THE “LOVERS OF _ZION_” IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND
The work in France――Baron Edmond _de_ Rothschild and his
activity in the colonization of Palestine――The effects in
England――Colonel A. E. W. Goldsmid――Elim _d’_Avigdor.
TO come back to France, it is significant that whilst England took the
first place in the propaganda of the idea, its practical progress was
due to French Jewry, or, to be more precise, to an individual French
Jew. The work of the “Lovers of _Zion_” entered upon a new period when
Baron Edmond _de_ Rothschild of Paris started his great activity in
the colonization of Palestine in 1895‒1896.
Baron Edmond _de_ Rothschild is one of the most honoured figures of
Jewish contemporary history. Born to an exalted station in life and
to a large fortune, he has devoted the best of his life and of his
thought neither to pleasure nor to personal advancement, but to the
furtherance of the material and moral well-being of the oppressed
Jewish people. It is not too much to say that he has acquired a
world-wide fame as a philanthropist, and that his name is indissolubly
connected with all the greatest achievements of the Jews in Palestine.
He is pre-eminently the friend of the persecuted and the outcast,
without distinction of nationality or creed, and his generous
sympathies and ceaseless efforts on behalf of his brethren entitle him
to the foremost rank in the illustrious roll of Jewish leaders. His
philanthropic enthusiasm can be traced to his profound Jewish national
feeling.
Recent improvement in the condition of Jewish life in Palestine is
due to many causes and to the efforts of many men, but to none more
than to the noble work of Baron Edmond. He was not the originator
of the idea of colonizing Palestine, but he carried it further than
any of his predecessors or contemporaries, and he is responsible
for developments beyond any that they conceived. His activity should
serve as the grandest example of what can be accomplished when work is
undertaken for the sake of a great ideal and carried out with staunch
conviction. The creation of a sound Jewish settlement in Palestine
is his vocation and his life-work. Nor is it the least interesting
feature in his character, or the least honourable incident of his
career, that the idea took hold of him at a time when there was
every reason for even a generous man to dissociate himself from such
thankless work.
Baron Edmond began to take an interest in Palestine at a time when
the doctrine of assimilation was still triumphantly making headway
throughout the whole of West-European Jewry. Under the guidance of the
preachers of disintegration, Judaism was supposed to emancipate itself
from the antiquated traditions of Palestine and from a belief in its
future renascence. All this was to be altered. Neither the past nor
the future was to interfere with the present. All that Jewish leaders
could do to mitigate the lot of their unfortunate co-religionists
was――charity. It was in such a world as this that Baron Edmond found
himself when he first became a public character and a public force.
Breaking away from the assimilation doctrine, he co-operated most
cordially with the “Lovers of _Zion_.”
His activity found appreciation and emulation in England.
Representatives of English Jewry, who were at the same time English
patriots, supported the colonization of Palestine movement. One of
the most prominent “Lovers of _Zion_” and an ardent supporter of the
Jewish national idea, was Colonel Albert Edward Williamson Goldsmid,
M.V.O. (1846‒1904),¹ a scion of an old and distinguished Anglo-Jewish
family. He made the Army his career, and in January, 1869, after
serving two and a half years with the Fusiliers at Walmer, proceeded
to India with his regiment. He was appointed Deputy Assistant
Adjutant-General at headquarters in 1889, and held this position
till 1892. In 1892 he accepted the responsible task of organizing
the Jewish agricultural colonies in the Argentine, and, having
obtained a year’s leave of absence, he proceeded to South America as
Director-General. During his administration there enormous tracts of
land were surveyed and parcelled out. About seven hundred families
were settled in four great colonies, the majority of whom, being
quite ignorant of agriculture, had to be instructed in its first
principles. The Colonies were organized on a system whereby, as the
colonists gained sufficient experience, the administration could be so
materially reduced as to render the Colonies virtually self-governing.
On returning from the Argentine, Colonel Goldsmid was unanimously
elected chief of the “Lovers of _Zion_” Association of Great Britain
and Ireland.
¹ מיכאל בן אהרון בן אלי בן צבי הלוי, son of Henry Edward Goldsmid
(1812‒1855), M.E.I.C.S., Chief Secretary to the Government,
Bombay, who in 1845 married Jessie Sarah Goldsmid. Her
paternal grandfather, Benjamin (Baruch) (1755‒1808) _ben_
Aaron (_ob._ 1782) Goldsmid was one of the pillars of
Anglo-Jewry, and a noted philanthropist in the early days
of the nineteenth century. Her father-in-law, Edward Moses
(_ob._ 1853), on his marriage in 1804 to Rose (_ob._ 1851),
a daughter of Elias Joachim, discarded his own, for the
maiden surname of his mother-in-law Esther (_ob._ 1811),
a sister of Benjamin Goldsmid. Maria [Mrs. Nathan Levien],
another daughter of Elias Joachim, was the great-grandmother
of Col. A. E. W. Goldsmid’s widow, one of whose daughters
is Gladys Helen Rachel, the Baroness Swaythling of
Swaythling in the county of Hampshire.
Another active leader was Elim Henry _d’_Avigdor (1841‒1895).¹
By profession a civil engineer, he supervised the construction of
railways in Syria and Transylvania, and of waterworks at Vienna. He
was the author of several works in connection with his profession,
and had literary leanings in other directions. Under the pseudonym
“Wanderer,” he published many hunting stories of merit, for which he
was well qualified, being himself an intrepid rider to hounds. At one
time he was associated with _Vanity Fair_; and afterwards owned the
_Examiner_, and subsequently brought out the _Yachting Gazette_.
¹ אדם בן שלמה בז יצחק שמואל, eldest son of Salomon Henri _d’_Avigdor
(_ob._ 1870) by his wife Rachel (1816‒1896), third daughter
of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, Bart., Barão _de_ Goldsmid _da_
Palmeira, of Portugal (1778‒1859) [son of Asher (1751‒1822),
the elder brother of Benjamin Goldsmid] by his wife Isabel
(1788‒1860), a daughter of his uncle, Abraham Goldsmid
(1756‒1810). _d’_Avigdor was a personal friend of Napoleon
III. (1808‒1873), who conferred upon him the titles of
Comte d’Avigdor, and subsequently that of Duc d’Acqua-Viva.
His father, Isaac Samuel Avigdor (1773‒1850), was secretary
of the “Grand _Sanhédrin_” (1807) convened by Napoleon I.
(1769‒1821), and represented the department of the “Maritime
Alps” in that assembly. He was the author of “Discours
Prononcé A L’Assemblée Des Israélites De L’Empire Français
Et Du Royaume D’Italie”; Par J. S. Avigdor (De Nice),
Secrétaire de L’Assemblée, Membre du comité des Neufs et du
Grand _Sanhédrin_. Paris, De L’Imprimerie De Levrault Rue
Mézières, 1807 (8º. 1 _l._ + 16 _pp._ [B. M.])
It may be noted here, that “A Jewish State,” issued in 1896,
was the English translation by Sylvie, the third daughter
of Elim H. _d’_Avigdor, of Theodor Herzl’s “_Judenstaat_.”
He was like Colonel Goldsmid, one of the first English Jews to join
the new movement for establishing agricultural colonies of Jews
in the Holy Land. Such an idea was unwelcome to the prosperous and
assimilated Jews, for the idea of assimilation had by now made some
progress even in English Jewry. The impression left on the minds of
many who heard of the idea was that there was a large number of Jews
desirous of forestalling the promised advent of the _Messiah_. They
had grown accustomed to the notion that Palestine was a thorny desert,
infested by hordes of marauding Bedouins, and only fit for beggars
and pious pilgrims. They were ignorant of all that had been written to
the contrary by a number of authors, particularly by the indefatigable
workers of the Palestine Exploration Fund. They had learned to
discredit the sacred promises as to the future of the country. They
felt themselves secure in the positions they had gained for themselves,
and ridiculed the thought of renouncing them at the bidding of a few
enthusiasts and dreamers, as if anyone had ever thought of placing
such an alternative before them. They considered this idea _mauvais
ton_, and thought that it might endanger their newly acquired social
position, such as it was. These motives, and others like them, induced
most of the prominent Jews to turn away from a movement with which
they could have no sympathy.
Illustration:
ELIM H. _d’_AVIGDOR _Col._ ALBERT E. W. GOLDSMID
JEAN HENRI DUNANT _Father_ IGNATIUS
_Dr._ E. W. TSCHLENOW _Dr._ MAX MANDELSTAMM
Not so _d’_Avigdor. His intuitive mind showed him the futility of such
fears and the possibility of attaining the grand results hoped for
and partly achieved already by kindred societies, if only the efforts
made were kept within the bounds of prudence. He took up the cause of
the Jewish colonization of Palestine with ardour and energy. When he
began work the “Lovers of _Zion_” Association did not yet exist, but
numerous meetings had already been held in support of the movement
for colonizing Palestine by Jews, though no steps had until then been
taken to give the agitation a practical turn. It was necessary first
of all that a proper organization should be established, not only for
the purpose of utilizing the energies of the more practical promoters
of the scheme, but also to prevent rash measures, which would have had
the effect of destroying the undertaking at its very birth.
With both these objects clearly in view, _d’_Avigdor urged the speedy
completion of a constitution calculated to give the movement shape and
substance, and to establish a system of work on defined and methodical
lines. To this end he brought his organizing abilities into full play,
and together with Colonel Goldsmid drafted a set of rules, which was
made the basis of future procedure. The services rendered by him to
the society were innumerable. He addressed public meetings in various
parts of London, and travelled to the provinces for the purpose of
rousing general interest in the work. He went to Paris and carried
on important negotiations for the acquisition of land in Palestine,
a task for which he was eminently fitted by reason of his wide
experience and great business ability. He secured 10,000 dunams of
land in the Hauran on favourable terms. The departure of Colonel
Goldsmid for the Argentine made his work more arduous. _d’_Avigdor
was then elected chief of the Association, while at the same time,
as Commander of the Western Tent, he attended to the working of that
particular branch.
A prominent feature in his activity was his chairmanship of the
Central Committee of the “Lovers of _Zion_” in Paris. The idea had
seized hold of some branches of the Association on the Continent
and in America, that valuable results might be achieved by united
efforts in various countries. A meeting to consider proposals for the
realization of this idea was held in Paris, and some progress was made
in the direction of co-ordination (Appendix lxxv).