Jerusalem; its redemption and future; the great drama of deliverance described by eyewitnesses

Contents

CHAPTER VAGH

I. When the War Came to Palestine. . 3

A Dramatic Story of the Long Siege, SuflFerings, Persecutions, and Ultimate Relief of the Holy City— A Glorious Hannucca of Joy and Gladness. By Mme. Hemda Ben Yehudah.

Foreword

ONLY forty years ago, Palestine was, for the Jews, "The Holy Land," the object of devout pilgrimages. Pious Jews traveled to Jerusalem to pass their last days in prayer and in preparation for death.

With those who came to Jerusalem to die, there were a few young souls — children who had accompanied their aged parents or friends who refused to be separated. They grew up and lived the life of old people.

At this time, the entire population of Jews in Palestine, including the Sephardim, other groups of native Hebrews, and all the young and old together, numbered not more than 30,000 souls. Most of them were supported by the "Hallucca," a fund composed of the voluntary offerings of the Jewish world to perpetuate the service of prayer in the Holy Land.

However, in the midst of this life, which was lived in the anticipation of death, a new germ appeared. A few ardent and intellectual young Jews arrived in Palestine, possessed with another spirit. They desired to live and dwell in the land of their fathers, to sow the seed and plant the vine, and to awaken in the heart of their own people the fire of the ancient Maccabees.

The old religious men were hostile to this movement with which the younger generation became iv FOREWORD

associated, little by little. The first land was bought, the first colonies were founded, and supported later on by the Baron de Rothschild. Immediately, by a decree from Constantinople, the Turkish government prohibited all Jewish colonization and all immigration of Jews into Palestine. Nevertheless, numbers of Jews continued to arrive and the colonies prospered.

The pure air of Palestine vibrated again with the accents of the Hebrew language after a silence of

2000 years.

* * *

The story of the beginning of the great Transformation — the rebirth of Palestine and the redemption of Jerusalem — is told in this book in language which in many passages recalls the fervor of the ancient Jewish writers and seers. It will be read with intense interest and appreciation by all who love the Land which has been rendered sacred to Christians everywhere by the holiest memories and associations.

Of the contributors to the volume it may be said, briefly, that all have been chosen for the work because of their intimate knowledge of the ancient Bible Lands and more especially of Palestine itself.

Madame Ben Yehudah is a native of Palestine, a lady of literary distinction and the wife of one of the ablest Hebrew scholars now living, whose patriotism caused him to become an exile. She is the first Jewish writer to describe the historic scenes at the Capitulation of Jerusalem — scenes in which she was herself a participant.

Professor Kemper Fullerton writes from personal

FOREWORD V

experience of the conditions and hardships suffered during the long months while an enforced exodus of all foreigners was in progress, before the crisis which ended in capitulation.

Professor Banks, one of the best known of our American orientalists, has traveled extensively in the "Eden Land" and throughout Mesopotamia, and writes from personal acquaintance with conditions and an intimate knowledge of the races from Bagdad to the Bosphorus.

Mr. Waters, a member of the Christian Herald staff, who was called to special service in Palestine, vividly records his impressions of Jerusalem as he found it after the Capitulation.

Lieutenant Colonel Wardlaw-Milne is a British officer who has held important positions in the Indian and Mesopotamian service, and who knows the Near East thoroughly. His contribution entitled: "The Key to the War" is especially timely, as it tells of the wide scope of the plans of Great Britain and her Allies in relation to the establishment and safeguarding of the future autonomy, not only of Palestine, but of all the races of the Near East. It is a scheme which opens up a new era for all of the ancient Bible Lands — an era of progress and development and of absolute independence of Turkish and German tyranny, from which they have suffered in the past. These lands are now facing the sunrise of freedom and enlightenment and progress, and their liberation must therefore be viewed as one of the most glorious results of the great world-war.

I

WHEN THE WAR CAME TO PALESTINE

The Real Story of the Long Siege, Sufferings, Persecutions, and

Ultimate Relief of the Holy City — A Glorious

Hannucca of Joy and Gladness.

By Mme. Hemda Ben Yehudah

I

PALESTINE BEFORE THE WAR By Mme. Ben Yehudah

IN 1913, the year before the War, the 35th year from the beginning of the Jewish National movement in Palestine, first under the terrible regime of Sultan Abdul Hamid and later under the Young Turkish Constitution — Jewish life in Palestine began to define itself as national in character.

The number of Jews in the Holy Land had increased approximately to 150,000. In the principal cities, Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, the Hebrews formed the majority of the population, counting 80,000 in Jerusalem alone. In Judea, Samaria, and Galilee they were in possession of extensive lands, and they had founded over 60 colonies. (A Jewish colony consisted of a town and adjacent territory, or it might be composed of only a group of houses and surrounding fidds.)

The Jewish colonies were the marvel of the natives. From afar off, the houses could be seen rising in the midst of verdure, like oases in a desert. The dwellings were well constructed. The wide streets were adorned with dignified public buildings, schools and hospitals.

Domestic industries had arisen, including wine, silk worms, olive oil and soap. Orange, almond and apricot orchards charmed the eye. The perfume plantations of roses, geraniums, and other flowers resembled a paradise. Cultivated fields extended so far that the aspect was like a sea of verdure, where formerly had been the desert wilderness.

Machine shops and factories were opened for the production of articles of building construction, household utensils, and agricultural implements. Arts and crafts were developed: knitting, weaving, basketry, metal work, lace, pottery, wood carving, jewelry. Commerce increased. The oranges, almonds, and especially the wines of Palestine won renown in the markets of Egypt, and on distant shores.

Jews from various parts of the world began to unite in the Holy Land and to become assimilated. Thus a new and healthy generation sprang into being — straight, well formed, filled with the pride of race and love of country.

The Hebrew tongue was the common language of this generation, and fired the Hebrew soul with patriotism.

The Old Turkish government under Abdul Hamid made no objection to this development of the Hebrew language, which they considered of "no importance." But they systematically impeded the progress of the Jews in every other direction. They issued decrees against Jewish ownership of land and colonization, against the planting of orchards, and the drainage of marshes.

On the other hand, the Young Turks granted some measure of liberty to the Israelites, but insisted that Turkish should be made the principal language of the country.

However, these decrees of the ancient regime and of the modem Young Turks were only on paper. The regulations were never fully enforced.

Bakshish and camouflage admitted the advance of Israel.

The attitude of the Foreign Powers was different.

The French, who were popular in all Turkey, including Palestine, insisted upon the propagation of the French language throughout the country and the French Jews in their schools sustained this movement with ardor. Russia, anxious to extend her influence in the Holy Land, erected over a hundred schools where Russian was spoken, but most of the pupils were Arabs. Italian was the language of Italian schools.

The English were behind hand in this campaign of education. However, aside from the Christian Mission schools, there was one establishment for girls in Jerusalem (the Evelina de Rothschild school) where the children w^ere zealously instructed in the Anglo-Saxon tongue.

In the midst of this rivalry, the Germans possessed the desire to dominate and to establish German Kultur in Palestine.

All these foreign efforts seemed to be at variance with the one language really beloved by the Jews, their own Hebrew, which expressed their own spirit and interior life.

A conflict was inevitable between the Jews dominated by foreign influence and those who strove to develop the National life.

The Nationalists were ardent in spirit, and although material wealth and power united on the opposing side, they wrung concessions from the foreign parties and above all from the Germans. Hebrew was not merely introduced in all the schools of the Hilfsverein of German Jews. It became the chief medium of instruction, and the Nationalists exerted all their powers to inspire the children with devotion for their national language and to make it supreme. Thousands of children chattered and sang Hebrew on the streets going to school. Hebrew became so popular that even some Moslem and Christian children were sent to the Jewish schools.

Many public buildings were erected, of which some of the most important were the German edifices, the Augusta Victoria Memorial on the Mount of Olives, and the Deutsche Katholische Hospiz near the Damascus gate.

However, a change was taking place. Instead of the usual ragged Turkish soldiers, one remarked the larger number of well equipped military, including officers in fine uniforms. The public supposed that the Young Turks were making reforms in the army, but it was singular that the improvements failed to extend to the civil administration; the Turkish Post Office and the railroad and telegraph system were remarkably inefficient.

It was reported that the Military Centre was being transferred from Damascus to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of the Holy City rejoiced with a sense of greater importance and prestige.

Between the separated elements of the population amicable reunions took place where Moslems, Jews,

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and Christians met together in one another's institutions.

There was a remarkable harmony between the various Jewish divisions ; the devout orthodox, the free thinkers, and the Nationalists, now called Zionists, all seemed in accord.

The various Jewish schools united in reunions for festivals and excursions, under the one flag of the Zionists, and speaking one common language — Hebrew.

There was a general sense of happiness and prosperity.

The Jews awaited the opening of their fine Polytechnic schools at Haifa as an auspicious event, an expression of the Jewish National idea before the world, a demonstration of Hebrew as a living language.

These Polytechnic schools had been erected by Jewish contributions from all over the world, but especially from Russia, America and Germany. The curatorium was directed by a committee in Berlin. Instruction in Hebrew had been assured.

Therefore, when a courier arrived from Berlin, announcing that the instruction should be in German, the news was like a thunderbolt.

The indignant Zionists demanded that the German Jewish director (Ephraim Cohen) should go immediately to Berlin to reverse the decision. Mr. Cohen refused and advised submission. The Zionists united in a huge mass meeting and sent public resolutions of protest to Berlin.

The reply from Berlin was to the effect that not only in the new Polytechnic, but also in all German

Jewish schools in Palestine, henceforth the instruction would be in German, and Hebrew would be relegated to a secondary place. This declaration caused a revolution in the German Jewish schools. The professors went on a strike. The children tore up their German books and strewed them in the streets, crying that they would never return to the schools where their beloved Hebrew had been so insulted. Jewish parents took part in the demonstration. Moslems and Christians increased the agitation ; the German director summoned the Turkish gendarmerie.

This caused consternation. The Consul General of Germany, Dr. Schmidt, who was present, addressed the children saying: "My children, what are you trampling upon?" They cried: "German books ! German copies ! down with the German ! We want Hebrew, our own language!" The good old consul had been 20 years in office, and he loved the Jews. Now he saw that the Germans had overshot their mark and aroused the wrath of the Zionists. He, personally, would have yielded the point. But tjie German director was firm and finally called for aid from Dr. Paul Nathan, the German Jewish General Inspector of schools, from Berlin. He was "by chance" in Egypt, and he arrived on the scene in twenty-four hours, and installed himself in the Augusta Victoria Memorial on the Mount of Olives. All the "pourparlers" between the parties at strife were conducted through him, and to him the teachers of the Hilfsverein schools presented their collective memoranda.

The text of this document follows:

MEMORIAL OF THE HILFSVEREIN TEACHERS

Jerusalem, November, 1913.

Dear Dr. Nathan:

This memorial is sent to you in the name of all the teachers and principals of the Hilfsverein schools in Jerusalem. For years most of us have been active in Palestine; we have participated from the very beginning in the evolution of modern Jewish settlement here; from our personal observation, we are accurately acquainted with the conditions of the country. Our familiarity with the land and the people has led us to the unanimous conviction that Hebrew has a well-founded claim to be introduced as the language of instruction in all subjects taught in all schools of the Hilfsverein in Palestine. On the strength of this conviction we decided at our teachers' meeting to send a memorial to the leaders of the Hilfsverein, the founders of our school system; and we cherished the confident hope that the Hilfsverein, which has repeatedly asserted the aim of its school system to be the strengthening of the Jewish Yishub in the country and the prevention of emigration, will recognize the justice of our view. We shall consider the language question from all sides, and state the reasons that have led us to our conviction. We do so in the hope that the leaders of the Hilfsverein will heed the opinion of those to whom they have until now entrusted the interests of their schools, and who, for their part, have honestly endeavored to promote these institutions and help them attain their present high degree of excellence.

First of all we would state that we consider it an absolute necessity for a portion of the city children completing the elementary course to learn a European tongue tha,t will enable them to get into intellectual and commercial touch with the civilized world and will broaden their view by a knowledge of its literature. If they study such a language at all, they should acquire complete mastery of it.

The question then is, in what way this object is best to be attained — whether in the natural, direct way of learning the language itself by giving it the necessary time and energy, or by an indirect method. If a language with which the pupils are not thoroughly familiar is used as the medium of instruction in various subjects, the result is a confounding of instruction in the subject itself with instruction

I in the language. The places a hindrance in the way of the child's intellectual development. From psychological, pedagogical, and national considerations, such a method must be condemned.

Under normal conditions the child entering school speaks a mother tongue which serves during his tutelage as the means by which he acquires all knowledge. He understands naturally what the teacher says to him. The teacher must develop his mental abilities and enlarge the field of his vision. In this case language instruction has only the one object, of enabling the child to express himself faultlessly both in speaking and writing. The child's spiritual harmony is not disturbed. He knows he possesses the language that will lead him rung by rung up the ladder of development. When the pupil grows older, and learns another language, he distinguishes between his mother tongue, in which he feels and thinks, and the foreign tongue, which he has learned for a definite, practical purpose.

In Palestine, where Jews from all countries of the globe have congregated and brought different jargons, a worse confusion of languages has arisen than anywhere else. To overcome this evil, the Hilf sverein did well to introduce Hebrew as the sole language in the kindergartens and the lowest classes of all its schools. As it is, every child learns Hebrew from its earliest years for religious reasons.

It would be natural if the same system were maintained in the upper classes; but that is not the case in our schools.

When the pupil reaches the classes where some branches are taught in German, both the teacher and the pupils find themselves in a difficult position. The subject is not taught in a language which the pupil has completely mastered, but in another language, which he has just begun to learn and of which he does not possess sufficient knowledge.

Clearly, such instruction is not practical. It is necessarily forced and unnatural, since the teacher must be guided not by the requirements of the subject, but by the poor vocabulary of his pupils. The constant repetition necessitated by the pupil's imperfect understanding of the languages results in loss of time and in lack of interest in the subject. No matter how much trouble is taken, the pupils acquire only hazy ideas, and so superficiality and sciolism are encouraged. The subject suffers by being taught in an unfamiliar language.

At the same time, it almost always happens that the teacher, who must have his mind fixed on the subject, cannot pay proper attention to the sort of language the pupils use. Thus, the pupils, especially those who speak the German- Jewish jargon in their homes, become accustomed to faulty expressions.

This alone explains the remarkable phenomenon that, in spite of all our efforts, we cannot get the pupils to acquire complete mastery of German.

The instruction of history and the sciences in a foreign language, instead of helping to a perfect knowledge of that language, only does harm by encouraging its slipshod use. Thus, the subject to be taught suffers through the language, and the language suffers through the subject.

The pupil also suffers. He is burdened, oppressed. So far from love of knowledge being fostered, the reverse is true. Nor can the pupil acquire genuine love of the language that has placed so many hindrances in his way.

The conditions arising when certain branches have been taught for a number of years in one language and then are taught in another, are very peculiar. There is no small loss of time and energy. All the technical expressions have to be learned anew, and the unity of the language of instruction in a given branch is thereby interrupted, that unity of instruction of the pedagogical necessity of which the president of the Hilfsverein himself recently spoke.

Der Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden has always asserted that its activity is adapted to the needs and conditions of the different lands in which it works — a very valuable, important principle, showing refined consideration of the people in question. In the language problem, too, it is of course the purpose of the Hilfsverein to take into account the conditions among the Jews of Palestine. They are divided into various communities, groups and strata, though the division is not necessarily the consequence of deep-seated differences among them. It results chiefly from the number of languages employed, which hinders a common understanding between them in the simplest matters. Even in relation to the authorities we constitute communities and not a community.

The only way of overcoming this evil is by making Hebrew, which all regard as sacred, the one language of intercourse. After the great progress it has made within the last few years, it is the one language that has the chance of becoming the sole medium of intercourse.

That is the only method of eliminating the differences prevailing n JERUSALEM

among the various strata of Jews in Palestine. It is high time for a union to be brought about between the Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Moroccan, Yemenite, and Bokharan groups, unless we would permanently constitute a negligible quantity in Palestine.

On the other hand, by spreading the use of different foreign languages among the masses, we should only be creating new lines of division.

There is imperious need in the land for good mechanics, small trades-people, industrious peasants, modest, industrious wives and mothers.

While the goal of our endeavors is to strengthen the elements that hope to spend their future in the country, we are, as a matter of fact, creating an intellectual proletariat that will not take root in the land.

On this point a few statistics are enlightening. Of a hundred pupils entering the lowest classes of our schools, only twenty-five complete the course. The remaining seventy-five leave at an early age without having acquired a rounded education. To this larger number of our children a foreign language is of no use. In fact, it produces discontent among them and estranges them from their environment.

Consequently, though we are endeavoring to increase the number that will remain and take root here, we are, as a matter of fact, by our measures increasing the number of those eager to leave the country. With our right hand we destroy the work of our left hand. The system is still less to be recommended for the education of girls, who at present have no position in the business and social life of our country.

As for the Teachers Seminary, there is a particular reason why in it all branches should be taught in Hebrew. The teachers here trained are destined to teach in Hebrew in elementary schools. Now, if in the Seminary they do not acquire even a Hebrew terminology, they are by this very fact insufficiently equipped. Every teacher is then obliged to make linguistic experiments in his school. The result is confusion and distortion of the language.

Finally, we would emphasize that from our Jewish national point of view we see in Hebrew the most important factor in the realization of our Palestinian ambitions. Are we not striving to obtain a position in the land of our fathers worthy of our people? Do we not wish to enjoy the esteem and privileges of a nation suflScient unto itself? Or would we be satisfied to pass for a heterogeneous, polyglot crowd? We can become a homogeneous nation only if we substitute one language in place of the many dialects and jargons. That will be the sole way of converting ourselves from an inarticulate element into a stable, national element in Palestine.

The revival of the Hebrew language, therefore, is an ideal giving content to our life. Our schools must help in the advancement of this ideal in a still higher degree than heretofore.

Our children must know that they belong to an ancient civilized race, whose language enjoys high esteem in the civilized world. They must not receive the impression that our national speech is ill-adapted to the use of a civilized people. The school, therefore, should not hinder the development of the Hebrew language. On the contrary, it should be the very first to serve in the Hebrew revival going on before our very eyes.

Nevertheless, the study of German will by no means suffer in the schools of the Hilfsverein. In fact, it will be cultivated more than before, and those pupils who expect to use German later on in life will be allowed to devote the necessary time and energy to its study.

But our children should receive their general education in our, in theiTy language.

As a result of these opinions, the outcome of many years' occupation with the school question, we have come to the following conclusion:

That Hebrew has a well-grounded right to be introduced into our schools as sole language of instruction in all branches.

We hope that the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, which has contributed so much to the development of Hebrew through the establishment of kindergartens and elementary schools, will look with favor upon our opinion and our wishes as herein expressed.

In this way the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden will show the Jewish world in general, and Palestinian Jewry in particular, that it has been chosen by Providence to re-establish the language of our fathers in the land of our fathers during the renaissance of our people.

Respectfully submitted.

Signers for the Teachers Seminary: David Yellin, prorector of the Teachers Training School and the Commercial High School and instructor in the Lamel School; Joseph Mejohas, A. M. Lipschitz.

Signers for the Girls' School: Vera Pinczower, Principal of the Girls' School; Ch. L. Sutta, Principal of the Training School for Kindergartners.

Mr. Ben Yehudah, the reviser of the Hebrew La-n-

guage and the author of the Great Hebrew Dictionary "Thesaurus Totius Hebraitatis," wrote a historic letter to Dr. Nathan, saying that the Jews would never surrender the privilege of their language because it was the principle of their national existence and if one dared to open the Polytechnicum in German, blood would flow.

Dr. Nathan invited Ben Yehudah to an interview and begged him to influence the Zionists to submit, "in order," he said, "that the schools should be saved and all this new life should not be destroyed."

The interview proved ineffectual. The writer, who knew Dr. Nathan for years, since he had aided the publication of Ben Yehudah's dictionary, conceived a diplomatic idea, and with the consent of the professors, she made her proposal known to Dr. Nathan. His reply was to the effect that Ben Yehudah must betray his party. Madame Ben Yehudah replied: "Then the people would stone him — and I myself would cast the first stone !"

Dr. Nathan rejoined with bitterness: "Very well! But remember! that you destroy with your own hands all that you have built for thirty years, not one stone will remain upon another of all your beautiful colonies !"

The Zionists considered these words as empty threats, and all negotiations proving useless, they proceeded to open Nationalist schools of their own.

The German institutions were deserted except by a few feeble adherents, and children whose parents had been bribed.

Now the Jews were divided in two hostile camps. The war spirit affected even the children who called their small German comrades "traitors." Even in the German orphanages the struggle continued. One child wrote to his Hebrew professors from whom he had been separated: "Come and deliver us from this German fortress !" Another child went mad.

The orphans revolted against the German Director, who came to light the sacred candles at the feast of Hannucca in 1913. Thej cried: "You traitor, you have no right to illumine our sacred lights !" They shut their eyes and stuck their ears. The Director threatened and they wept. On the second day when he arrived, the children with one accord rushed out of the room and into the courtyard.

The Director in anger cried: "You cursed children ! You shall have no more lights at Hannucca !"

On the next day when the hour arrived for the sacred illumination, the orphans were in darkness. But news of their conflict had become known, and now behold a procession of Zionists accompanied by Christians and Moslems and black Abyssinians, appeared in the darkness before the windows of the orphanage, bearing a glorious seven-branched candlestick which they proceeded to light. Then a loud voice uttered the prescribed prayers in Hebrew, and the imprisoned orphans within the walls made the responses in Hebrew. It was so touching that even the German Director was moved to tears !

After this, the outward agitations subsided — but the breach was not healed. Even those who tried to remain neutral were obliged to take sides. The Jewish youth declared for the Nationalists. The Turkish government advised the Zionists not to persecute their adversaries. The Turkish Director of Public Instruction favored the German Hilfsverein schools.

However, the season was prosperous, the harvests were promising, and there was an unusual flood of tourists. Among the visitors, arrived the Baron Edmund de Rothschild, the celebrated patron of the Jewish colonies. The Baron and the Baroness de Rothschild landed from their yacht at their port of Tamtura. The Jewish youths and maidens went to meet them clothed in the national colors, white and blue, and mounted on horseback.

The Baron was moved to tears and cried: "Pass all before me that my eyes may behold you everyone — I was not expecting to see Jewish amazons !"

The populace of Jerusalem received Baron Rothschild with greater honors than they had bestowed on Emperor William himself.

The Zionists created a National Guard to surround him. Nevertheless the Baron did not escape the surveillance of German spies, who reported the favors accorded to Zionists.

Other eminent visitors were Julius Rosenwald and Mrs. Rosenwald who paid almost exclusive attention to the Nationalists. Finally there arrived in Jerusalem Mr. Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to Turkey, and Mrs. Morgenthau.

All the foreign powers as well as the Turkish officials in Jerusalem, did homage to the Jewish representative of the United States, and this increased the prestige of the Hebrews in the Holy City.

The Ambassador was impressed by the renaissance of Jewish life in Palestine, but he regretted the internecine conflict over the language question.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgenthau gave a great dinner to which the most eminent Moslems and Christians and the noted Jews of the opposing parties were invited.

Several diplomatic speeches were made regarding the amicable relations between Jews, Moslems and Christians, America and Turkey, but the two separate companies among the Jews remained divided.