all the land you can get at moderate prices in Bashan and in Northern
Gilead, and buy it soon, for the price will go up. Promote as far as
possible the making of a railway, which is practicable, and which will
bring this region within the pale of civilization. Send out as many
fit men as you can, to till the land; and send their wives and children
after them. They will be happy, and, if they work, they will be rich.
The difficulties are less than those to be expected elsewhere, and the
advantages are greater. The movement is not artificial, not merely due
to religious sentiment, or to visionary philanthropy. It is a natural
and healthy one, which ought to be encouraged, by giving power and
money to the organization which seeks to aid it, and to control its
direction in a wise course. The case has been laid before you fairly,
and the details and precedents have been sufficiently studied. The
experience of ten years will be of high value; and the consent of the
Sultan, whose country it is, has been gained, both to the construction
of a very important line of railway, and to the settlement of Jews,
willing to abide by the law of that land as they have obeyed the much
more tyrannical laws of the Czar.
“I confidently expect therefore, within a few more years, to see
prosperity increasing in Palestine, and the empty lands filling up with
an industrious population. And if this be so the Jewish people will
have reason to remember with gratitude the name of Baron Rothschild
as a generous benefactor, and the Society of the Chovevi Zion, as an
organisation which undertook a very important work at a time when help
was sorely needed.”¹
¹ Eastern Palestine. A Lecture delivered for the Western Tent
of the Chovevi Zion Association. By Claude Reignier Conder ...
Chovevi Zion Association.... 1892. (8º. 36 _pp._ in printed
wrapper) _pp._ 5‒6 and 35‒36.
4. _Sir John William Dawson on the Future of Palestine_
Sir John William Dawson, Professor of Natural History at Montreal
University, the worthy disciple of Lyell and Darwin, in a description
of the Holy Land, writes:――
“From the higher parts of Jaffa one may obtain a good idea of the
physical characters of the maritime plain of Southern Palestine. Along
the shore stretch banks and dunes of yellow sand, contrasting strongly
with the deep blue of the sea, and shading off on the east into the
verdure of the plain. Near Jaffa this is covered with orange orchards,
laden in February with golden fruit of immense size, and which forms
one of the most important exports of the place. To the south the plain
spreads into the fertile flats of ancient Philistia, interspersed in
the distance with patches of sand, the advanced guards of the great
Arabian desert. To the north it constitutes the plain of Sharon,
celebrated in Hebrew song, and extends for fifty miles to where Mount
Carmel projects its high rocky front into the sea. On the inland side,
the plain is bounded first by the rolling foot-hills of the Judean
range, the Shephelah or low country ... and then by the hill country
proper, which, clothed in blue and purple, forms a continuous range,
limiting the view eastward from Jaffa....
“The maritime plain was also a granary ... and it still produces
much wheat and barley, though large portions of it are neglected and
untilled, and the culture carried on is by means of implements as
simple and primitive as they could have been in the days of Abraham.
In February one found it gay with the beautiful crimson anemone (A.
coronaria), which may have been the poetical ‘Rose of Sharon,’ while
a little yellowish-white iris represented the ‘lily of the valley’ of
Solomon’s Song....
“... Along the shores of the Dead Sea there are springs which produce
petroleum; and this when hardened becomes Asphalt.
“Now the valley of the Dead Sea is an ‘oil district,’ and from the
incidental mention of its slimepits, or literally asphalt pits, in
Genesis xiv., was apparently more productive in mineral pitch in
ancient times. It is interesting in connection with this to notice that
Conder found layers of asphalt in the mound which marks the site of
ancient Jericho, showing that the substance was used in primitive times
for roofs and floors, or as a cement to protect brick structures from
damp; and it is well known that petroleum exudes from the rocks both
on the sides and in the bottom of the Dead Sea, and, being hardened by
evaporation and oxidation, forms the asphaltum referred to by so many
travellers.
“... Palestine, to the ordinary traveller, appears, especially in
the drought of summer, a bare and barren country. Yet the climate
and rainfall of Palestine, with the chemical quality of its rocks and
soils, rich in lime, alkalies, and phosphates, render it productive
to a degree which cannot be measured by our more northern lands. Its
plains, though limited in extent and often stony, have very fertile
soil. The olive, the vine, and the fig-tree will grow and yield their
valuable fruit in abundance on rocky hills which at first sight appear
barren and worthless. Whenever culture has been undertaken with skill
and vigour, it has been well rewarded. In the olden times the Tirosh
(often incorrectly translated ‘wine’), as the Hebrews called the fruit
of their hill orchards and vineyards, was one of the main sources of
wealth; and the vineyards, with their vines trailing over the warm
rocks and clothing the ground with their leaves and fruit, realize the
prophetic description of hills running with the grape juice, and of a
land flowing with milk and honey, if by the latter we understand the
‘dibs’ or syrup of the grape. In Palestine a few olive-trees on a rocky
hill, that in colder climates would be worthless, may maintain a family.
There is also an abundance of nutritious pasturage, more especially for
sheep and goats, all the year round, on the limestone hills....
“Palestine must originally have been a well-wooded country, and its
forests are mentioned in the historical books of the Bible; but they
have for the most part perished, and this had tended to make the
climate more arid. The wild hill-sides are, however, often covered with
an exuberant growth of bushes and young trees, which, if permitted to
grow, or if replaced by cultivated trees, would soon clothe the land
with verdure, and tend to produce a more abundant summer rainfall. With
just laws, well administered, there is nothing to prevent Palestine
from becoming as wealthy and populous as we learn from the Bible it was
in the days of the Jewish kings, and it seems to have been at a later
time under the Roman government....
“In Palestine, ... the country is gay with flowers, especially in
early spring, and the conspicuous objects of culture are the vine and
the olive. Even in the plains, cultivated fields are few, and much is
merely wild pasture. The palm-tree is rare, though it still grows in
the plain of Jericho and the sheltered valleys throughout the country,
yielding dates smaller than those of Egypt, but of very pleasant
flavour....
“That the future of these old lands may be more important than their
present, it requires little penetration to see; and the old Book,
whose history of these lands in the past we have been considering,
has something to say of their future as well. Whatever belief men
may repose in prophecy, they cannot doubt that the word of God
has committed itself to certain foreshadowings of the future; and
though some of these are shrouded in a symbolism to which varied
interpretations have been given, others are sufficiently plain....
“We know, however, that physically these lands are still young, and
capable of greater things than those of the past, and we may content
ourselves with repeating the inspired words of an older Jewish
prophet:――
‘For the Lord will comfort Zion:
He will comfort all her waste places,
And will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord:
Joy and gladness shall be found therein,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.’
Isaiah li. 3.
“The Holy Land is a fine tract of country well defined by natural
boundaries, extending from the shore of the Mediterranean to the
Syrian desert. It is a compact district, distinct and complete in
itself, enclosed by mountain and sea, and consequently offering great
facilities of defence against invasion. It has its highlands and its
lowlands, its hills and its valleys, its streams and its lakes, its
hot springs and its cold springs, a fine sea coast broken by bold
promontories, cliffs towering above, beaches spreading out below, and
is replete with all the capabilities essential for civilized life.
The Holy Land is rich in vegetation, from the time-honoured ‘cedar of
Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall. ’ Groves of olive and mulberry trees,
vineyards of grapes of extraordinary size and richness, interspersed
with fields of golden grain, with magnificent hedges of the cactus
almost reaching the height of trees; the sycamore with its thickness
of foliage――these, and more can be enumerated in a brief outline, are
there for the endowment and adornment of the Holy Land. Nevertheless,
the wealth of nature is in a great measure of a passing character.
The sloping terraces of the hills, made fertile by means of artificial
irrigation, and now deprived of the help of the tending hand of man, no
longer display that fruitful aspect which was formerly their glory. The
land mourns under its present masters. The tillers of the soil do not
even sow in tears to reap in joy. With listless fatalism they cast into
the ground the seeds of a harvest which they know, as they watch it
come into being, shall minister mostly, not to their wants or wealth,
but to the greed of unrighteous local administration. And, wherever
these people are crowded together in their miserable villages, all is
mud, slum, penury, depression, chaos and picturesque misery. A goodly
land, the almond tree white in bloom, orange and olive, everywhere
lilies, the scarlet anemone; but no system, no industry, no skill,
no capital. No nation has been able to establish itself as a nation,
in Palestine, up to this day, no national union, and no national
spirit have prevailed there. The motley, impoverished tribes which have
occupied it, have held it as mere tenants at will, temporary landowners,
evidently waiting for those entitled to the permanent possession of the
soil.”¹
¹ Modern Science in Bible Lands. By Sir John William Dawson,
G.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G. S., etc.... London: ...
MDCCCLXXXVIII. _pp._ 449‒450, 487, 522, 524, 527, 533, 536.
LXXIV.
PETITION TO THE SULTAN
THE following is the text of a petition to His Majesty the Sultan of
Turkey, which was presented by Mr. Samuel Montagu, M.P. (afterwards
Lord Swaythling), to Lord Rosebery, with the request to transfer the
same to Constantinople. The petition was signed by the officers of the
Executive Committee and by the Commander and Secretary of each Tent:――
“To His Imperial Majesty Abdul Hamid Khan, Sultan of
The Ottoman Empire.
“May it please your Majesty,
“The undersigned Association of Chovevi Zion (Lovers of Zion) beg
humbly to submit to your Imperial Majesty that this Association has
been founded to assist a limited number of worthy and industrious Jews
to purchase and cultivate land, and to earn their living by agriculture.
The Association has purchased some portions of land in your Imperial
Majesty’s Dominions on the eastern side of the Jordan, and desires to
acquire such other portions of land in the same region as may be for
sale, and suitable for the cultivation of corn, vines, fruits, and silk,
or to the raising of cattle and horses.
“And the Association desires to send to this land fitting colonists,
industrious and peaceable men, provided by the Association with
sufficient means to till the land and to erect for themselves houses,
and to sink wells and construct roads so that they may be able to reach
markets.
“The Association wishes thus to send to your Imperial Majesty’s
dominions only such men, with their families, as will with God’s help
and under your Imperial Majesty’s protection, increase the prosperity
of your Imperial Majesty’s dominion, and become faithful subjects to
your Imperial Majesty.
“The Association therefore humbly begs your Imperial Majesty to grant
the Association of Chovevi Zion a Firman with the following privileges.
“First: that such persons as may be selected by the experienced men who
conduct the affairs of the Association may, when provided with proper
certificates that they have been so selected, and that land has been
purchased for them, be allowed to settle in your Imperial Majesty’s
dominions, and to cultivate land there, and that the privilege be
granted to them of becoming naturalised as your Majesty’s subjects.
“Second: That in view of the great expenses attending the beginnings
of cultivation, the building of houses, the sinking of wells, and the
making of roads, the agriculturists be relieved from the tax of the
‘Tenth’ for a period of seven years.
“Third: that it be graciously permitted to them, under the direction
and on the lands of the Association, to build houses and stables,
schools for their children, and temples in which to worship the Most
High, to construct roads, drainage and irrigation works, and to sink
wells, without having to crave special permission in each case.
“Fourth: that on condition that the Association send only men free from
disease or illness and approved by experienced Doctors, such persons
may freely travel in your Imperial Majesty’s dominions.
“And the Association, reckoning on your Imperial Majesty’s benevolence
and wisdom, believes that your Imperial Majesty will confer these
benefits on deserving and industrious people, and your Imperial
Majesty’s most humble petitioners invoke on your Imperial Majesty,
the blessing of the Most High.
President.
Honorary Secretary.”
The following reply was received:――
“FOREIGN OFFICE,
“_11th March, 1893_.
“SIR,――I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of the 3rd inst., forwarding a number of petitions,
addressed to the Sultan, by the ‘Lovers of Zion’ in favour of the
colonization of certain lands on the East of the Jordan by Jewish
emigrants.
“His Lordship will enquire of Her Majesty’s Ambassador at
Constantinople whether the fact of these petitions being sent in
through the British Embassy would be likely to lead to a relaxation of
the regulations affecting immigration to Syria.
“I am, Sir,
“Your most obedient, humble servant,
“(Signed) T. V. LISTER.¹
“Samuel Montagu, Esq.”
¹ _Palæstina_, The Chovevé Zion Quarterly, No. 3, 1893, _p._ 7.
LXXV.
(1) _CHOVEVÉ ZION_ AND ZIONIST WORKERS
A GREAT deal of idealism, energy and capacity has gone to the making
of the Zionist movement in its earlier and its more recent form. It
would be outside the scope of a history of Zionism dealing mainly with
England and France to attempt to do justice to the work of all those
individuals――mostly Russian Jews――who have devoted themselves to the
national revival, in Palestine or in the Diaspora. The purpose of
this Appendix is to place on record the services of some of the most
prominent workers (not mentioned in the text of this book) in the field
of organization, of propaganda or of Palestinian colonization.
Young men of ability and studious habits founded the _Bnei Zion_
Association at Moscow. This Society had indeed concentrated upon and
developed most strongly the national and Zionist ideal. The position
of the Moscow _Bnei Zion_ was so conspicuous, because that organization
was the headquarters of prominent Zionist workers who played a
distinguished part in the national revival in Russia and in other
countries. Among these the most active and important leaders were: E. W.
Tschlenow, M. Ussischkin, J. Maze, A. Idelsohn, T. Brutzkus, B. Mintz,
S. Mintz and M. Rabinovitz.
E. W. TSCHLENOW’s life of strenuous work was characterized by calmness
and steadfastness on the one hand, and gentleness and high virtue on
the other. Since his earliest youth he combined within him the noble
spirit of idealism and great capacity for precise work. As a young
student, he soon won his way to the foremost rank among the _Chovevé
Zion_ workers. The soundness and farsightedness of his views were
remarkable. Simple but impressive as a writer, as well as platform
orator, his generosity and devotion soon made him a favourite of the
_Bnei Zion_, and brought him prominence as organizer, leader and orator.
He graduated at the Moscow University in medicine, and distinguished
himself, after further study at other universities abroad, in a special
branch of his science. He then settled in Moscow. His successful
medical career, however, never prevented him from devoting a
considerable part of his time, and when necessary all of it, to useful
Jewish public work in general, and to Zionism in particular. After his
important and fruitful work in the _Chovevé Zion_ movement he entered
the Zionist Organization. He was in Palestine twice, not as a mere
tourist but as an investigator. He wrote a great number of pamphlets,
reports and articles, and a very good book against Territorialism
(_Zion and Africa_, in Russian, 1903). His second journey to Palestine
enabled him to increase his already extensive knowledge of colonization,
and he laid down his observations and conclusions in another excellent
work, which he wrote in Russian, and which has been translated into
other European languages. The conspicuous service which he rendered
amid formidable difficulties to the Jewish National Fund, of which he
was the manager in Russia, his tact, his calm energy and his counsel
were of inestimable value to the Zionist cause. After having been for
many years a member of the Greater Actions Committee, he was elected
at the Vienna Zionist Congress of 1913 a member of the Inner Actions
Committee. He then gave up his brilliant medical career in Moscow to
undertake a work of singular complexity and extreme heaviness. In this
he won the same measure of confidence as that he enjoyed in Russia,
and provided the most important personal link between the East and
the West. In 1914 he was delegated, together with the author, for
Zionist political work in this country; and he came here again in 1918
notwithstanding his failing health. During his brief but momentous
excursus into the regions of politics and diplomacy he revealed the
same high qualities which had elsewhere marked his mind and character.
In consequence of his efforts, his health, which had some years ago
been weakened, broke down, and his tragic death took place on the 31st
of January, 1918, in London――the greatest loss Zionism has sustained
since the death of Wolffsohn.
M. USSISCHKIN’s career as Chovevé Zionist and modern Zionist is unique
as well as remarkable. In some respects, and in some quarters, his
influence was far greater than that of anyone else. A strong, perhaps
the strongest organizer, possessed of deep nationalistic convictions
and of intense Jewish feeling, and endowed with the wonderful gift
of being able to impress the masses, he succeeded in establishing a
very high reputation when a mere student, and later on as one of the
founders and leaders of the _Bnei Zion_, and subsequently among the
_Chovevé Zion_ leaders. He was also a founder of the _Bilu_. On his
long visits to Palestine, in propaganda work for the purpose of raising
funds for colonization, and throughout his whole long and fruitful
career of nationalist work, he exhibited the most indefatigable
activity and greatest courage. Having graduated at Moscow in Technology
and Engineering, he settled in Ekaterinoslaw, where his strong,
unbending personality, his power of leadership, and the general respect
he commanded, soon brought him into prominence, and gained for him
a high reputation in Russia, in Palestine, and elsewhere. The very
strength of mind, energy, outspokenness and self-reliance, combined
with inflexible determination and ardent zeal, distinguish his untiring
efforts on behalf of the Zionist Organization. While others faltered
and failed, he remained firm; while others despaired, he remained
confident, and his zeal and perseverance gained for him the respect
even of those who opposed some of his methods, while it increased the
admiration in which he was held by many of his adherents. He greatly
distinguished himself in his strenuous work for the Zionist financial
institutions, and was also the most influential champion of the idea of
immediate practical work in Palestine. His pamphlets on Palestine and
the Zionist programme are written with admirable cleverness. He has
lived now for some years in Odessa, where he is the Chairman of the
Society for the promotion of Jewish colonization work in Palestine.
Being Jewish Nationalist to the backbone, he naturally takes a great
interest in the revival of the Hebrew language.
A. IDELSOHN is the most modern and the most ingenious Zionist publicist
in the Russian language. His influence has been underestimated rather
than justly appreciated. While, on the one hand, the pathetic devotion
and enthusiasm of others are undoubtedly most useful and indispensable
conditions for the success of the movement, an analytical mind, as
a temporizing element and corrective, is of no less importance. This
mind was devoted to the cause by Idelsohn since his youth, and found
expression in his writings in the Zionist organ, written in the Russian
language, its name being _Razswiet_ and _Ievreiskaiu Shisn_. A critic,
and a somewhat ironical thinker, he never permits an emotional effort
to mar his clear intellectual discrimination. In later years he formed,
with M. A. Soloveitschik, A. Goldstein, J. Klebanow, A. Seidemann, M.
Aleinikow, D. Pasmanik, S. J. Janowski, J. Brutzkus, Ch. Grinberg, J.
Eljaschew, I. Gruenbaum, and others who comprised the editorial staff
of his paper, a brilliant ensemble of Zionist intellectuals which has
recently been augmented by L. Jaffe, who sometimes acted as editor.
Idelsohn is an eminent Zionist and a member of the Actions Committee.
JULIUS BRUTZKUS was an active and highly appreciated member of the
_Bnei Zion_. Most gifted and learned, with a clear mind, and generally
well informed, he adhered to the national idea from early youth.
He graduated in medicine at the Moscow University, and settled for
some years in Petrograd, where he became active in matters communal,
literary and journalistic. He wrote several excellent articles and
pamphlets.
The two MINTZS were also appreciated for their faithfulness, sincere
devotion, and excellent and tactful propaganda. B. Mintz has since
settled at Rostow, where he takes a leading part in Zionist work.
S. Mintz graduated at Moscow in medicine and settled in Warsaw, where
he attained a high reputation in his profession as well as in communal
activity. A sincere Nationalist, of a serious and studious turn of
mind, deeply attached to Zionism, an excellent Hebraist, most active
in all movements making for the revival of the national language,
he has remained true to _Bnei Zion_ traditions. There are, further,
the zealous Alperin, and Michael Rabinovitch, resident at Rostow, a
distinguished Zionist worker who was member of the Actions Committee.
The great earnestness and untiring assiduity of the _Bnei Zion_ did not
fail to attract attention and to produce a deep impression. The immense
zeal for this cause dispelled the apathy of those around them. Thus the
Moscow _Chovevé Zion_ and Zionist Group became indeed one of the best,
the most esteemed and the most active in the world. Of those in touch
with the first pioneers was Kalonimos Wolf Wissotski (1824‒1904),
the well-known _Chovev Zion_ and Zionist, a zealous supporter of the
colonization of Palestine, a generous friend of Hebrew literature, a
patron of learning and learned men. The representatives of his great
firm have to the present day remained faithful to the traditions of the
founder in a most liberal-minded and far-reaching manner.
The following names are arranged in alphabetical order.
ELIESER BEN-JEHUDA, born in Russia, is a prominent representative of
the revival of the Hebrew language and of the national renaissance.
As early as 1880 he expounded his political views on Zionism in
Smolenskin’s monthly _Ha’shachar_. In 1881 he went to Palestine, where
he became a sturdy and independent fighter for Hebrew as a living
tongue and for Jewish nationalism. In 1885 he founded the Hebrew
weekly paper _Ha’zevi_, which he edited for several years, assisted
by his wife (Hemda) and his son. Together they formed the first
Hebrew-speaking family in the country. He has revolutionized Hebrew
style and introduced many new colloquial and journalistic expressions.
As a pioneer of modern methods, radically opposed to the old ways of
thought and action, he defended his heterodox ideas with energy, became
involved in controversies, and was arrested by the Ottoman authorities
for his nationalistic propaganda. Many years ago he started the
publication of his great Hebrew dictionary (_Millon_). He was one
of the first Palestine Zionists who approached Herzl and devoted
themselves to Zionist propaganda in Palestine.
VASSYLI BERMANN (1862‒96) was a young man of high intellectual
attainments and endowed with exceptional literary gifts, and would
undoubtedly have risen to great eminence had he continued to devote
himself to literature. But he gave almost all his time to the _Chovevé
Zion_ movement. His name is closely connected with the history of the
national Jewish movement in Russia. Born at Mitau, he received his
elementary education at the school founded by his father, a capable
pedagogue, in Petersburg, and completed his college studies in the
same town. Already, as student of the faculty of Law in Petersburg,
Bermann placed himself at the service of Judaism, and strove, through
the foundation of a suitable association, to spread the idea of the
liberation of the Jewish people into wide circles of the community.
In the year 1884 he published the compilation _Palestine_. Even this
first work drew general attention upon the highly gifted young writer.
At the meeting of the Russian _Chovevé Zion_ at Drusgenik, in 1887,
Bermann was considered, by the side of the spiritual father of the
national Jewish movement in Russia, Leo Pinsker, as the leader of
the “Zionophiles,” as Bermann called the adherents of the national
Jewish idea. When it was found desirable to obtain the authorization
of the Russian Government for the “Odessa Association for Supporting
Jewish Artisans and Agriculturists in Syria and Palestine,” the shrewd
lawyer, Vassyli Bermann, employed his utmost energy in order to help
in overcoming all difficulties which stood in the way of the foundation
of this association. He was one of the members of the first official
congress of the Russian _Chovevé Zion_ which was held at Odessa in
the year 1890. Once again in Petersburg, Bermann devoted all his zeal
to the editing of his continued compilation, which he intended to
transform into a year-book. In this way _Zion_, published in the year
1891, was brought out. It is considerably superior to its predecessor
in contents and get-up. _Zion_, which is dedicated to Pinsker, affords
an interesting insight into the phase of development of the national
Jewish thought of that time. From Bermann, who was well aware of
the influence of historical knowledge upon the strengthening of the
national consciousness, came also the initiative towards the foundation
of the “Historio-Ethnographic Commission” within the “Society for the
Propagation of Culture among the Jews in Russia.” When, in the year
1892, the Petersburg central committee of the Jewish Colonization
Association was formed, and the necessity for a scientific basis of the
colonization question became evident, Bermann undertook, at the request
of the J. C. A., a mission of study, the result of which he recorded
in a comprehensive memoir, and thus afforded the central committee
valuable material towards the work of colonization. The exertions of
travelling had much affected Bermann’s health. But he would not allow
that to prevent him from further work in favour of his brethren with
the greatest devotion. At last he found himself compelled to seek the
mild climate of Egypt. There, on March 18th, 1896, Vassyli Bermann
breathed his last. His tombstone bears the inscription: “If I forget
thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget (her cunning).” The dying
man had wished it so.
GREGOR BELKOVSKY, a distinguished lawyer, born in Odessa, was one of
the first pioneers of the _Chovevé Zion_ movement. He was a member
of the Societies _Nes Ziona_ and _Ezra_. In 1895‒7 he was Professor
of Law at the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. On his return to Russia,
he entered the Zionist Organization and came into prominence from the
First Congress onwards. He was one of the most notable workers for
the establishment of the Zionist financial institutions. He also did
important work in connection with the movement in Russia.
JEHIEL BRILL (1836‒86), born in Russia, and taken to Constantinople
when he was quite young, was later brought to Jerusalem, where he
received a talmudic education. In 1863, with the assistance of his
father-in-law, Jacob Saphir, he established the Hebrew monthly,
_Ha’lebanon_, which, after the appearance of the twelfth number, was
suppressed by the Turkish Government. He then went to Paris, where
he resumed publication of _Ha’lebanon_. After the Franco-Prussian War
he removed to Mayence, where he renewed the publication of his paper.
When the _Chovevé Zion_ movement was inaugurated, Brill, who was well
acquainted with Palestine, was chosen by Baron Edmond de Rothschild,
on the recommendation of Rabbi Samuel Mohilewer, to conduct a group
of experienced farmers from Russia to Palestine. He gave a vivid
description of his mission in his Hebrew pamphlet _Yesod Ha’maalah_
(Mayence, 1883).
H. BRODY was, when in Berlin, a studious, scholarly worker, and at the
same time active in Zionism. Later he was appointed Rabbi in Nachod,
Bohemia, and, being a scholar and a prolific writer, he became very
active in scientific and literary matters. He has contributed to
_Ha’magid_, _Ha’eshkol_ and _Ha’shiloach_; has edited (with A. Freimann)
a Bibliographical Review, and has written valuable books on Jehuda
Ha’levi and Moses Ibn Ezra. In defence of Zionism he has written, under
the _nom de plume_ Dr. H. Salomonsohn, an excellent pamphlet, in which
he proves that Zionism is an essential principle of Jewish tradition.
MARTIN BUBER, born in Galicia, was a member of the Vienna _Kadima_ who
afterwards studied in Berlin. He was closely akin to Berthold Feiwel in
aspirations and activity. Buber was one of the founders of the _Verlag_
and one of its principal contributors. He was really one of the authors
of the Jewish Renaissance, not a product of it. He has no equal as
an inspirer of the Jewish intellectuals in Western Europe. He has
been a Zionist since the inception of the Organization, but he has
devoted himself mostly to literary work in connection with the Jewish
Renaissance. Sweet and pathetic legends, delicate Chassidic sketches,
tales of wonder, mystic and philosophical treatises and allegories,
profoundly Jewish and reflected in deep Murillo-like shades, such are
the subjects of his _Story of Rabbi Nachman_ (1906), _Legends of the
Baal Shem_ (1907), _Daniel_ (1914) and other writings.
Rabbi I. H. DAICHES, a great Talmudist, formerly Rabbi of Neustatt
Shirvint, and now in Leeds, supported the _Chovevé Zion_ movement, and
was afterwards a delegate to the Zionist Congress.
JOSHUA EISENSTADT (BARZILAI), the oldest, and, as far as enthusiasm
is concerned, still the youngest among the propagandists in Palestine,
a man of high aspirations, who looks at things from the standpoint of
a devotee rather than of a critic, exercises considerable influence
through his speeches and popular articles. He died in Switzerland in
1918.
Rabbi MORDECAI ELIASBERG (1817‒89), Rabbi of Bausk in Russia, an
eminent Talmudist, a profound theologian and a diligent student of
history, who wrote valuable books and articles on talmudic subjects,
was one of the most ardent advocates of the ideas of the _Chovevé Zion_.
By his numerous contributions to _Ha’melitz_ he helped very much in
the spread of Zionistic ideas, and his memory will be cherished as one
of the representatives of orthodox Judaism who raised the banner of
Palestine.
BERTHOLD FEIWEL, born in Brunn, Moravia, was a member of the
Vienna _Kadima_, but did most of his work in Berlin. A young man
of exceptional attainments, he early attracted the notice of Herzl,
and was for some time editor of the _Welt_, for which work he was
particularly well qualified. But the work of leader-writing did not
satisfy the poetic and æsthetic side of his nature, and he turned to
literature. The promise of his early writings, with their beauty and
originality, is amply fulfilled in the literary activity which he
subsequently developed in the _Almanach_ and in other publications of
the _Jüdischer Verlag_, which was founded by him and his friends. His
poems, as well as his excellent translations of Rosenfeld and other
works, have won him a lasting reputation. He has also taken an active
part in the work of the Zionist Organization, and was a member of the
Actions Committee. He was editor of the _Welt_ for the second time in
the years 1906‒9, and has written many pamphlets.
The brothers ISAAC and BORIS GOLDBERG hold a specially distinguished
place both in Russian Zionism and in the movement at large. Isaac
Goldberg has made himself indispensable to all Zionist institutions,
and has attained the highest repute in the Zionist Organization, and in
Palestine. Boris Goldberg is a very influential member of the Actions
Committee, with a thorough knowledge of all matters concerning Zionism
and Palestine, and an important contributor to the Zionist press.
He was a member of the Zionist Commission of Inquiry which visited
Palestine five years ago.
J. GRAZOWSKI has written popular and useful books on general Jewish
history, and has collaborated in a Hebrew dictionary. He is now in the
service of the Anglo-Palestine Company at Jaffa.
MORDECAI (MARCUS) BEN HILLEL HA’COHEN was even in his early youth
an excellent, versatile contributor to the Hebrew and Russian Press.
Possessed of great vivacity and a humorous and enthusiastic disposition,
an enlivening speaker, with the national idea deeply at heart, he has
worked for Zionism, Hebrew and the national idea with considerable
success. His writings in _Ha’melitz_, _Ha’zefirah_, _Razswiet_, and
other papers and reviews, as well as his own pamphlets, the description
of his journey to Palestine, and his reminiscences, written in a
brilliant style, have won him a well-merited popularity. After working
several years in the _Chovevé Zion_ movement, and in the Zionist
Organization, he settled in Palestine, where he is active as one of
the most popular leaders of the Tel-Aviv community, and is particularly
engaged in educational, communal and literary work.
Dr. WILLIAM HERZBERG (1827‒97), a highly educated writer and communal
worker, who, though not writing in Hebrew, greatly influenced the
movement, and his work was translated into Hebrew. He wrote the famous
book, _Judische Familienpapiere_ (1875‒6). This book made a stir in
the Jewish scholastic world. Zacharias Frankel welcomed the book as
a modern Kusari. It was only after some time that the identity of the
author was discovered, for it was published under the _nom de plume_ of
Gustav Meinhardt. Perez Smolenskin was much inspired by the nationalist
spirit of this phenomenal literary production, and translated the most
important parts of it in the _Haschachar_ (he had made it a rule not
to publish any translation, but in this case departed from the rule).
Herzberg intended to obtain a professorship in a German University, but,
finding that this was impossible for a Jew, he contented himself with a
professorship in the Gymnasium. He passed his probationary year in the
Gymnasium of his native town, Stettin, but, when his final appointment
was recommended by the Head Master, who was much impressed by the fine
scholarship of the young teacher, the Minister of Education confirmed
it cordially, on the supposition, however, that the candidate had
embraced Christianity, as a Jew could not be appointed Professor in a
Gymnasium. In 1877 he was induced by his friend, Professor Grätz, to
accept the post of Director of the Agricultural School, Mikveh Israel,
near Jaffa. Dr. Herzberg remained one year in this position and then
accepted the Headmastership at the Von Laemel School at Jerusalem.
ISAAC M. HIRSCHENSOHN, born in Russia, has rendered great services to
the progress of the Jews in Palestine as a publisher, bibliophile and
Talmudist. He advocates rabbinical ideas, in harmony with the national
principle.
Dr. N. KATZENELSOHN, of Libau, Russia, holds an important place in the
history of Zionist organization. After having joined the Organization
at one of the first Congresses, he soon became a prominent member,
particularly in the domain of financial affairs and institutions.
One of the devoted friends of Herzl, he accompanied him on his visit to
Russia in 1903, and took part in some of his political efforts there.
In 1905 he was appointed President of the Board of Directors of the
Jewish Colonial Trust, and regularly gave his reports of the activities
of this Institution, as well as of those of the A.P.C. at the Zionist
Congresses. He visited Palestine in 1907, and particularly investigated
the financial and economic situation of the country. He also
accompanied Wolffsohn in the same year to Constantinople on a political
mission. Dr. Katzenelsohn was a member of the First Russian Duma,
and was for many years very active in the work of the I.C.A. for the
emigration of the Russian Jews, a question on which he also submitted
reports to the Zionist Congresses.
Illustration: 5644 * THE KATTOWITZ CONFERENCE * 1884
Dr. JACOB KOHAN-BERNSTEIN, of Kishinew, was one of the earliest of
the _Chovevé Zion_. His speeches and appeals when he was in charge of
the so-called “Post-Centre” were most effective in kindling Zionist
enthusiasm. As a member of the Actions Committee he has occupied a high
position in the movement.
The late ABRAHAM MOSES LUNCZ (1854‒1918), born in Russia, lived
since his early youth in Palestine. He rendered great services to the
exploration of the Holy Land from the historical, geographical and
physiographical standpoint, by means of his guide-books for Palestine,
his Palestine annuals, and his Jerusalem almanac.
JOSEPH LURIE was born in Russia, and became a prominent nationalist at
the Berlin University. He settled later in Warsaw, where he was engaged
in educational work, and afterwards edited a Zionist Yiddish weekly
paper, published by the _Achiasaf_. After the suspension of this paper
he lived for about two years in St. Petersburg, where he was assistant
editor of the _Fraind_. Thence he went to Palestine, and became a
teacher at the Jaffa Gymnasium. Some time afterwards he was elected
President of the Union of Teachers (_Agudath Ha’morim_) of Palestine.
He has not, however, given up his journalistic work. His articles
on Palestine are unequalled for clearness of exposition and logical
argument.
Rabbi SAMUEL MOHILEVER (1827‒1903), of Bialystok, wrote many appeals
in favour of the _Chovevé Zion_ movement. He was a lifelong adherent
of the national cause, helped to promote colonization, and gave his
unqualified adherence to the new Zionism. Even in very advanced age he
was still a fighter in the forefront, travelling, preaching, collecting
funds and generously spending his own means. At the outbreak of the
pogroms in 1881, he took the Jewish refugees to Lemberg. Here he became
acquainted with Sir Samuel Montagu (afterwards Lord Swaythling) and
Laurence Oliphant, and he sought to win the former for the Palestinian
colonization movement. On his return to Russia he called a conference
at Warsaw and formed a _Chovevé Zion_ Society. In the same year he
undertook a journey to Paris to obtain, through the Grand Rabbin
Zadoc Kahn and M. Erlanger, Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s support for
the colonization movement. Returning again to Russia, he went on a
propaganda tour, agitating in several towns in favour of Palestinian
colonization. In 1885 he presided at the Kattowitz Conference. In 1890
he journeyed to the Palestinian colonies and witnessed the founding of
the colony of Rechoboth.
LEO MOTZKIN was born in Russia and educated in Berlin. His intellectual
versatility made him a leading personality in student circles and
Jewish societies, particularly in the Zionist Organization. He soon
attracted attention at the Congresses, and was delegated to proceed to
Palestine and inquire into the condition of the colonies, on which he
prepared a report. As a member of the Actions Committee, he took part
in 1914 in a Commission consisting of Zionists appointed to inquire
into the state of affairs in Palestine. He has also written valuable
books and pamphlets on the Russo-Jewish problem.
ISAAC NISSENBAUM, born in Russia, lives in Warsaw, where he was one of
the sub-editors of _Ha’zefirah_ and a lecturer at the Zionist Synagogue.
Though not a Rabbi, he belongs by virtue of his education, associations
and the nature of his occupation to the Rabbinical world. A learned
Talmudist, a powerful preacher and a prolific Hebrew writer, he has a
worthy record in all these spheres.
ALFRED NOSSIG, scientist, artist and journalist, was one of the first,
perhaps the first in Galicia, to publish pamphlets in Polish in defence
of Jewish nationalism. He has pursued a line of his own in Zionism, and
from the point of view of the Zionist Organization his activities have
often been open to criticism. But he deserves recognition, both as a
man of letters and as a strenuous advocate of Palestinian colonization.
DANIEL PASMANIK is a Russian Zionist who has done much propaganda work
and proved himself a writer and journalist of extraordinary capability.
His book _Die Seele Israels_ (written in Russian and translated into
German) is a noteworthy contribution to Zionist thought.
JEHIEL MICHAEL PINES (1842‒1912), born and educated in Russia, a Hebrew
writer and Talmudist, was elected delegate to a conference held in
London by the Association _Mazkereth Mosheh_ for the establishment of
charitable institutions in Palestine in commemoration of the name of
Sir Moses Montefiore; in 1878 he was sent to Jerusalem to establish
and organize such institutions. Thenceforward he lived in Palestine,
working for the welfare of the Jewish community and interesting himself
in the organization of Jewish colonies. In his Hebrew book, _Yalde
Ruchi_, and particularly in Part I., _Rib Ami_ (Mainz, 1872), he
expounded the Jewish national idea. He was a contributor to all Hebrew
periodical publications, especially to those in Palestine.
SAMUEL POZNANSKI pursued his studies at Berlin, and was already, as
a young man, a rising representative of the Hebrew Revival. Having
graduated, he returned to Poland, where he is now the Rabbi and
Preacher of the Great Synagogue at Warsaw. His achievements in the
field of Jewish scholarship are great and universally recognized. He
has written many valuable books and treatises, all of which are the
result of careful observation and patient study, and are distinguished
by depth of thought. A devoted Hebraist, he contributes to Hebrew
literature and the Press, and as a communal worker he has succeeded in
counteracting destructive assimilationist tendencies by the advocacy of
a sound traditional nationalism.
Rabbi SAMUEL JACOB RABBINOWITCH, of Sopotkin (now in Liverpool), was
first a _Chovev Zion_ and early joined the Zionist Organization. His
calm piety and gentle nature won him the hearts of all Zionists. He
was for several years a member of the Zionist Actions Committee. He
contributed a number of articles to _Ha’melitz_, which later were
published under the title _Ha’dat Weha’leumit_ (Warsaw, 1900). He has
also written talmudic works.
Rabbi ISAAC JACOB REINES (1839‒1915) was a great talmudic authority,
author of halachic works, in which he taught the rigid application of
logic to the solution of talmudic problems, and founder and principal
of a modern _Yeshivah_ (Rabbinical College) in Lida. He was an ardent
_Chovev Zion_, and joined the Zionist movement, in which he became one
of the most prominent workers, orators and propagandists. He occupied a
high and influential position in orthodox Zionism, and was the founder
of the orthodox Zionist section, _Misrachi_.
Rabbi PINCHAS ROSOWSKI, a great talmudic scholar and prominent Hebraist,
was an enthusiastic _Chovev Zion_, and later a member of the Zionist
Organization. He wrote articles inspired by the nationalist idea.
JACOB SAPHIR (1822‒86), a Russian Jew, who settled in Palestine, was
not directly connected with the new colonization. He was commissioned
by the Jewish community of Jerusalem to undertake a journey through the
southern countries, in order to collect alms for the poor Palestinian
Jews. In 1854 he made a second tour, visiting Yemen, British India,
Egypt and Australia. The result of this journey was his Hebrew book
_Eben Saphir_ (vol. i., Lyck, 1866; Mayence, 1874), in which work
he gave the history and a vivid description of the Jews in the
above-mentioned countries. There is in his book a touch of _Haskalah_
(Enlightenment) and even of national sentiment.
His grandson, ELIE SAPHIR, who died a few years ago, was a conspicuous
figure among the pioneers of the new colonization by virtue of his
great knowledge, especially of the Arabic language and literature,
and the laws and customs of the country. A man of keen judgment, he
occupied the position of assistant-manager of the Anglo-Palestine
Company at Jaffa. The leaders of financial and agricultural
institutions were always eager to consult and confide in him. But he
was essentially a scholar. His Hebrew writings, and particularly his
last work _Ha’arez_――a physiographic and scientific examination of the
conditions of Palestine――are of great value.
M. SMILANSKI, of Rechoboth, has one of the longest and best records of
work in Hebrew literature. His writings on Palestinian colonization are
as sound as his literary sketches are instructive.
A. TANNENBAUM, of St. Petersburg, was an ardent _Chovev Zion_ and
an excellent Hebraist. Of his Hebrew writings, his study on “The
Architecture of the Synagogues” (in the first volume of _Knesseth
Israel_) is of enduring merit. This group strongly supported the local
_Chovevé Zion_ Society, which was of considerable importance. At that
period Rosenfeld undertook with great courage and determination the
propaganda in the first _Razsweet_, which, however, had to be suspended
after a period of brilliant journalistic exploits in troublesome and
stormy times (in the eighties), in which period the two years of that
organization happened to fall. Later on, the late Salomon Grazenberg,
a medical man of great knowledge and an ardent Zionist, whose articles
were characterized by soundness of argument, took up the same work in
a new Russian weekly paper, entitled _Boudoushtshnost_, which managed
to exist a little longer.
VLADIMIR TEMKIN was one of the most important and, undoubtedly, the
most popular champion of the _Bilu_. An idealist, an enthusiast,
an attractive personality and a powerful speaker, he possessed a
special gift for propaganda, and became one of the chief organizers
of colonization in Palestine. He belonged to the Zionist Organization
from its inception, was a prominent Congress representative and member
of the Actions Committee, and is to-day one of the leading Zionists.
DAVIS TRIETSCH has not always found the appreciation he deserved. He
has been frequently drawn into controversies and misunderstood owing to
the support he has given to schemes which appeared to be impracticable
and fantastic, but in ordinary circumstances would not have given
rise to opposition. But he is a man of varied experience and untiring
activity, and his advice has often been very useful. He lived for a
couple of years in Palestine, where he grappled with many forms of
industrial work; he has written books, pamphlets and articles, and is
an indefatigable advocate of the idea of colonization. He has given a
considerable impetus to the study of Palestine and to many practical
ideas.
SEMION WEISSENBERG worked hard with Berman and Temkin in the St.
Petersburg Students’ Palestinophile Association, took part in
the Odessa _Chovevé Zion_ meetings, and later entered the Zionist
Organization, of which he is a prominent member. His bent lies in the
direction of work in connection with the Jewish problem in Russia.
DAVID YELLIN (1858), a son-in-law of J. M. Pines, is one of the most
eminent Hebraists and educationists in Palestine. The Zionist idea
captured him early in life and grew upon him during his many-sided
literary and educational career. He has written the best text-books
of the Hebrew language, based on the principle of the modern method
_Ibrith B’ibrith_ (Hebrew in Hebrew), and has thus helped to make
Hebrew a living language. He has been teacher and principal of several
Hebrew schools and of the seminary for the training of teachers. He has
many connections in England, and is on the Montefiore foundations in
Palestine.
In St. Petersburg Zionism has now gained a strong footing, owing to the
steady efforts of the distinguished, devoted and indefatigable member
of the Actions Committee, Israel Rosoff, Michael Aleinikow, the able
and gifted Abraham Idelsohn, A. J. Rapaport, as well as of the very
able and devoted workers S. S. Babkow, W. Grossmann, A. Goldstein, S. J.
Janovski, A. Seidemann, M. Sachs, and others. As far as Nationalism is
concerned the learned and talented historian, Shimon Dubnow, and the
group of his followers, are undoubtedly most faithful adherents to this
idea, and the same may unhesitatingly be also said of N. M. Friedmann,
M. Ch. Bomesch and E. R. Gurevitch, the members of the Duma, and many
other leading St. Petersburg Jews. The old Zionist leader, Gregor
Belkovsky, a man of high standing in the Zionist Organization, who
has already been mentioned, has for many years been very active, his
influence being still as great as ever.
The number of the _Chovevé Zion_ societies increased. They watched
each other’s activities and emulated each other in brotherly devotion.
The University groups were influenced by the literature and the press,
as well as by the old leaders; and the old leaders were in their turn
again stimulated by the ardour of the younger men. To return to the
older _Chovevé Zion_ societies and later Zionist societies, a few of
the most important should be mentioned, as, for instance, the Odessa
Group (or the Official Society), under the leadership of Pinsker,
_Achad Ha’am_, M. L. Lilienblum, A. Grünberg (who was for some years
President of the Society), Ch. Tschernowitz, L. Lewinski, Rawnitzki,
S. N. Barbasch, A. E. Lubarski, Frankfeld, J. Klausner, M. Scheinkin,
Ben Ami Rabinowitsch, and at a later period, Ussischkin, Bialik, S. A.
Benzion-Guttmann, M. Kleinmann, Ch. Grinberg, and others. The Bialystok
Group, with Rabbi Samuel Mohilewer, Dr. Chasanowitsch (who deserves
an honoured place as a zealous pioneer of Nationalism and a great
worker for the Hebrew revival in Palestine, and for his noble, almost
life-long efforts for the purpose of establishing his Hebrew library,
“Baith Neeman,” in Jerusalem) and Nissenbaum was of great importance
during the lifetime of Rabbi Mohilewer and retained a great practical
influence later, especially in consequence of the fact that the
Bialystok _Chovevé Zion_ themselves took a prominent part in various
colonization schemes. The Warsaw Group had a principal leader in
Isidore Jasinowski, a man of great sincerity, enthusiasm and love for
the cause. An ardent _Chovev Zion_, he afterwards joined the Zionist
movement, and, till the Territorialist split, remained devoted to the
cause. The most energetic workers there were Schefer-Rubinoscitsch;
J. M. Meyersohn; Eleasar Kaplan, who died recently and was an able and
enterprising Nationalist, a most zealous worker, to whom great praise
is due in connection with the _Achiasaf_ and other Hebrew literary
enterprises; W. Gluskin (one of the most notable workers and leaders),
who joined with L. Kaplan in the foundation of the _Achiasaf_ and
_Ha-Zofe_, undertook afterwards the Directorship of the Palestine
Wine Company, “Karmel,” and settled in Rishon L’Zion, in Palestine,
where he is now one of the leaders of the new colonization); Stawski;
Mates Cohn; Dr. Bychowski; Samuel Luria; Dr. T. Hindes (who lived some
years in Palestine, and takes a useful part in the propaganda); M. M.
Pros; M. Feldstein (the well-known _Chovev Zion_ and supporter of the
literary movement, a prominent member and representative of Zionist
institutions); J. Lewite; Jacob Braude; Rafalkes; Ginzburg; Friedland;
L. Davidsohn; and others.
All these important workers were afterwards active in the Zionist
Organization. The development of Zionism gave a new impetus to the
Palestine propaganda and to the national movement. The University
movement, though most vigorous in other parts of the Russian Empire,
had only few adherents in Poland. It is worthy of note that Dr.
Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, was, during a certain period
of his university career, a Jewish Nationalist of great zest, and
a contributor to Rosenfeld’s _Razsweet_. Meierowitz, the old _Bilu_
pioneer, as well as the pioneer Freimann, came from Warsaw; Mekler,
Elie Margulies, Manson (who died young) were the most prominent
_Chovevé Zion_ among the Warsaw students in the eighties. Only with
the new Zionist Organization a strong movement of a local character
came into being with adherents who were natives of the country, and
this resulted in the production of literature and a Press in the native
tongue. In this respect, the activity of the late Jan Kirszrot was very
helpful. A great idealist, an honestly and deeply convinced Zionist,
who had been brought to the cause out of assimilated surroundings, a
worker of the most generous impulses, and a writer _par excellence_
in the Polish language (like many other young Zionists of assimilated
education he had acquired the knowledge of Hebrew), he worked side by
side with the gifted and devoted Isaac Grunbaum, who became in later
years a prominent leader, a publicist of excellent abilities and a
worker of great intellectual integrity; also with the zealous Nahum
Syrkin, whose significant activities extended over a large sphere, with
the remarkable, energetic, indefatigable worker Leon Lewite, with the
keen, persistent and conscientious Zelig Weizmann, the graceful and
judicious S. Seidemann, the sound and forceful Isaac Gruenbaum, the
talented and consistent Hartglass (for a certain period), the keen and
learned Shimon Rundstein, the intellectual and devoted Julian Kaliski,
and a number of other young writers and organizers――in connection
with older Zionists and men of letters, and together with the
general Zionist Organization, particularly with the younger and more
progressive element. They had founded a Nationalist group “Safroth,”
issued a Zionist weekly in Polish (_Prgyszlose_), and published a very
interesting miscellany in that language. Kirszrot’s life of devotion to
the highest ideals and his brilliantly youthful career were unhappily
cut short by the hand of death.
But the University nationalist Jewish movement had begun. A change
was in process, the extensive scope of which was scarcely noticed by
the representatives of Assimilation, to whom it seemed that the small
group of students and intellectuals consisted merely of visionaries
and dreamers. Yet there obtained in this apparently insignificant group
a vitality which was destined to become a powerful factor in the life
of Polish Jewry. The evolution of this young movement was the result
of the whole Zionist movement, the rapid growth of Jewish cultural
life, of Jewish education, of the Jewish literature and press, of
which all Warsaw had become a very important centre. At that period
we see already the influential Zionist leaders busy with great Zionist
work. Zionism, the Hebrew Revival, national education, the defence of
Jewish interests and of the national principle in communal affairs,
now engaged the attention and support of the generous, experienced, and
beloved Abraham Podliszewski, of the acute and energetic H. Farbstein,
of the thorough and dignified Dr. Poznanski, of the calm and pacific
Dr. Mintz, of the strong, vigilant and inflexible Isaac Gruenbaum, the
devoted and popular Nissenbaum, Dr. Klumel, Olschwanger, M. I. Freid,
Dr. Hindes, Horodischtsch, Dunajewski, Dr. Gottlieb, Zabludowski, the
educational worker and excellent Hebraist S. L. Gordon, and of many
others. In this camp we meet again all the _Chovevé Zion_ of bygone
days.The same development took place at Lodz, where the able, eloquent
Dr. Jelski, Dr. Silberstrom and others had long been at work, and where
afterwards a strong Zionist group, with the esteemed and influential Dr.
M. Braude as guide and leader, was doing most useful work. In Minsk we
find working in the _Chovevé Zion_ movement Joshua Syrkin, the man of
faith and energy, whose mind is well stored with treasures of Hebrew
literature, and here we also meet with the zealous Neifach, the late
Rabbi Chaneles, and the eminently able Wilbuschewitsch family. We come
again across them later in Zionism together with the active Zionist
workers Kaplan, Churgin, Berger and others. In Pinsk at the _Chovevé
Zion_ period, Eisenberg, Rosenbaum, Hiller, Naiditsch, Pinchas Breymar,
J. Breyman, L. Berger, Maslanski were the leaders. The aged Reb Dowidel
(Friedmann), the great Talmudist, pious and saintly, supported the
Movement and took part in the Kattowitz Conference. Among them we can
trace Naiditsch, now of the Actions Committee; Eisenberg, the great
authority on colonization――in Rechoboth, Palestine; Maslanski, the
powerful preacher at New York; Weizmann, a member of the Inner Actions
Committee, and S. Rosenbaum, the lawyer, the member of the First Duma,
and Lithuanian statesman, who proved his worth during many years as
member of the Actions Committee, as legal adviser, as representative
of several Zionist institutions, as a great worker in the Organization,
and as a defender of Zionism in Russia. In Wilna, the late S. J. Finn,
and his son the late Dr. Finn, Joseph Gurland, Ch. L. Markon, Triwusch,
Gordon (who settled later on in Palestine), Miriam Zalkind, who
founded the Society of the “Daughters of Zion”; Lewanda, Fischel Pines,
who attended the Kattowitz Conference; Ben-jakob, Isaac Goldberg,
Boris Goldberg, Neuschul and others very early took an interest in
the _Chovevé Zion_ movement. In the Zionist Organization, Wilna at a
certain period was the centre of activity, from the point of view of
organization, propaganda and press. Ben-jakob did good work for the
Jewish Colonial Trust, Neuschul is a thorough and devoted Nationalist.
Among those in Wilna who succeeded in rising to the height of national
importance, doing at the same time great national work of a general
character, and useful, indispensable local work in Russia, belong the
two excellent and distinguished Zionists: Isaac and Boris Goldberg.
The influence of these Russian and Polish enthusiasts soon spread
further. Mention has already been made of the _Kadimah_ of the Vienna
University and of Nathan Birnbaum, one of its leaders. Others of its
prominent members were: Dr. N. T. Schnierer, the physician, scholar
and editor, who was a highly respected member of the First Zionist
Actions Committee; the gifted brothers Marmorek, supporters of Herzl
and his political Zionism; Schalit, who represented the sympathetic,
real Viennese type; the very capable and devoted Werner, who became
later one of the secretaries of Herzl and editor of the _Welt_; the
well-known polemical journalist, S. R. Landau; the reserved and learned
Berkovitsch; the energetic and faithful Alkalai of Serbia, who has been
a member of the Actions Committee since the inception of the Zionist
Organization;¹ the devoted worker, M. Moscowitz of Roumania, who was
a member of the Actions Committee (he recently died in Palestine, where
he was physician of the colony Rechoboth); the enthusiast, Caleff of
Bulgaria; Erwin Rosenberger, and many others from different countries.
¹ It is noteworthy that Zionism is an old tradition of the
Alkalai family. Rabbi Jehouda Alkalai (died in 1878) was
a precursor of political Zionism which he expounded in his
_Goral L’Adonai_ (Vienna, 1857; Amsterdam, 1858; Warsaw,
1903). He was the author of _Minchath Yehouda_ (Vienna,
1843) in honour of the Montefiore and Cremieux mission, 1840.
He addressed also a special appeal to the English Jews in
favour of Zionism and wrote further series of other Zionist
pamphlets in Hebrew. There were also other members of the
Alkalai family who were closely connected with Palestine and
devoted to the idea of its colonization by the Jewish people.
The similarity of their views on Jews and Judaism brought them more and
more closely together, and they soon agreed that the fundamental views
of the higher-educated Jews of the time were in need of a change, and
that a vigorous attack against the theory of assimilation prevailing
among Western European Jews would have to take place. They clearly
realized that the lever ought to be applied to the academical youth,
not only because those circles were nearest to them, but because in
their midst the assimilation theory had found most adherents. The
assumption seemed justified that the academical youth once converted
would propagate the national Jewish idea with all the fire of its
enthusiasm and authority among the largest strata of the population.
These few young men soon obtained a small addition of courageous
fellow-combatants, and a phalanx was at once formed which undertook
the foundation of an academic Jewish national union. Their aspirations
met with powerful support and advancement from a man whose name
shines in golden letters in the history of Jewish literature――Perez
Smolenskin. A profound judge of the human soul, an even more thorough
investigator of the Jewish national psyche, he at the same time
wielded in a masterly way the language of the prophets. He had fought
for years in numerous writings, and particularly in his monthly
publication _Hashahar_, against the dissolving tendencies and for the
nationalization of Judaism with all the brilliancy of his mind and all
the sharpness of his caustic satire. How welcome to him must have been
the small band of Jewish university students who undertook to carry his
ideas into practical life and to make them the common property of the
Jewish academical youth. Until his death Smolenskin was to them a kind
and wise leader. Among many other obligations, the Union owes him its
name.
At the beginning of the summer term of 1882 there appeared for the
first time upon the notice-board of the Vienna University an appeal
of a Jewish national society, addressed to the corporation of Jewish
students. The sensation produced by this appeal was extraordinary. The
Christian students shook their heads incredulously, while most Jewish
students poured out upon the innovators a flood of scorn and ridicule.
And not only the students but the middle-classes, the official
representatives of Judaism, opposed the _Kadimah_ most mercilessly.
It was a contest of all against a few. But the few went on, calm and
undismayed; engrossed by the magnitude of the idea for which they
fought, they unswervingly pursued their aim. The _Kadimaner_ propagated
the Jewish national ideal by innumerable lectures, meetings and
publications. Their number increased constantly, and by and by a
specific Jewish national student life developed at Vienna University,
which began to throb with increased intensity when the _Kadimah_,
compelled by the conditions of the Vienna University, was transformed
into a fighting, “duel-bound” association. People may hold different
opinions about duelling at most Western European Universities, but one
thing must be admitted, namely, that it has had a favourable influence
upon the physical development of the Jewish young manhood, and that the
duelling Jewish student corporation gained the esteem of its Christian
colleagues. Partly through this transformation and partly through the
growing propagation of the national ideal among the Jewish students,
the number of Jewish national academical unions was gradually increased.
One association after another came into existence: “Unitas,” “Ivria,”
“Gamala,” “Libanonia,” “Hasmonäa,” and others; so that there exists at
the present day, at nearly every university at which Jewish students
study, a Jewish national student association.
Old Assimilants looked upon this movement at first as a farce.
Certainly no one at that time anticipated that the mainsprings of new
life perceptible in many different places would soon become a powerful
source of cleansing and reviving Judaism. As the preparatory work for
creating a clearer conception of things was at first confined to groups
of such young men, most opponents looked upon it as a pastime only
fit for young, inexperienced schoolboys. Meanwhile, the movement
continued to make rapid progress. At the end of the eighties there
existed an important association in Berlin, which was at first somewhat
theoretical in character, but very soon afterwards became a sister
society of the Vienna Association, taking also the name of _Kadima_. In
this organization we come across a great number of workers whose names
are inseparably bound up with the history of the Zionist Organization
and with Jewish national literature in all languages.
The large number of young men who have been associated with the Jewish
National Students’ Association at Berlin would make a list too long for
detailed enumeration. But the following must specially be mentioned:――
SHEMARYAH LEVIN was born in Russia. He is an enthusiastic nationalist,
a good Hebrew scholar, and as an exceptionally effective speaker
he attained considerable popularity already as a young student. He
lectured on Hebrew literature and attracted much attention. Having
graduated, he returned to Russia, and was Rabbi in Grodno. Later,
he lived for some time in Warsaw, where he devoted himself to Hebrew
literary work in connection with _Achiasaf_, and possessing great
mastery over the Hebrew language, he wrote books and pamphlets of
great value. Since then he has contributed to numerous Hebrew reviews.
Some time afterwards he was Rabbi in Ekaterinoslaw and Wilna, and was
elected a member of the first Russian Duma, where he distinguished
himself as a most able speaker and worker. Then he left Russia
and settled abroad. Already as a youth he was most active in the
_Chovevé Zion_ movement; later he took a prominent part in the Zionist
Organization, and is now a member of its Small Actions Committee and
one of the most influential leaders. An excellent orator, closely
attached to Palestine, where he has lived for a considerable time,
a plodding worker, he has for some years been busily engaged in
propaganda work in Europe and America.
VICTOR JACOBSOHN was born in Russia, and brought up from his infancy
in an intensely assimilated (Russianized) environment. His father was
a judge at Simferopol, but the son became irresistibly drawn towards
Jewish nationalism. He was much influenced by the Berlin Students’
Group. An accomplished young man, of splendid literary taste, a
lover of fine art, thoroughly impressed with the righteousness of the
national cause, he soon became one of the leaders among the students.
After having graduated, he returned to Russia, where he took a large
and active share in the _Chovevé Zion_ movement, and took up the
Zionist Movement from the time of its inauguration. He was very soon
elected member of the Actions Committee, but, apart from his work for
the Organization as a whole, he was, when still in Russia, a steady and
successful local worker. He then moved to the East, living in Palestine
and in Constantinople, where he devoted himself entirely to Zionist
work, both financial and political. Being a business man as well as a
man of letters, a political thinker as well as an able financier, he
has become one of the most influential Zionist leaders. He is a member
of the Small Actions Committee.
CHAIM WEIZMANN, who was born in Russia, was already in his boyhood very
active in the young _Chovevé Zion_ movement. During his studies at the
Charlottenburg Polytechnic he took a leading part in the Berlin Jewish
National Students’ Association. Of amiable and genial disposition,
a pleasant and persuasive speaker, inseparably bound up with the
deep national affection and humour of the Jewish home in Russia,
young Weizmann soon gained great popularity among his fellow-students.
Later he came into great and well-merited prominence at the Zionist
Congresses and Conferences. With Feiwel, Buber and others he was most
active in the Students’ propaganda, and during his visits to Russia
took a prominent part in the propaganda there. Having graduated, he
went to Switzerland, and was soon appointed Lecturer of Chemistry
at the Geneva University, where he became the central figure of the
West Zionist Group. About that time he, with Feiwel, Buber and others,
conceived the idea of a Jewish University. At the Basle Congress
in 1901 the Actions Committee had included the question of the
establishment of a Palestine University in their programme, and Herzl
took steps to obtain a concession for the University from the Turkish
Government; but, in consequence of the pressure of other problems, this
project was lost sight of for some years. The movement in favour of
this idea, however, continued to develop, and its inception as well as
its popularity is due to Weizmann more than to any other Zionist. The
general Zionist activity of Weizmann grew from one Congress to another.
He was elected member of the Actions Committee and of several important
Zionist institutions. He has been living in England for some years
now, occupying a chair in the faculty of chemistry at the Manchester
University and taking a leading part in the English Zionist Federation.
(The new University Scheme, and Weizmann’s activity in this direction,
are described elsewhere.)
LEO MOTZKIN, BERTHOLD FEIWEL, MARTIN BUBER and JOSEPH LURIE, also
prominent in this circle, have already been mentioned.
In the Berlin group we also come across Isidor Eliaschew, a refined
critic of great artistic culture, an important contributor to Jewish
literature――mostly in Yiddish. His talents and information are of
the most varied character, for he is the author of charmingly written
essays, studies, monographs and sketches extending over a wide sphere
of thought. He occupied a leading position in the radical wing of
Zionism and among the literary workers of the Renaissance. We also come
across Soskin, a clear-minded, enterprising and practical Zionist, a
young man of wonderful foresight and an agricultural engineer of renown;
further, Berman, whose studies were concentrated on colonizing work.
Both of them went to Palestine later, and supervised colonization work
there, acquiring in that way much valuable information and experience,
which they recorded in various instructive books. We also find
there Nachman Syrkin, the radical propagandist, the leader of the
Zionist-Socialists; the able and cautious Estermann; Elie Davidsohn,
who took a prominent part in discussing the open controversy between
the various sections; Wilenski, an active and enthusiastic worker of
considerable influence, first abroad and later in Russia; Mirkin,
powerful, energetic and highly respected; Meschorer, determined and
broad-minded, who, though not identifying himself with the Organization,
worked hard in Warsaw when first the propaganda for securing capital
for the Jewish Colonial Trust was set on foot, and died recently;
Grigory Wilbuschewitsch, one of the family of energetic enthusiasts
for and in Palestine; Salkind of Minsk; Kunin, a loyal and devoted
worker; Pevsner, who worked zealously; and――last, but not least――Ch.
D. Gurevitsch, the excellent Hebrew writer and essayist, novelist and
publicist, a contributor to the Hebrew and Yiddish Press, a learned
economist who was particularly interested in introducing his economic
programme into Zionism, who expounded the idea in a lecture he
delivered at a Conference of Russian Zionists held at Minsk in 1902.
Then there were also Davis Trietsch and Ephraim Lilien, who have
already been mentioned.
In course of time the movement spread steadily and systematically.
Similar associations were soon founded in Heidelberg, Munich, Leipzig,
Königsberg, Breslau, Berne, Zurich, Geneva, Lauzanno, Montpellier and
Galicia.
The Jewish University students, particularly those hailing from Russia,
pursued their studies at different universities, often passing from one
to another. We, therefore, find some of them changing their places and
activities in the Movement. For this reason it is impossible to follow
a precisely geographical or chronological course.
At Heidelberg, Joseph Klausner and Saul Tschernichewski were already
active before the First Zionist Congress took place. Loeb Jaffe
of Grodno, who combined idealism with practical astuteness, wrote
emotional Zionist poetry, and at the same time did organization work
perhaps more than any other Jewish student who happened to be at
Heidelberg. Later he became a great Zionist worker, organizer, editor
and member of the Actions Committee in Russia. Gurland of Wilna,
Eliasberg of Pinsk, Feitlowitsch, J. Melnik, Blumenfeld and others
were the pioneers of the Zionist idea who had rallied around Professor
Herman Schapiro, that venerable and cherished veteran, who, aided by
his devoted wife, made his home a rendezvous of the local Zionist group.
In Munich, the intellectual and kind-hearted brothers Strauss, members
of an old noble Jewish family, worked together with G. Halpern, who
during his University career had already distinguished himself by his
great talents, and who was a good economist, a journalist of great
skill, and a devoted Zionist worker. At a later period he was elected
member of the Actions Committee. Lew, Izkovitsch, Abramowitsch
and Nemzer may be mentioned among others. The last-named had
greatly endeared himself to his fellow-students by his sincerity and
warm-heartedness. He died very young, in Riga (1906), in a tragic way,
a martyr’s death. At Leipzig there was also Loeb Jaffe, working with
the devoted Kunin, who became in the last few years one of the pioneer
workers in Palestine, as manager of Medjdel; and also Gurland, the
engineering student at Mitwreida, as well as others.
It is interesting to glance back upon the various stages of propaganda
in order to discover how the Russian Jews influenced their brethren
abroad, how Zionism infused new life into the older _Chovevé Zion_
movement, and how the present important representatives of new Zionism
gradually appeared upon the scene and took up so strong a position.
A little society for the support of Palestine colonization was already
in existence in Berlin as recently as 1871, but there seems to be
little on record about it. At the beginning of the eighties there was a
venerable, orthodox Rabbi, Dr. Israel Hildesheimer, assisted by his son
Hirsch, together with some other members, notably the philanthropist S.
Lachmann, Willy Bambus, a devoted Zionist, who travelled in Palestine,
and has published many pamphlets and articles, and in connection with
a _Chovevé Zion_ of Russia, M. Turow, took an important part in the
_Chovevé Zion_ movement, and the late Moses of Kattowitz. We read
already, in Dr. Rülf’s appeal of 1882: “Do not divide us; take us to
places where we can live together, remain together, and work together
as a united community, _arranged like any other human society_, where
we may be Jews, without being interfered with” (this circular was
issued in English by Haim Guedalla), and that is a trumpet-call of
Zionism. Rülf, the Rabbi of Memel, was a man of genius and thoroughness,
who was well known for his talent as an author of philosophical works,
a theologian, preacher, and above all a noble character: he afterwards
took part in the Zionist Movement and in the Congress. In 1884, a
society for the support of a Jewish colonization in Palestine, called
“Esra,” was founded in Berlin. In Cologne a _Chovevé Zion_ group was
established through the efforts of David Wolffsohn, Dr. M. Bodenheimer,
Rubensohn and others. The Jewish National Students’ Association,
consisting first almost exclusively of foreigners, gradually attracted
the best elements of the local Jewish youth. One of the first and
foremost was H. Löwe, a young man of great enthusiasm and energy, of
vigorous eloquence, who travelled in Palestine and appeared at the
First Congress as a delegate from Jaffa.
Arthur Friedemann, an able student, a member of an old and honoured
family; Gronemann, the son of a respected Rabbi, a brilliant student
and an excellent Jew; Klee, a keen propagandist and attractive speaker;
Jungmann, a humorous, attractive and talented writer; Hantke, who
distinguished himself by profound honesty of purpose and love of
detail, and as a highly gifted, indefatigable and successful organizer;
Jeremias, a faithful adherent to the movement (he died recently);
Elias and Israel Auerbach, who possessed, besides their noble Jewish
national aspirations, the most excellent literary gifts; Zlozisti, a
fine writer and a poet full of wit and humour; Kalmus, a quiet, steady
and enthusiastic Zionist worker; Sandler, an eminently able young
scholar; Kollenscher, a strong political Zionist; Chamitzer, a faithful
and zealous adherent of the Organization; the late Pell, an eminent
propagandist and organizer; Leszynski, a quiet, persistent and
conscientious member of the party; Witkowsky, an intelligent and
active supporter; Oscar Levy; Emil Cohn, an eminently able theologian;
Goldberg, a determined worker in the Organization; Edelstem; A. Wiener,
a wholehearted, ardent worker; and at a later period, Gideon Heymann,
a young man of burning zeal and considerable attainments; Blumenfeld,
a propagandist of great eloquence and literary talents; Brunn,
Hildesheimer and other medical men, steady workers, who devoted
themselves to medical work in Palestine; Salomon, the brothers Treidel,
Biram, a studious and very clever pedagogical worker, who recently
was engaged together with Tachauer in Haifa, Löwenberg in Jerusalem,
and others in national educational work; Richard Lichtheim, a gifted
adherent to the cause; Rosenblüth, an able worker; Weinberg; Goitein
(the latter died recently), who assisted in the work of the Palestinian
Office, and many others――all of them took part in the University
movement.
We find most of them joining in later years the Zionist Organization,
which was in course of time supported by a representation of the
older generation. Otto Warburg, botanist, author and professor, was an
active member of the “Esra” for a long time. He then joined the Zionist
Organization, and placed his great scientific knowledge at the service
of the Movement, especially for the purpose of colonization work.
Simple-minded, of high integrity and unassuming, he worked with a quiet
determination and an intense love of Palestine. He edited _Palästina_,
_Altneuland_, founded the Palestine Land Development Company, was
elected member of the Small Actions Committee and succeeded David
Wolffsohn in 1911. Hantke, so devout in national aspirations and with
such great capacity for organization, and an exceptional record of
local work for some years, entered the Small Actions Committee at
the same time. Dr. Bodenheimer, one of the oldest and most prominent
Zionists, was an excellent practical worker in the management of the
Jewish National Fund. Dr. Oppenheimer, the famous economist, gave
a great impetus to co-operative work in Palestine. Dr. Ruppin, a
man of great learning, high intelligence, wonderful energy, and an
exceptionally active administrator, had the largest share in the
management of practical work in Palestine, and a considerable record
of literary work in connection with the problems of colonization. And
in the work of organization Julius Simon proved an eminent worker;
likewise Dr. Moses, an experienced Zionist; H. Schachtel, indefatigable
in important work; Hermann Struck; Wagner, a splendid worker, the
well-known painter and Zionist worker of high religious sentiment, and
Dr. Frank, the leader of the “Misrachi.”
A similar development took place in all other countries. The revival
among the Jewish students at the Swiss universities commenced in the
eighties, and there again we come across many who in later years have
achieved leading positions in literature, in the Zionist Organization,
or in educational and practical work in Palestine. Among the names of
note at the Bern University we may mention: Mossensohn, Bogratschow,
Jacob Rabinovitscz, Metman-Cohn, Jochelmann, Aron Michael, Boruchow,
Isaac, Loeb Boruchowitsch, J. Becker, Chissin, Glikson, Rabin, Salkind,
Melamed, Klazkin, Bernstein, Seleger, Robinsohn, Marschak, Meir Pines
and many others; in Geneva: Weizmann, Harari, M. and Mme. Aberson,
Grunblatt, Stupnitzki, and later Daniel Pasmanik, Ben Ami Rabinowitsch,
and others; in Zurich: David Farbstein, Felix Pinkus, Mlle. Reines
(later Mme. Davidsohn); in Basle: Ezekiel Wortsmann――and many others.
Switzerland, the favourite place of students and political
international workers, became of course a great centre of intellectual
Zionist activity. The circumstance that the First Zionist Congress,
as well as most of the following ones, took place in Switzerland,
contributed much to the importance of this centre. The number of
Jewish students from Eastern Europe, particularly owing to the great
facilities with regard to university studies in Switzerland at that
time in comparison with other countries, has for some time been very
considerable. The pressure occasioned by the exceptional restrictions,
which interfered with Jewish education in Russia, caused a steady
increase in this number, while, as a natural and psychological effect,
the baseness and injustice of the restrictions awakened in the Jewish
young men a consciousness of their real position and of the necessity
for a radical solution. It was there that the battles were fought
between the young, enthusiastic champions of the different movements:
Socialists, Bundists and various schools of Zionism, conservative,
radical, political, practical, etc.
All the aforementioned pioneers could be found at work at those
different periods, and afterwards. To mention only a few of them,
Weizmann’s activities had considerably developed when in Geneva;
Mossensohn, a man of striking individuality and an orator of renown,
was a most active propagandist, thoroughly nationalist; he became
afterwards professor and subsequently director of the Hebrew Gymnasium
at Jaffa; Metman-Cohn and Bogratschow, both widely read and fine
scholars, also Marschak and Harari did much to cause a great revival
of Hebrew in Palestine; Rabin is a pedagogical worker who did good
work in Palestine and Russia; A. U. Boruchow, pre-eminent among Zionist
intellectuals, took a conspicuous part in the Poale-Zion movement;
Chissin distinguished himself in practical work in Palestine; Klazkin,
Boruchowitsch, Melamed and Bernstein are well-known Hebrew writers,
most gifted and very active, and regarded as important in the Zionist
Movement; Aberson was well known as a smart disputant and propagandist;
Stupnitzki is a thoughtful Yiddish publicist; J. Becker, who really
belongs to the Berlin group, has for many years been most actively
engaged in the Movement, he has been editor of the _Welt_ and has
published many reports of the Congresses; in the same direction, and
of a similar character, was the activity of Pinkus; Jochelman joined,
after years of useful and honest Zionist work, the Territorialist
movement, of which he is one of the leaders; Wortsmann is an arduous
Zionist writer of inexhaustible energy. David Farbstein of Warsaw was
one of the most prominent pioneers. A very learned and discreet lawyer,
with a mind stored with useful information, and a good Hebrew scholar,
he was highly appreciated at the First Congress, and was able to give
valuable legal advice in matters appertaining to financial questions.
Daniel Pasmanik developed considerable activity at a later epoch and
devoted himself with exceptional sincerity to propaganda work; as
a writer and journalist of extraordinary capabilities and of great
vivacity, he became an invaluable contributor to the Zionist press,
particularly in Russia. Lastly, we must mention the Montpellier group,
with its leaders: Mohilewer, Kalwaryjski, Buchmil, Mlle. Imas (later
Mme. Buchmil), Einhorn, Katzmann, Miss Ginsberg (later Mme. Krause),
and others.
Old Zionists will remember what a significant impression the appearance
of the Montpellier delegates created at the First Congress. Later
experiences confirmed this favourable impression. Kalwaryjski is
now successfully engaged as manager of the Rothschild Colonies in
Upper Galilee, in Palestine; Mohilewer, the grandson of Rabbi Samuel
Mohilewer, worthily upholds the traditions of his family, and occupies
the post of a capable communal Rabbi in Bialystok; Buchmil is engaged
in propaganda; Katzmann did good work in America, where he lives; and
Einhorn, an excellent agricultural engineer and a fine Hebraist, has
written a very useful book on this subject.
In Galicia, the Movement can be traced back to the early eighties,
and it was closely connected with the Vienna _Kadima_. Some of the
Galicians belonged to different groups in Germany, Switzerland and
other countries. In later years the Universities of Lemberg and Cracow
became great centres of the Jewish national movement. Ruben Bierer
belonged to the founders of the _Kadima_, also Birnbaum, who is
a Galician. Practically most of the Vienna _Kadima_ students were
Galicians, and also a certain number of the Berlin _Kadima_. To the
most distinguished Zionist leaders belongs Mordecai Braude of Lemberg,
who graduated at Freiburg, was Rabbi at Stanislau, and only missed by a
small minority being elected to the Austrian Diet. He is now Rabbi and
Preacher at the Great Synagogue in Lodz, Poland. A man of learning and
high character, he showed immense capacity for Zionist work, as also in
his rabbinical career.
Stand, Korkis, Zipper, Rabbi Schmelkes, Malz, Schiller (living
in Palestine), Thon, Wahrhaftig, Hausmann, Waschitz, Emil Reich,
Silbermann, Kornhäuser, Reis, Waldmann, Schorr, Zimmermann, Samuel
Rapaport, Balaban and many others――now important Zionist workers――were
mostly influenced by the University movement. Stand has a fine record
as a brilliant Zionist and politician. He, with Mahler, Straucher and
the late Gabel, formed a Jewish National Club, composed of members of
the Austrian Parliament. As a political speaker he always strove to
spread the truth concerning the Jewish situation in all its purity and
strength. Alfred Nossig, mentioned already in another connection, also
came from Galicia.
Although Zionism played an important part in Western Europe, Russia has
yet always been the most important centre of Zionist propaganda. The
penetration of Zionism into University circles began, naturally enough,
in that country, where Jewish life is so real, where the knowledge of
the Hebrew language and of the national past is so widely diffused, and
where the persecutions have always been so strongly felt. There were
several centres of the movement; but, while one of those centres was
considered the foremost as far as national aspirations were concerned,
and others in other directions, there was one that seemed the most
prominent from the beginning, and which seemed destined to rank far
above the others, namely, Charkow.
A _Chovevé Zion_ group was founded at Charkow in 1882, which was the
_Bilu_――mostly composed of University students. Israel Belkind, the
most zealous, true-hearted and indefatigable worker, was one of the
first leaders; this group was in connection with another _Chovevé Zion_
Society, which was at that time already in existence in Krementhsug,
of which David Levontin (now Managing Director of the Anglo-Palestine
Company), one of the first _Chovevé Zion_ of Russia, and one of the
first pioneers in Palestine, was the President. The latter Society was
in touch with David Gordon in Lyck, and with some other societies which
were already in existence in various parts of Russia. They were also
in touch with Jehiel Brill, the editor of the _Ha-Lebanon_, and with
M. Pines of Rishnoi. The banker Karassik in Charkow was the Treasurer
of the _Bilu_ Society. Joseph Feinberg, an intellectual communal worker
and a good linguist, who had graduated in chemistry in Switzerland,
was at the time in touch with Dr. Mandelstamm, in Kiew, who was
greatly interested in the movement. The _Bilu_ Society sent twenty
propagandists all over Russia, with the result that 525 members joined.
The central office was in Charkow. The Society eventually came into
touch with Dr. N. Adler, Sir Moses Montefiore and Laurence Oliphant.
An office was opened in Odessa and another in Constantinople, where an
Appeal was issued (see Appendix LXXIX., “The Manifesto of the _Bilu_
(1882)”). After a meeting in January, 1882, Levontin and Feinberg were
sent to Palestine for the purpose of purchasing land. The negotiations
with Oliphant, who was at that time in Constantinople, having fallen
through, the representatives of the _Bilu_ addressed themselves
directly to the Ottoman Government, and were received by the Grand
Vezir. And Levontin and Feinberg, having found some suitable plots of
land in the South of Palestine, negotiated with the Bedouins for the
purchase of them.
In June, 1882 (the 7th of Tammus), the first _Bilu_ party, consisting
of fourteen persons (among whom was one girl, Debora, the sister of
Israel Belkind, now the wife of Dr. Chissin), and later joined by
further six persons, arrived in Palestine. Grave difficulties arose,
however, in connection with the formalities for the purchase of the
land. Meanwhile, a number of new pioneers had arrived also from
Roumania.
In Roumania, in 1882, the Zion Society at Galatz had voted ten thousand
francs towards the project of the colonization of Palestine. At Jassy
a committee, comprised of the most influential members of the Jewish
community, was formed to collect subscriptions for the same object. The
Palestine Colonization Society at Berlad sent a delegate to the Holy
Land to confer with the Governor on the question as to the purchase of
land. The office of the Central Committee of the Society for Promoting
Jewish Emigration from Roumania (preferably to Palestine) was in Galatz,
under the control of M. Samuel Pineles. The President was (in 1882) M.
Isaac Löbel, and M. Abeles at Galatz, M. Neuschotz at Jassy, M. Marco
Schein, L. Goldberg, Dr. L. Lippe, M. Mattes and M. Weinberg. Dr. Moses
Gaster, at that time a young but influential man, strongly supported
the movement. On the 4th May, 1882, a general meeting was held at Jassy
concerning the Palestine Colonization Scheme. Laurence Oliphant was the
central figure of this assembly, and power of attorney was given him
by the Committee to negotiate on their behalf at Constantinople. It
was also resolved to send a commission to Palestine to purchase land
(E. Cohn, Helman, Denirerman). At that period there were forty-nine
Palestinian societies in Roumania. A new Society was founded: “The
Advanced Guard” (“Chaluzei Yessod Ha-Maala”) (see Appendix XCI.: “The
Advanced Guard”), with David Levontin as President, F. M. Halsoferes,
Treasurer, A. N. Hillel, A. Lande, S. Sogrisebas of Roumania, as
members, and later on S. A. Schulman as Secretary.
At this period Mr. Moore was the British Consul at Jerusalem, and
M. Hayman Amzulak, a respected Jaffa citizen, was British Consular
Agent at Jaffa. The _Chovevé Zion_ expected great help from England.
M. Amzulak, who was himself a Jew, took a keen interest in the movement
and, evidently encouraged by Mr. Moore, went to Constantinople for the
purpose of helping to surmount the difficulties. Unfortunately, the
war in Egypt had just broken out, and owing to the strained diplomatic
relations between Britain and Turkey in consequence of the occupation
of Egypt, the moment did not prove opportune for the intentions of
M. Amzulak and Laurence Oliphant. It looked as if in that way nothing
could be done. At last 3300 Dunan were bought at Rishon, but new funds
were much needed. M. Amzulak was elected Honorary President of the
“Advanced Guard,” and appeals were sent to England. Meanwhile new
groups, which despatched their envoys to several countries, were formed.
In April, 1882, M. Hirsch Braun and M. Isaac Temkin of Elizabethgrad,
Russia, proceeded to Vienna, Paris and London on behalf of 150 families
of Elizabethgrad, comprising nine hundred persons in all, who had
raised a fund of thirty thousand roubles for the purpose of migrating
to Palestine. But this plan and similar schemes were still in an
undeveloped stage, while the _Bilu_ business, which had already been
started, was really pressing. The Company wanted a loan of thirty
thousand francs. In 1883 M. Feinberg was delegated to go abroad to get
this loan. He went first to Vienna, where the _Chovevé Zion_ Society
(called “Ahirath Zion”), with Perez Smolenskin, Dr. Schnirer and
Kremenezky was already in existence. M. Feinberg was introduced to
various committees which promised contributions, provided the Paris
_Chovevé Zion_ would head the list. M. Feinberg went to Paris holding
letters of introduction from the former teacher, Professor Herman
Schapiro, to M. Zadoc Cahn, the Grand Rabbin of France, and was well
received by the French rabbi, who got him in touch with M. Michel
Erlanger. In that way he was introduced to the _Alliance Israélite_,
and to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and succeeded in getting the
required loan.
This was practically the first colonization experiment of Jewish
_immigrants_. The die was cast. The nucleus of colonization by
immigrants had been formed. This pioneer group naturally could not
remain very long in that place, because it was badly suited for
that purpose. There were no means, skill, method, or experience.
Great privation was endured. The little group soon found itself in a
deplorable condition; some of them, overwhelmed by hardships, anxiety,
disappointment and despair, had to leave; but the “survival of the
fittest” prevailed. Some went to _Mikveh Israel_, where they worked as
farm labourers, others to Katra, twenty-five miles south-west of Jaffa,
where M. Pines had bought some three hundred Dunam of land for them.
But the fact remains that these students and idealists were the first
in the field as Palestinian colonizers. The present writer had the
moral satisfaction to meet survivors of these pioneers in Palestine six
years ago: the old-experienced settlers, M. Tschernow in Rishon L’Zion
and M. Leibowitz in Katra, and Israel Belkind, the most enthusiastic
worker――all three veterans of the struggle for the survival on the land.
But all these difficulties only stimulated the efforts of other new
pioneers. The _Bilu_ stirred up the enthusiasm of all noble-minded
Jewish students at the Russian Universities.
(2) MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE
THE necessarily brief outline in the text may be supplemented by some
account of the principal figures in Hebrew literature during the last
generation. The names are in alphabetical order.
BEN-AVIGDOR (Schalkowitsch, 1866), born in Warsaw, was Secretary of
the _Bnei Mosheh_, for some years assistant manager of the Publication
Society, _Achiasaf_, and founded in 1897 the new Publication
Company, _Tushiah_, which has published hundreds of new Hebrew books,
particularly in the domain of education. His idea was to create a
popular Hebrew literature, and he has greatly stimulated Hebrew writing
and Hebrew education. He is himself a successful and prolific Hebrew
novelist.
S. BENZION (Gutman), born in Russia, has done important literary and
pedagogical work in Odessa, and during the last few years in Palestine.
He is one of the best Hebrew writers of our time; his stories are
remarkable for beauty, charm and vividness of language. He has
contributed to many Hebrew reviews and newspapers, and has co-operated
in the publication of _Achiasaf_, _Tushiah_, and _Moriah_, chiefly
in the domain of pedagogical literature. He was also editor of the
excellent review _Moledeth_ at Jaffa. A selection of his sketches and
tales was published not long ago.
M. J. BERDITCHEVSKI is an original stylist and a prose-poet of great
sensibility and mystic beauty, distinguished especially for his gift
of allegory. His mode of thought is original, sometimes eccentric, but
always spiritual.
SIMON BERNFELD, born in Galicia, and graduated in Germany. He is one of
the most prolific and distinguished of Hebrew writers. During the last
years of David Gordon’s life he was a regular contributor to _Ha’magid_,
and after Gordon’s death was for a time editor of that paper. At that
time he ardently supported Jewish nationalism and the _Chovevé Zion_.
After a couple of years as Chief Rabbi at Belgrade he returned to
Germany and devoted himself entirely to literary and journalistic
work, mostly in Hebrew. He has been a regular contributor to the Hebrew
press all over the world. He has written also a large number of books
on history and the philosophy of religion, and many biographies. His
vast erudition and his popular style have won him a prominent place in
Hebrew literature.
REUBEN BRAININ, born in Russia, has lived in Vienna and in Berlin, and
is now in the United States. He is a critic, essayist and publicist.
His contributions to the Hebrew press, as well as his biographies
of Mapu, Smolenskin and others, have won him a high place in this
domain of letters. His style is fresh and easy, and distinguished
by correctness and taste. He edited _Mimisrach Umimaarav_, and has
written novels and treatises of great literary value. He was one of
the pioneers of the national movement in Vienna, and was in the closest
connection with the _Kadima_ and Herzl.
R. A. BROIDES, born in Russia, belonged to the old Wilna school.
He had a pure and pleasant Hebrew style, and wrote some novels of
value. He contributed to _Ha’shachar_, and was afterwards sub-editor
of Gottlober’s _Ha’boker Or_ in Lemberg. He worked for the Zionist
movement in Galicia and Vienna, and wrote several articles for the
propaganda of Zionism. He died in Vienna in 1902.
M. M. DOLITZKY, born in Bialystok, Russia, lived for many years in
America. He was a contributor to _Ha’shachar_ and _Ha’melitz_, and
wrote several novels and essays, as well as poems full of Zionist
enthusiasm. Critics may differ as to the exact literary value of his
poems, but there is no doubt as to their depth of feeling and beautiful
Biblical style.
DRUJANOW, born in Russia, active in Odessa, in Palestine and in Wilna,
belongs to the most prominent representatives of “cultural” Zionism.
He was Secretary of the _Chovevé Zion_ in Odessa, lived a few years
in Palestine and acquired a high and well-deserved literary reputation
as editor of _Ha’olam_. A conscientious publicist, of consistent and
independent judgment, with an admirable mastery of the Hebrew language,
he is an intellectual worker in the best sense of the term. Besides his
work as a publicist, he has written some excellent essays.
MORDECAI EHRENPREIS, born in Galicia, graduated in Germany, was Rabbi
in Esseg, Austria, then Chief Rabbi in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is now
Chief Rabbi in Stockholm. He is a Hebrew nationalist of genius and
experience, many-sided, with international associations and wide
knowledge. He belonged to the Nationalist Students’ Association in
Berlin, and has been in the Zionist Organization since the first
Congress, at which he played a prominent part. He represents the
intellectual and spiritual side of the movement. A man of clear
judgment and of strong character, he is very active in important work
connected with the international Jewish problem. In Hebrew literature
he is one of the best critics and essayists. He writes excellent Hebrew,
and has sound literary judgment.
ELEASAR EISENSTADT, born in Russia, was Rabbi at Rostow, and is now
official and communal Rabbi at St. Petersburg. As a student at Berlin,
where he graduated, he was one of the most enthusiastic of the young
nationalists. Endowed with a keen perception, and intimately acquainted
with the life of the Russian Ghetto, he is a master of anecdote,
and has turned his gift to account in a series of Hebrew tales. A
many-sided and energetic communal worker, particularly interested in
Jewish education (in which he was formerly engaged at St. Petersburg),
he enjoys a wide popularity.
ZALMAN EPSTEIN, of Odessa, now in Warsaw, who belonged to the _Achad
Ha’am_ circle, and was Secretary of the _Chovevé Zion_ in Odessa, is
an ardent nationalist and a zealous worker for the Jewish revival.
He contributed during several years to _Ha’melitz_ and other
Hebrew periodicals. His productions are distinguished by a vivid,
nervous style, and by a deep earnestness of conviction. An acute
controversialist, with a strong predilection for traditional ideas, he
has written several articles against the extravagances of modernism.
A. S. FRIEDBERG (_Har Shalom_), born in Grodno, lived in St. Petersburg
and in Warsaw. He was one of the most popular Hebrew writers of his
time. He wrote with ease and elegance and was at one time considered
the successor of Mapu, particularly for his translation of Grace
Aguilar’s _Vale of Cedars_――into Hebrew, _Emek Ha’arazim_. He possessed
a wonderful Hebrew style, and had the closest acquaintance with
current Jewish affairs. A convinced and enthusiastic nationalist,
he was a member of the editorial staff of _Ha’melitz_, afterwards of
_Ha’zefirah_, and of the first volume of the Hebrew Encyclopædia, and
became ultimately one of the principal writers of the _Achiasaf_, for
which he wrote a series of popular books.
S. I. FUCHS, born in Russia, graduated in Switzerland, and was a
scholar of great versatility and deep learning. As a student he
belonged to several nationalist students’ associations and was
distinguished by his earnestness and high moral sense. His treatises
dealing with Jewish historical and literary topics are of enduring
value. He was one of the assistant editors of _Ha’magid_ and had a
considerable share in the propaganda of Zionism.
S. J. HURWITZ, born in Russia, a Hebrew writer of marked individuality.
A learned Talmudist, with considerable erudition in ancient, mediæval
and modern literature, a keen, inquiring and independent thinker, he
pursued “Jewish science” and historical studies in a way which often
brought him into collision with established and accepted traditions. He
contributed to several reviews, and edited his own review, _He’atid_.
He is a devoted champion of the Hebrew revival.
WOLF JAVITZ, born in Warsaw, scholar and writer, is a master of the
Hebrew language, in the knowledge of which he has few equals. A student
of extraordinary assiduity, he has amassed a vast fund of erudition,
which is revealed in the writings of his later years. An enthusiastic
nationalist and _Chovev Zion_, and at the same time an upholder of
strict traditional principles, he is the most eloquent interpreter of
the national idea in the spirit of traditional Judaism. He lived for
several years in Palestine, and has written several books. Many years
ago he began writing a complete History of the Jews, of which several
volumes――works of great learning――have already appeared.
ISAAC KAMINER, born in Russia, was a physician and a prolific
contributor to the Hebrew press. His essays, causeries and parodies are
distinguished by skill and “temperament.” His poems are full of fight
and an honest zeal for the Jewish national cause. He had an original
and entirely free metrical and rhythmical system. A selection of his
works appeared posthumously in Odessa (1907), with an introduction by
_Achad Ha’am_.
AARON KAMINKA, born in Russia, studied abroad, mostly in Paris. He
contributed regularly to _Ha’melitz_, _Ha’zefirah_, and several reviews.
He also translated classical poems and wrote original verses. He took
a considerable share in the _Chovevé Zion_ movement, preaching with
great zeal the spiritual progress of the nation, and emphasizing the
importance of a living Hebrew language. He was then appointed Rabbi
in Slavonia, afterwards at Prague. He joined the Zionist movement, but
left it through a difference of opinion. He has since become Secretary
of the _Israelitische Allianz_ at Vienna, for which he has travelled
much. He has published records of his travels, as well as a selection
of his Hebrew poems.
DR. J. C. KATZENELSOHN (1848‒1917) (_Buki ben Yogli_) wrote essays and
short stories which are literary jewels. His scientific works in Hebrew
are unequalled for learning and mastery of style.
A. S. KERSCHBERG, of Bialystok, Russia, is a Hebrew scholar and writer
of great ability. He has contributed to _Ha’zefirah_ and _Ha’shiloach_,
and has written treatises dealing with talmudical matters. An ardent
nationalist, he has been connected with the _Chovevé Zion_ movement
since it began. He has lived in Palestine and has published his
observations and experiences in an interesting pamphlet.
JOSEPH KLAUSNER, born in Odessa, a graduate of Heidelberg, is one of
the most prominent disciples of _Achad Ha’am_, whom he succeeded in
the editorship of _Ha’shiloach_. A devoted _Chovev Zion_ and a keen
Hebraist, he commenced Hebrew journalistic work in his earliest youth.
At Heidelberg and elsewhere he assisted in the formation of the
Nationalist Students’ Association, in which he took a leading part. He
has done valuable work in the field of Biblical and historical studies.
He was for many years lecturer at the Rabbinical College in Odessa.
Palestinian nationalism and culture based upon Hebrew tradition are
the guiding principles of his numerous publicistic writings. He is a
pioneer of Palestinian Hebrew education. The impressions of his last
visit to Palestine are given in his _Olam Mithhaveh_ (A World in
Evolution).
L. LEVINSKI, born in Russia, lived during the most important period
of his life in Odessa, where he was a prominent member of the _Chovevé
Zion_, of the editorial staff of _Ha’shiloach_, of the _Moriah_, of the
Zionist Synagogue _Javneh_, and other institutions. His quaint felicity
of style, continual flow of wit, and easy, vivacious narrative won
him a great reputation as a satirist. He contributed to the Hebrew
press feuilletons and reviews of current events, and also wrote some
pamphlets of value. A selection of his works has been published since
his death by the _Moriah_.
MORDECAI ZEVI MANE was born in the village of Radoshkevitsch, in
Russia. He studied at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, and won
distinction as a gifted painter, a Hebrew poet, and an excellent writer
in prose. He contributed to _He’assif_ and _Knesseth Israel_. Though he
may not rank among the Olympians, he produced in his modest way many a
Zionist poem of enduring worth. He died young, and a collection of his
works appeared posthumously (Warsaw, 1907).
DAVID NEUMARK, of Galicia, studied at Berlin, and was one of the
most original and prominent figures in nationalistic students’
circles. After having graduated, he was appointed Rabbi at Rakowitz,
Austria, where he officiated for a few years. He entered the Zionist
Organization and became a loyal and zealous worker, with a strong
inclination towards “cultural” Zionism. He soon devoted himself to
philosophy, and, besides his History of Jewish Philosophy, first
written in German, he contributed a series of philosophical articles,
written in an elaborate and exact style, to _Ha’shiloach_. He also
wrote other essays of value. Later he was appointed Professor at the
Cincinnati Hebrew Union College, where he has pursued his educational
and literary activity.
SAUL PINCHAS RABINOWITSCH (_Schefer_) (1875‒1911) won a very prominent
place among the distinguished pioneers of Zionism in Russia, as well
as among the ablest and most popular Hebrew writers and publicists. He
devoted many years of his life to the propaganda of the _Chovevé Zion_
movement, and was for many years Secretary of the Warsaw _Chovevé
Zion_. He was an ardent and active Zionist from the very beginning of
the Zionist Organization. In close connection with Rabbi Mohilever,
Leo Pinsker and Alexander Zederbaum, he often travelled on important
missions, maintaining a world-wide correspondence with hundreds of
Jewish leaders and writers, and occupied principally with _Chovevé
Zion_ affairs, but also with Russian-Jewish affairs generally,
particularly during the period of the pogroms. He was a zealous
and devoted Jewish national worker, was assistant editor of the
_Ha’zefirah_, 1857‒80, contributor to several Hebrew and other
newspapers, editor of the year-book _Knesseth Israel_, one of the
editors of the first volume of the Hebrew Encyclopædia _Ha-Eschkol_,
and author of many monographs and biographies. His greatest work was
the Hebrew translation of Graetz’ _History of the Jews_ (with many
valuable original additions of Harkavy and of other scholars, as well
as of his own).
J. CH. RAWNITZKI, born in Russia, author and educationist, whose
activity has lain mostly in Odessa, has for many years been engaged in
Hebrew literary work of a nationalist character in the _Chovevé Zion_
movement. He edited _Ha’pardes_, contributed to several reviews, and
is one of the principal editors and authors working for the _Moriah_
in Odessa.
A. J. SLUTZKI, born and living in Russia, was an able and shrewd
Zionist publicist. He contributed to _Ha’melitz_ under J. L. Gordon,
and actively assisted the _Chovevé Zion_ propaganda.¹
¹ He was killed, together with his wife, in a pogrom which took
place at Novograd Sieversk in 1918.
O. TAVIEV, born in Russia, lives in Moscow. He is one of the most
prominent Hebrew journalists, authors and educationists. He is one
of the originators of the modern Hebrew style. For several years he
contributed regularly to _Ha’melitz_ and other Hebrew papers and
reviews. He has written causeries and critical essays in an easy and
pleasant style, and has also translated some works of _belles lettres_.
His principal services, however, lie in the domain of pedagogy.
JOSHUA THON, born in Galicia, now Rabbi and preacher at the temple of
the Jewish Congregation at Cracow, took an active part in the Students’
national movement as a student in Berlin, where he graduated, and
distinguished himself by great learning and strength of character. A
convinced Zionist and an enthusiastic champion of Hebrew, he entered
the Zionist Organization, of which, owing to his oratorical powers and
personal influence, he is one of the most active leaders. Besides his
numerous writings in Polish and in German, he is a Hebrew writer of
value, and his essays, mostly published in _Ha’shiloach_, exhibit a
considerable critical faculty.
CHAIM TSCHERNOWITZ, born in Russia, had a thorough talmudic education,
was Rabbi in Odessa, then studied at a German University and graduated
in Switzerland. His contributions to _Ha’shiloach_, under the _nom
de plume_, _Rav Zaair_ (A young Rabbi), attracted attention by the
broadminded views and comprehensiveness of historical sense in dealing
with religious and ritual matters which they disclosed. He has also
written historical and talmudic sketches. He was for several years
Principal of the Odessa Rabbinical College. He is in the closest touch
with the _Chovevé Zion_ movement, and is one of the leaders of those
nationalistic Rabbis who unite faithfulness to the old traditions with
a modern spirit of science and critical inquiry.
HILLEL ZEITLIN, born in Russia, active in Wilna, and more recently
in Warsaw, was one of the editors of the Wilna _Ha’zman_, to which he
contributed valuable essays and articles. A Talmudist of erudition,
an authority on Chassidism, a semi-mystic enthusiast endowed with a
poetical imagination, a master of the Hebrew language and of the forms
and methods of modern literature, he achieves a degree of pathos and
beauty unsurpassed in modern Hebrew literature. He joined the Zionist
movement, but afterwards identified himself with Territorialism. In
recent years he has gone over to the Yiddish press, of which he is one
of the most gifted and influential writers.
Other Hebrew writers worthy of mention are Joshua Steinberg, from a
scientific point of view one of the most important of the Hebraists of
Russia; Bendetsohn, who exceeded Mapu in biblical purity of language in
the form of an idealistic prose; Moses Reichersohn; Mordecai Wohlmann;
T. E. Epstein; A. B. Gottlober, the popular poet, superficial yet
clear and graceful; Eleazer Ha-Cohen Zweifel, the sweet Midrash-like
moralist, homiletical critic and essayist; the wonderful modern
novelists Feuerstein, Jehuda Steinberg, Berschadski and Grassin;
Eleasar Atlas the sharp-witted critic, M. A. Schatzkes, who
notwithstanding his loquacity had a rich style and some good ideas, and
his other protagonist in the same field of _Agada_-explanation; Jehouda
Schereschewski, distinguished by his concentrated calm――and their
followers; Weissberg; Dubzevitch; Edelman (“Adulami”); Maskileison;
the learned and thoughtful Joseph Rosenthal; the serious scholars
Jacob Bachrach; A. I. Bruck; David Kahane; Salomon Mandelkern, the
industrious scholar and skilled poet who translated Byron’s _Hebrew
Melodies_ with masterly skill; Slominsky; Lichtenfeld; Lipkin; Medalie;
Barasch; Y. Margulies; Hirsch Rabinovitch; and Sosnitz, who introduced
natural science into Hebrew literature; J. L. Kantor; Proser; Silberman;
J. Kohn Zedek; Werber; Frumkin; Fischer; Ch. L. Markom; Joseph Brill,
masters of journalistic style――all these writers and many, many others
were the precursors of the revival of Hebrew. In this connection,
special mention must be made of some of the living writers who, though
not showing any special nationalistic or Zionist tendency, have greatly
contributed to the enrichment and development of the Hebrew language
and literature.
Great attention and acknowledgment are due to David Fischmann, the
charming poet, the brilliant causeur and essayist, the wonderful
critic who deals in a witty way with the most serious questions,
the translator of many works of science and fiction; to the old
Hebrew novelist and poet, Nathan Samuely, whose poetry is replete
with sweetness and harmony; to the greatest of Jewish historians,
bibliographers and critics of world-wide fame, Dr. Abraham Harkavy;
the learned Israelsohn; the able Abraham Cahan; the Talmudist, N. A.
Getzow; the learned and thoughtful Heller; the ingenious scholar and
mathematician, Ch. J. Bornstein (who translated _Hamlet_ into Hebrew);
the bibliographer, Wiener; the orientalist, Isaac Marcon; the studious
T. Ratner, magid; the old writer of lyric impulse, I. L. Levin
(Jehabel), a poet and publicist of merit; the critic and essayist,
A. J. Paperna, one of the last representatives of the old school;
the able journalist and talmudical critic, Benzion Katz; the talented
modern novelists: Brenner, Schofman, Berkowitsch, Kaabak; Sneur, the
young poet of vigour and ardour, noble spirit and bold fancy, who
refreshed Hebrew poetry by a new stream of modern fiction; and Isaac
Katzenelsohn, Ben Schimon, Heftmen, Pinski and others, who gave us
sunny thoughts and beautiful pictures, in which delicacy of taste is
accompanied by versatile and roaming fancy. Shalom Asch, the greatest
in the coterie of the artists of the Polish Ghetto, gave us some of
his tales in Hebrew; the gifted Abraham Reisin, a master of Yiddish,
and the talented Numberg, who masters the Hebrew language, and who
besides writing essays and tales of value in Hebrew worked hard and
successfully in Hebrew journalism, have contributed very much to the
modernization of Hebrew literature. And, as regards the two greatest
stars of the Yiddish literature, “J. L. Peretz” and S. Rabinowitsch
(“Scholom Aleicham”), whose loss we so deeply lament, and whose undying
names belong to the chief glories of our literature of the present age,
it is well known that both of them were partly Hebrew poets and writers
of considerable genius.
Finally, there are Ben Ami Rabinowitzch (Mark Jakovlevitch), born in
Russia, lived in Odessa, and now in Geneva, Switzerland, who is one
of the best writers of fiction on Jewish life in Russia. His writings
breathe a noble passion of love for the Jewish people, his observations
are those of a high-minded man and an artist, and are full of national,
noble emotion. He joined the Zionist movement from its very beginning.
Vladimir Jabotinski, born in Odessa, studied in Russia, in Italy and
in Austria, and graduated at Petrograd, is a brilliant journalist and
an orator of great eloquence and power. He is a contributor to great
Russian newspapers, and has established a reputation as correspondent
and an essayist of admirable skill. He worked with great devotion and
success in the Zionist propaganda. Having acquired a sound knowledge of
Hebrew, he translated Bialik’s poems into Russian, and wrote also some
articles in Hebrew.
It will also be interesting to mention that the famous Russian-Jewish
writer of the last generation, Lewanda, who was one of the
representative writers of the period of enlightenment, during his
successful literary career adhered in the last years of his life to
the national idea, and supported the _Chovevé Zion_ movement.
It is impossible to enumerate all the literary and educational
representatives of the National Revival in Palestine; but a few names
of note, in addition to those which have already been mentioned, cannot
be omitted.
Israel Belkind has given proof of considerable literary ability in a
series of pamphlets dealing with Palestine. J. Menuchas, who was born
and is still living in Jerusalem, is a prominent contributor to the
Hebrew press, as well as an excellent teacher. Ahroni, the zoologian,
a scholar of renown, is pursuing his idealistic, scientific work at
Rechoboth. Isaac Epstein now lives in Switzerland, but he is in spirit
and style decidedly a Palestinian. He lived for years in seclusion,
in a rustic tent among the hills of Upper Galilee, and wrote his work
by the light of heaven. He remained faithful, as few priests have
ever remained to their calling, a priest of the Hebrew language, which
was revealed to him in all its beauty. M. Scheinkin, the devoted and
popular worker, is a prolific publicist. Freimann, the old settler of
Rishon, writes excellent books. Aronovitz, with his contributors, made
the _Ha-Poel Ha-Zaiv_ one of the best Hebrew weeklies which have ever
existed; the _Ha-Omer_ and the _Moledet_, splendid magazines, had a
real Palestinian charm. (Of the last-mentioned the excellent essayist,
pedagogical writer and poet, Fischmann, was recently the editor.)
The numerous and various writings of Ben-Zion Guttman have been added
to in Palestine; the “Waad Ha-Lashon” (Committee for the Language)
at Jerusalem, with Yellin, Ben Yehouda, Zouts, Dr. Mazie and others,
has done good work. Nearly all the specialists in agriculture and in
medicine write in Hebrew; and Brenner, the most modern belles-lettres
writer in Jerusalem.
On the other hand, the new Hebrew schools brought into the country
a host of intellectual workers: Metman-Cohn, Bogratschow, Turow,
Mossinsohn, Alexander Rabinowitsch, Lurie, Zutta, Segal, Schiller,
Ladyshewski, Marschak, Biram, Tachower, Rosenstein, Ziphroni, Feldmann,
Mowschensohn, Ozerkowsky, Jehieli, Papper. Others added merely their
young modern efforts to the brilliant abilities of a Yellin or of that
admirable type of a national educator represented by Vilkomitsch at
Yessod Ha-Maaleh. All these pioneers are inspired Zionists, and they
are paving the way for a great Revival.
In addition to these writers, the following prominent Hebrew
journalists may be mentioned:――
Abraham Loudvipol, a writer of great ability and strength of conviction,
who became editor of the _Ha’zofeh_; Moses Kleinmann, a shrewd
journalist, and a publicist of sound judgment; Samuel Tschernowitz
(the brother of Chaim Tschernowitz), a journalist of a high order, who
worked with great success for _Ha’zefirah_ and _Ha’zman_; Nahum Syrkin,
a wholehearted Zionist, an orator and a publicist of keen observation,
and an eloquent exponent of the national idea, author of hundreds of
articles, sketches, causeries and speeches¹; N. J. Frenk, a moderate
and consistent publicist of wide experience, who takes a leading part
in the work of _Ha’zefirah_; and S. Jatzkan, at present editor of the
_Haint_, formerly a contributor to _Ha’melitz_ and _Ha’zefirah_, a
zealous journalist and fighter: and among those of the older generation,
M. Braunstein of Roumania (“_Mibaschan_”), master of a flowery and
elaborate biblical style, author of many pedagogical books, but best
known by his innumerable contributions to the Hebrew press; Lazar,
the able editor of _Ha’mitzpeh_ in Cracow; M. M. Pross of Warsaw, a
judicious writer of causeries and criticisms in the old style; Ch.
Z. Zagorodzki of Warsaw, a polished Hebrew stylist, author of several
fine sketches, for many years one of the principal collaborators of
_Ha’zefirah_; Shimón Volkov, a talmudical parodist with a peculiar
style of his own; Dr. Berkowitz, of Vienna, a Jewish scholar and an
excellent Hebrew writer, who was at one time Hebrew Secretary of the
Vienna Zionist Organization and a regular contributor to _Ha’zefirah_;
M. Rabinsohn, author of several sketches and translator for _Ha’zman_
and _Ha’zefirah_; Z. Prilutzki, an old _Chovevé Zion_ writer and worker.
These and many others have perhaps done more to make Zionism popular by
their everyday work as journalists than many authors of books.
¹ He died in 1918 at Kiew.
Other contributors to modern Hebrew journalism are: Leon Rabinowitsch,
who was editor of _Ha-Melitz_ in Petrograd after Zederbaum; S.
Rosenfeld, who afterwards came into prominence as a Yiddish publicist;
J. E. Triwusch of Wilna; Samuel Leib Zitron of Wilna; the late
Hirsch Neimanowitsch and M. Weber of Warsaw; E. Goldin of Lodz;
J. D. Berkowitsch, now in New York; P. Lachover of Warsaw; Hermoni of
Palestine; and E. D. Finkel of Warsaw. To the new Hebrew pedagogical
literature: Ch. D. Tawiow of Riga, Salomon Berman, P. Kantorowitz, A.
Libuschitzki of Warsaw, P. Berkman of Lodz, and the two great Yiddish
poets Simon Frug of Odessa and Jehoasch of New York have played
important parts in the awakening of the national feeling.
LXXVI.
NOTE UPON THE _ALLIANCE ISRAÉLITE UNIVERSELLE_
AND THE ANGLO-JEWISH ASSOCIATION
IN considering the relationship of the _Alliance Israélite Universelle_
and the Anglo-Jewish Association to the Jewish National Movement,
regard should be had to the foundation period of these institutions,
when not only were those associated with their establishment men
of Jewish Nationalist sympathies, but their activities were met by
similar criticism to that which has confronted the Zionist leaders
of recent years. Time has brought about a change in the personnel of
the leadership of the _Alliance_ and the Anglo-Jewish Association,
but it is useful to bear in mind that this change is simply personal
and that there is nothing changed in principle in the organizations
which should prevent them being expressive of that nationalist spirit,
characteristic of their earlier days. M. Charles Netter, Dr. Abraham
Benisch, Dr. Albert Löwy and Mr. Baron Louis Benas, J.P. (M. Netter,
one of the founders of the Alliance, Dr. Benisch, Dr. Löwy and
Mr. Benas, associated with the establishment of the Anglo-Jewish
Association) were all men of Jewish Nationalist sympathies. M. Netter
is permanently identified with the foundation of the _Mikveh Israel_
Agricultural School near Jaffa, the foster-mother of the Jewish
Colonies of Palestine. Dr. Benisch, to whom the suggestion of an
Anglo-Jewish Association on the lines of the _Alliance Israélite_ was
made by Mr. Benas, who had established in Liverpool the first branch
of the _Alliance_ in England in 1867, enthusiastically took up the idea
and became the organizer of the English institution founded three years
later. The formation of the first English branch of the _Alliance_ at
Liverpool called forth in 1868 at the end of its first year’s work the
highest appreciation of M. Crémieux. Dr. Benisch had in his student
days inaugurated with Dr. Löwy and Professor Steinschneider a Zionistic
movement, and in the foundation of the Anglo-Jewish Association the two
former saw the possibilities of the realization of many of the hopes
and aspirations of their youth. Mr. Benas, Dr. Benisch and Dr. Löwy
were active propagandists on behalf of the Association. Mr. Benas and
Dr. Löwy were members of the International Palestine Committee which
was formed in 1878 on the recommendation of the Palestine Section of
the International Jewish Conference held that year in Paris, and of
which section Mr. Benas was one of the two English representatives,
the other being the Rev. S. Jacobs. The Palestine Section undertook to
institute an examination of the general condition of the Jews in the
East and especially of the Jews in Palestine with a view of effecting
such improvements as might be needful, that country being known to
several members who had visited it at various times. This section
had the advantage of being attended by delegates from both Europe and
America. This section of the Conference resolved “That the _Alliance_
be requested to bring about the formation of a special commission on
Palestine. This Committee is to be composed of persons of every country
who take an interest in the welfare of brother Israelites and in the
prosperity of the Holy Land.” On its formation, the Committee was
entrusted with the establishment of new schools and particularly the
control of the Institution _Mikveh Israel_. The report significantly
added, “in entrusting the control of this Agricultural School to
the Committee, with the view of further aiding in the development
of that Institution, the _Alliance_ would obtain a solid basis for
its civilizing action” (Anglo-Jewish Association, 8th Annual Report,
pp. 30, 36). In 1885 Mr. Benas and the late Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hermann
Adler, visited Palestine together. En route they had an interview with
Baron Edmond de Rothschild in Paris, at whose request materials were
collected for a report of the condition of Jewry in the Ancient Jewish
Homeland. The late Chief Rabbi gave an oral account of the educational
institutions in Palestine to the Executive Committee of the Association.
Mr. Benas’ “Report of his Travels in the East” was published as an
Appendix to the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Association. The Report,
which drew from the historian Graetz a most appreciative letter to
the author, disclosing Graetz’ strong Zionistic sympathies, is not
only valuable as one of the few historical documents in English giving
a contemporary account of the early renascence of Jewish life in
Palestine by a Jewish writer, but because of its accurate forecasting
of the conditions of future development, the revival of Hebrew as a
living language being particularly noted. The following are extracts
from the report:――
“_Jaffa._ Jaffa was reached on April 26th, and I at once, in company
with Dr. Adler, visited the _Mikveh Israel_ or Agricultural School. The
director, Monsieur Hirsch, happened to be absent at Aleppo, but we were
received by the sub-director, M. Haim.
The whole neighbourhood of Jaffa is most charming, full of the choicest
exotics, whilst palms, citrons, and oranges luxuriate everywhere. The
vines are in splendid condition. Everything seems to flower there in
profusion, even wild roses and poppies in the cornfields, whilst the
fig takes the place of our bushes and thickets. There are some charming
properties about Jaffa.
As far as a model farm and beautifully cultivated garden is concerned,
the _Mikveh Israel_ holds its own with any institution of its kind, I
would almost say, in Europe, and is a perpetual monument of the efforts
of the late Mons. Netter.
There are 240 hectares, mostly under cultivation. They produced
excellent wine, which, I am informed, is sold at a good profit. They
have oranges, lemons, and various other fruit trees, besides cereals.
The technical instructor, M. Klotz, an Alsatian, told me that there is
considerable promise for the estate. There are now thirty-five pupils
in the school, one of whom is a Moslem. They have a carpenter’s shop,
where three boys are at constant work. They have thirty cows――ten
giving a full supply of milk; they have eight calves, two horses and
ten mules to assist the agricultural operations, and a good supply of
water and a complete system of irrigation.
Everything in the establishment is thoroughly well kept. We were shown
through the dormitories, and found twelve slept in each room, but the
chambers were tolerably large.
_Jerusalem._ I arrived at Jerusalem on the night of the 27th April.
The first thing that strikes the visitor is the fact that Jerusalem
is a Jewish city. The Jewish population has so steadily increased as
to tower head and shoulders above all others; this can best be noticed
on a Sabbath, when almost all the streets and bazaars are silent.
The native born Jewish population are in physique superior to their
European co-religionists; they are taller, more dignified, and are
decidedly of a handsome type. I am indebted for my statistics to M.
Nissim Behar and the banker, M. H. Valero, both of these estimable
gentlemen being natives of Jerusalem. The total population of Jerusalem
is about 35,000. There are conflicting accounts as to the Jewish
population; some put it at 20,000, others at 18,000.
There are two Jerusalems, the one within the walls of the city, the
other outside the Jaffa Gate, which has sprung into existence during
the last five or six years, and inhabited almost exclusively by Jews.
I am undervaluing rather than exaggerating when I state that the villas
and residences outside the city are quite equal in neatness and in
their inviting aspect to some of the best parts of the Cheshire side
of the Mersey, which they much resemble.
The Asiatic Jews are wealthy, and have mostly emigrated from the
neighbourhood of Batoum, Poti and Tiflis. Their residences might almost
be described as attaining a degree of positive comfort. They are a
large community, and are quite independent in their means; they have
their own rabbi, and give considerable assistance, when required, to
their more indigent co-religionists. These Jews are scrupulously clean
in their habits, are above the average height, and their flowing robes
of spotless white cashmere betoken at once their manners. Credit must
also be given to the Montefiore Testimonial Fund Buildings, which, if
small, are decidedly clean and well kept, especially those tenanted
by the Sephardi Jews――a great number of tenements having been built
through the aid afforded by this fund. There are also the buildings
of the _Meah Shearim_, a kind of building society, who have erected
a large square block of tenements, which compare favourably with
artisans’ dwellings in Lancashire cities.
The Judah Touro houses outside the city walls are fairly well kept,
but, of course, the more modern houses have the advantage of superior
construction. The defects in earlier constructions have here been
carefully avoided.
The Yemen Jews are very poor; they present a most peculiar ethnological
type. They have a very dark complexion, almost of a deeper shade than
that of the Arabs; they have beautifully chiselled features, lustrous
eyes, are most simple in their piety and devotion to the Holy City.
They still retain their manuscript prayer books, which Dr. Adler states
are most interesting. I saw a Yemen woman with her child working in
the heat of the sun at what, in Lancashire, would be termed navvy’s
work, and at the close of the day saw the clerk of the works give her
sixty centimes as her daily wages. They were in terrible distress at
first and slept in caverns, but, thanks to the exertions of Mr. Marcus
Adler, who raised a fund in England, they are building cottages on the
hillside upon which they work themselves, and owing to their thrifty
habits and aptitude for labour, it is to be hoped that their worst
difficulties are passed, and that they will attain some degree of
independence. There are two sets of tenements being built for them, the
one by the London Committee and the other by the help of the Society
called _Ezrath Nedachim_. I may add, the Yemen Jews, both male and
female, dress exactly like the native Arabs, from whom they are hardly
distinguishable.
When I write upon the Jewish tenements in the interior of the city my
report, of course, must be less favourable. I took the means of going
alone with M. Valero, when unexpected, into some of the back streets
and slums of Jerusalem; I dropped into various houses here and there,
and saw matters from a practical point of view. It is most unfair for
any one coming from Princes Park, Liverpool, or Kensington, London, or
the Champs Élysées, in Paris, instituting a comparison between those
neighbourhoods and the lanes of Jerusalem. But I maintain that the old
streets of Marseilles and Florence, the Ghetto in Rome, the labyrinths
in Naples, and the slums of Venice, are infinitely worse than the
worst slums of Jerusalem. Nay, more, I maintain that the old Judengasse
in Frankfort, the Judengasse in Worms, and some of the by-lanes in
Vienna are decidedly no better than those of Jerusalem. They are more
ancient and grimy than dirty; the absence of timber, and the constant
employment of stone for building purposes in Old Jerusalem, gives a
rough and jagged appearance to the walls, but there is nothing except
the absence of drainage (and that is the same in every continental city,
whether it be in France, Italy, or Austria) that calls for especial
condemnation, nay, the dingy tenements inside Jerusalem, inhabited
by the Sephardi Jews, are made presentable by a considerable use of
clean white calico hung over the walls and covered over their simple
furniture and beddings.
The future prospects of Jerusalem rest entirely with the rising
youth, and I shall speak later on of the enormous value and high
hopes I entertain of the Lionel de Rothschild School, conducted by the
admirable and excellent director, M. Nissim Behar, of whose devotion,
ability, and conscientiousness nothing too much can be said.
The Lionel de Rothschild School, or “Institution Israélite pour
Instruction et Travail,” contains 140 pupils, all boys. The institution
is singularly fortunate in possessing M. Behar as its chief. To be
able to effect good work in Jerusalem it is almost imperative to be
a native of the city. A teacher from England, France, or Germany who
has longings for Europe or his native land, however able he may be, or
however zealous, is incapable of infusing enthusiasm in his pupils, and
when one is found like M. Nissim Behar, who is a man of great culture,
and combines Parisian refinement with an ardent love and patriotism
for the city in which he was born, and feels that he has a mission to
perform and is perfectly oblivious to pecuniary advantages, it is to
have already gained half the victory. Everything is neat, clean, and
methodical.
The hours of instruction are from 8 o’clock until 12, and from 1 to 5.
I shall devote my report principally to the course of technical
education, with which I believe the future prosperity of the Jews of
Jerusalem is bound up.
The Technical School contains a forge, a carpenter’s shop, a
cabinet-maker’s bench, a tailor’s department, a shoemaker’s shop, a
turner’s lathe, a school of art for modelling, drawing, and sculpture,
and a gymnasium for physical development.
Of these schools, the forge, the carpenter’s shop, and the school of
art have produced capital results; we saw Jewish lads, who have only
been a few weeks at the classes, making some excellent sketches, and in
order to test their genuineness gave them several impromptu subjects to
execute in our presence, which they did admirably.
The Forge is another successful institution.
Although the French language is the medium of tuition and the general
language adopted, Hebrew is used side by side, not only as a language
of prayer, but also as a means of conversation. French, as a medium
of intercommunication amongst Europeans and officials, is very much
required in the East.
The Girls’ School――Evelina de Rothschild Institute――contains 184 girls.
_Hebron._ I regret to have to report very adversely upon the
condition of our co-religionists in Hebron. The pleasure and
hopefulness I experienced in Jerusalem present a marked contrast
to the disappointment I felt at the abject position of the Jews in
the City of Abraham.
I met several Jews on the road who were trading with the neighbouring
villages in butter and cheese; of course their profits would be
exceedingly small. The soil around Hebron is most fertile, and the
natural resources of the immediate neighbourhood decidedly good.
I venture to think that it is not eleemosynary aid that will do any
real good for them. Food of all kinds and wine of a good quality is
abundant and very cheap. I believe the Jews would work hard if taught
what to do. Technical and general education would very soon transform
an abject congregation into a happy and prosperous community.”
Mr. Benas delivered a large number of lectures upon the subject of his
visit to Palestine and granted many interviews, all of which helped
to arouse interest on behalf of the budding Jewish life in the Ancient
Homeland. In its earliest days the Anglo-Jewish Association received
from members of the Board of Deputies criticism not unakin to that
which in later days members of the Board levelled at the Anglo-Jewish
Association. In those days the Board was oligarchic, assimilative,
and insular in outlook, while the Anglo-Jewish was popular, national
and world-Jewish――true to the motto כל ישראל חברים. If to-day, while
the Association cannot be called insular there are those who would
ascribe to it the characteristic of the Board of Deputies of earlier
days, signs are not wanting of a change towards the original outlook,
particularly among the branches. It is in fairness due to the
Anglo-Jewish Association to bear in mind that the Public Demonstration,
the Conference, the International gatherings for Jewish purposes now
a phenomenon of everyday life in Jewry owe to the Association and
the Alliance their origin. To both no inconsiderable share of the
foundation and the interest in the Western world in the foundation
of the Jewish colonies in Palestine may justly be credited. Thus the
organizations and those who established them merit the recognition and
the gratitude of all who hold to the Jewish national ideal and strive
for its fulfilment.
[The Reports of the _Alliance Israélite Universelle_ and the
Anglo-Jewish Association contain much valuable material for the History
of the Resettlement in Palestine.]
LXXVII.
AN APPEAL OF THE BERLIN _KADIMA_
IN 1891 the Russian Jewish Students’ Colony in Berlin submitted to
the International Committee for the assistance of the Russian Jews a
memorandum, in which they urged the Committee to use its endeavours to
divert the stream of Jewish emigration, and, above all, of well-to-do
emigrants, from America to the Holy Land. The document is of very great
interest. What is called the wave of emigration, say the writers, is
not so much emigration as flight. Only well-organized colonization
can prove a remedy in the present calamity. A Jewish peasantry must be
founded, consisting not only of the poor, but to a great extent also of
the middle and intelligent classes. Palestine is the only country which
affords the possibility of attaining that aim, because (1) Palestine
itself, and especially Galilee and the land on the other side of the
Jordan, and also Syria and Mesopotamia, contain an amount of land ready
for sale and scarcely populated. The settlement of Jews there cannot
meet with any objection. The Turkish Government will not only tolerate,
but favour the immigration, if properly organized. An additional
advantage is that in the near future no competition need be feared,
because other emigrants, as a rule poor people, are not attracted
by an uninhabited, uncultivated country. (2) The soil is fertile
everywhere. Where no corn can be grown, wine can be produced. The
Jewish wine-growers in Palestine will shortly be able to compete in
the markets of Europe, and will greatly shake the monopoly of other
wines. The climate of Palestine is as healthy as that of Italy, so that
invalids will go there on the recommendation of their physician instead
of to Italy. In the colony Rishon Le’Zion, which was founded about nine
years ago, there has been up till now only one death, although there
are between three hundred and four hundred people living there. (3) It
is the only country able to create a peasantry, because there is no
trade there. It is true that in other countries also the Jews will at
first turn to agriculture; they will watch for anything offering them
the means of subsistence. But a great portion will always be anxious
to settle in the towns and again apply themselves to trade, whereas in
Palestine the colonists will be compelled to persist in agricultural
pursuits. Thus, in America, the colonists have gradually returned
to the cities after millions have been wasted. But in Palestine the
colonies founded by Baron Edmond de Rothschild and by the efforts
of the colonists themselves are in a most thriving condition. Of
course, the fact that the Jews are animated by love for Palestine
and inspired by the many associations connected with the country must
not be overlooked. Only in a country where every stone bears biblical
reminiscences the labour is sweet to them. This idealistic motive will
assist in turning traders into agriculturists. It is to this idea that
some twenty larger and smaller colonies owe their existence. It is
owing to this motive that the great Palestine Committee in Odessa,
under the presidency of Dr. Pinsker, is able annually to give land
and tools to Jewish peasants to the value of 200,000 frcs., that there
is in Jaffa an Executive Committee, presided over by the engineer
Vl. Temkin, that in London enormous meetings are being held in favour
of the Palestine idea, that limited companies have arisen, like the
_Dorsche Zion_ in Minsk, in Kovno, in Bialystok, in Wilna, as well as
in Warsaw, Riga, etc., which intend to buy land in Palestine for their
members, to be repaid to them by instalments. (4) The more civilized
and intelligent class of Russian Jews will also be induced to go to
Palestine for the purpose of following agricultural pursuits.
The students concluded by saying that they were willing to seek for
happiness and safety by readily submitting to the harvest labour in the
fields of Palestine. “Then we shall be enabled to pass a happy life,
for enthusiasm will make our paths straight, and provide us with a
healthy courage.” The document bore sixty-four signatures.
LXXVIII.
THE JEWISH COLONIES IN PALESTINE
(The figures are taken mostly from the Report of the Jewish
Colonisation Association for 1910.)