Chapter XLIXD (7)

Mr. Sokolow, representing the Zionist Organizations, was this morning received by Mons. Pichon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was happy to inform him that there is complete agreement between the French and British Governments in all matters which concern the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.

Illustration: (‡ Portaits of French Diplomats)

The following is the Declaration which was made by the Italian Government to myself as representative of the Zionist Organization, through the Italian Ambassador in London:――

LONDRA,

_li 9 Maggio, 1918_.

PREGIATISSIMO SIGNORE,

D’ordine di Sua Eccellenza il Barone Sonnino, Ministro per gli Affari Estri del Re, ho l’onore d’informarla che, in relazione alle domande che gli sono state rivolti, il Governo di Sua Maestà è lieto di confermare le precedenti dichiarazioni già fatte a mezzo dei suoi rappresentanti a Washington, l’Aja e Salonicco, di essere cioè disposto ad adoperarsi con piacere per facilitare lo stabilirsi in Palestina di un centro nazionale ebraico, nell’intesa pero che non ne venga nessun pregiudizio allo stato giuridico e politico delle già esistenti comunita’ religiose ed ai diritti civili e politici che gl’ Israeliti già godono in ogni altro paese.

Gradisca, Pregiatissimo Signore, gli atti della mia Distintissima considerazione.

(_Signed_) IMPERIALI.

SIGNOR NAHUM SOKOLOW,
35‒38 Empire House,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.

[_Translation._]

ITALIAN EMBASSY, LONDON,

_9th May, 1918_.

MY DEAR SIR,

On the instructions of His Excellency, Baron Sonnino, His Majesty’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have the honour to inform you that with reference to your representations His Majesty’s Government are pleased to confirm the Declaration already made through their representatives in Washington, The Hague, and Salonica, to the effect that they will use their best endeavours to facilitate the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish National Centre, it being understood that this shall not prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the legal or political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Pray accept, my dear sir, the assurance of my distinguished consideration.

(_Signed_) IMPERIALI.

_M._ NAHUM SOKOLOW,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.

In ♦President Wilson’s address to Congress of January 8th, 1918, a speech commonly regarded as a complete statement of the objects for which the Allied Powers were fighting, the twelfth of the articles in the programme of the world’s peace was stated thus:――

♦ “President’s” replaced with “President”

“The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but _the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development_, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.”

This statement was regarded by Zionists as signifying the sympathetic attitude of the American Government, and especially of its President, to the Zionist movement. President Wilson is regarded as the spokesman of the Entente principles, and it is well known to Zionists that his attitude is favourable to the realization of Zionist aims, because the latter are in complete harmony with the principle of justice to small nationalities, of which President Wilson is the clearest and most outspoken exponent. His address makes no specific reference to the Jewish question or to Palestine, but his intention is perfectly clear.

In August, 1918, President Wilson wrote the following letter:――

“I have watched with deep and sincere interest the
reconstructive work which the Weizmann Commission has done
in Palestine at the instance of the British Government, and
I welcome an opportunity to express the satisfaction I have
felt in the progress of the Zionist Movement in the United
States and in the Allied countries since the Declaration by Mr.
Balfour on behalf of the British Government of Great Britain’s
approval of the establishment in Palestine of a National
Home for the Jewish people, and his promise that the British
Government would use its best endeavours to facilitate the
achievement of that object, with the understanding that
nothing would be done to prejudice the civil and religious
rights of non-Jewish people in Palestine or the rights and
political status enjoyed by Jews in other countries. I think
that all Americans will be deeply moved by the report that
even in this time of stress the Weizmann Commission has been
able to lay the foundation of the _Hebrew_ University at
_Jerusalem_ with the promise that that bears of spiritual
rebirth.”

Illustration: _Dover Street Studios_

_President_ THOMAS WOODROW WILSON

Public opinion in America regarded this letter as a precious document embodying full American support of the Zionist aims, in harmony with the British Declaration.

Many opportunities have been taken by British statesmen to refer to the British Declaration in terms which show that they attach the very greatest value to it. Thus, the Rt. Hon. George N. Barnes said, in a speech delivered on the 14th of July, a full extract of which appears below:――

“The British Government proclaimed its policy of Zionism
because it believed that Zionism was identified with the
policy and aims for which good men and women are struggling
everywhere. That policy is the policy of the Allies in the
war. It is the policy to which we are pledged; it is the policy
which we believe accords with the wishes of vast numbers of
the Jewish people, many of whom have cast wistful eyes to
Palestine as again destined to be their national home.”

Lord Robert Cecil, in regretting his inability to be present at the meeting held on July 14th to welcome the American Zionist Medical Unit, wrote:――

“The Zionist movement represents a great ideal which may have
incalculable consequences for the future welfare of the world.”

The Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, in his address to a deputation of the Medical Unit (given in full further on), said:――

“The destruction of Judea that occurred nineteen centuries ago
is one of the great wrongs which the Allied Powers are trying
to redress.”

Mr. Lloyd George wrote to the Author, on the 29th of June, in connection with the Government declaration safeguarding the rights of the Roumanian Jews:――

DEAR SIR,

I am desired by the Prime Minister to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of the 21st inst., and the enclosure. Mr. Lloyd
George wishes me to thank you for what you say in regard
to the friendship which exists between this country and the
Jewish people, of which there has lately been such abundant
evidence, and to reiterate the hope that the triumph of the
Allies’ cause will make possible the realization of your
people’s aim to establish for themselves once again a national
home in Palestine.

Yours faithfully,
(_Signed_) F. L. STEVENSON.

N. SOKOLOW, ESQ.

On Wednesday, September 11th, the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, visited Manchester for the purpose of receiving the freedom of that city and of other towns. The Zionists took the opportunity of presenting to him the following address:――

“The undersigned representatives of the Jewish Community of
Manchester, headed by our distinguished Zionist leader, Mr.
Nahum Sokolow, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of
your visit to Manchester to place on record the gratitude
which the Jewish people feels for the interest shown by the
Government, of which you are the head, in the fulfilment of
Jewish national aspirations.

“We are confident that the Government’s historic declaration
of 2nd November, 1917, expresses not only its own considered
policy at the present time, but the permanent attitude of the
British nation to our people. We look forward to the early
fruition of the hopes which we build on that declaration, and
we know that in the brighter days of peace the restored and
revived _Hebrew_ nation will show in practical form its regard
for Great Britain and for the British tradition of help and
justice to small nations. For the sake of the Jewish nation
and of the cause of the free peoples throughout the world,
struggling to escape from the pitiless desire for conquest of
the German people, who have been intoxicated with the belief
that their army can override all obstacles and all rights,
we trust that Great Britain and her Allies will, at an early
date, see the downfall of the German power as an indispensable
preliminary to the commencement of the new era of peace and
justice, foretold by our national prophets and seers in that
great Jewish Bible which has become part of the patrimony of
the peoples of this great Empire.

“We venture to think that among the many triumphs which
it will be your privilege to recall in after days you will
remember, with, perhaps, a unique pride and pleasure, that
it was under the guidance of your statesmanship that Great
Britain extended its right hand in friendship to the Jewish
people to help it to regain its ancient national home and to
realize its age-long aspirations.”

The Zionists’ address was signed by Mr. E. H. Langdon, the _Rabbi_ Dr. Berendt Salomon, Mr. Nathan Laski, J.P., Mr. S. J. Cohen, Councillor S. Finburgh, Mr. L. Friedson, Captain Dulberg, and Mr. Simon Marks.

Illustration: _Vandyke, photo._

_Rᵗ. Hon._ DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

Mr. Lloyd George gave the following reply:――

“It is with feelings of the greatest satisfaction that I
accept the address which you have done me the privilege
of presenting to me. The aspirations which you share with
multitudes of your race scattered throughout the world found
a natural response in the minds of those responsible for the
government of this country, because they are in permanent
accord with the sentiments of the people of Great Britain.
I have to-day had the honour of receiving addresses from the
representatives of three elements most intimately concerned
in the establishment of a rule of order and justice in an area
which has hitherto been the prey of tyranny and outrage. The
fulfilment of the historic hopes and aspirations to which you
refer in your address is, I believe, an essential corollary to
the necessary enfranchisement of the oppressed peoples of the
Near East.”

Considerable interest was taken everywhere in the evidences of the effect produced in America by the political success of the Zionist movement. The Zionists of America, unable to participate in many of the Zionist activities of the day, owing to the fact that America was not at war with Turkey, conceived the idea of helping in the reconstruction and extension of the Jewish colonies after they were relieved from disasters due to the war, by sending a Medical Unit to the Holy Land.

The Unit was organized by and at the expense of American Zionists, the principal promoters being a group of women Zionists who are banded together under the name of the _Hadassah_. It consisted of about forty-five persons――doctors, nurses, mechanics, chemists, specialists, secretaries, dentists, a social expert, an administrator, and a representative of the _Hadassah_. The Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs in America voted a sum of fifty thousand pounds from their Palestine Restoration Fund for its equipment. The plans in Palestine will necessarily depend upon the conditions prevailing in that country at the time of the arrival of the Unit, but the present intention is to set up a central hospital of one hundred beds in _Jerusalem_, a branch hospital in _Jaffa_, as well as dispensaries and a nursing school, and several travelling hospitals, which will be equipped for service in the colonies and wherever needed and will be supplied from permanent dispensaries in the large cities. A hospital in _Jerusalem_, originally owned by a German society, the _L’maan Zion_, was handed over to this Unit, as well as the _Shaare Zedek_ Hospital. In connexion with the equipment of these “Red Cross” ambulances for the relief of civilians, the _Hadassah_ collected quantities of clothes, bed-linen and towels, as well as medical stores for the use of the destitute of Palestine. Eighty-six cases, containing twenty-four thousand garments, one thousand pairs of boots, thirteen thousand men’s socks, and two tons of soap, have been sent out. Mrs. Mary Fels contributed largely to this stock.

The Unit is under the general control of Mr. Lewin Epstein, Treasurer of the American Zionist Organization.

On its way to Palestine the Unit passed through London, where it was welcomed by a great meeting at the London Opera House, on July 14th. The Right Hon. George N. Barnes, a member of the War Cabinet, in a speech then delivered, said:――

“Palestine has for three hundred years been under the tyranny
of Ottoman oppression, and I take it that it is now ready for
the word of the teacher, and the knowledge of the scientist,
to make the desert places again into smiling villages. Our
visitors will take part in that transformation. They will link
together the knowledge, the science, and material resources of
the present and the future. It is a great thought and a happy
augury that the first definite act of Zionism is to go East
and to take part in the realization of a great ideal for the
uplifting of all the people, irrespective of class or creed,
or condition of any kind whatsoever. That is indeed a great
ideal, and I congratulate our visitors in being pioneers in
its achievement. They are going to help to lay in Palestine
that basis of sanitation and conditions of healthy life which
are the chief foundations of civilization. It is a work not
only of interest to the Jewish race; it is a work which is of
interest and value to the whole world, because the prosperity
of Palestine is the concern of us all. Irrespective of race
or religion, we look to Palestine as the Holy Land. From it
there came those great moral inspirations which still guide
the life and conduct of half the world. From it there issued
forth those wondrous influences of which the mind of man
can scarcely yet conceive the full meaning. It has been
the inestimable privilege of the Allies in this war to have
rescued this land, consecrated by religion and history, from
the sacrilegious hands of the German and the Turk, who have
slain and enslaved the people. It will be their greater
privilege to rebuild the holy places, to create conditions
under which opportunities will be given to all peoples to live
together in tolerance and mutual help. It will be the aim of
Zionism once more to make Palestine a fountain of knowledge
and idealism, and by the creating of places of knowledge and
education, open to all, again to clothe ancient truths in
modern garb. The British Government proclaimed its policy
of Zionism because it believed that Zionism was identified
with the policy and aims for which good men and women are
struggling everywhere. That policy is the policy of the Allies
in this war. It is the policy to which we are pledged; it is
the policy which we believe accords with the wishes of vast
numbers of the Jewish people, many of whom have cast wistful
eyes to Palestine as again destined to be their national home.
Using the word in its largest and best sense, they are going
on an errand of mercy, being the harbingers of health and
happiness to a people who have been long oppressed and heavy
laden. They have, I doubt not, many difficulties in front of
them――perhaps a long road to travel, but I feel sure they will
be borne up by the consciousness of what they are doing, and
that they have the good wishes of all good men and women.”

In addressing the Unit in Paris, _M._ Tardieu, High Commissioner of the Government of the French Republic in the United States, said:――

“Vous savez avec quel intérêt sympathique le gouvernement
français a suivi le progrès de l’idéal sioniste. De cet
intérêt, le gouvernement français a donné des preuves dès le
printemps de 1916, aussitôt que l’amélioration de la situation
en Palestine nous a permis de regarder du côté de l’avenir.
J’ai à peine besoin, ensuite, de vous rappeler la déclaration
publique et officielle que le Ministre des Affaires Étrangères,
_M._ Pichon, publiait si heureusement l’année dernière. S’il
existe une nation naturellement faite pour comprendre la cause
des Juifs et l’idéal juif, cela a été assurément toujours la
nation française.”

Shortly before they left England the American Zionist Medical Unit were received by Mr. Balfour, who said he was very happy to be able to address the deputation of the Unit on their way to Palestine, where they were going to contribute their share to the beginnings of a great National undertaking. The far-reaching importance of the idea represented by Zionism was not sufficiently understood; the influence of that great National revival would be felt not only by those Jews who would settle in Palestine, but also by Jewry in every country of the world, and even by the other nations of humanity, for though Palestine was but a small country, the good which it had done for mankind was immeasurable. The destruction of Judea nineteen centuries ago was one of the great wrongs which the Allied Powers were trying to redress. This destruction was a national tragedy. It deprived the Jews of the opportunities enjoyed by other nations, to develop their national genius and their own spirit to the full extent of which it was capable. The Jews occupied a unique position among nations of the present day, because they lacked that element of nationality which appeared to be indispensable to a complete National life――to the possession of a National Home. The present moment witnessed the entrance on the world’s stage of great and important National factors, and he felt sure that among these the Zionist idea, which had already accomplished so much in Palestine, would play a noble and beneficial part. He congratulated the members of the Unit on their great humanitarian mission. He knew they were moved by a high idea and not by any self-seeking. Nothing, he said, could be accomplished in this world except under the inspiration of a great ideal. He wished them Godspeed and complete success.

Direct evidence of the spread of Zionism in America was furnished by a resolution of the American Jewish Committee, a body which has hitherto been held to represent the assimilated American Jews and to be hostile to Jewish nationalism, at a special meeting held on Sunday, April 28th, which was attended by, among others, Mr. Jacob Schiff, Mr. Louis Marshall, Dr. Cyrus Adler, ex-Judge Mack, and ex-Judge Sulzberger.

The Committee declared by the resolution that it could not be unmindful of the fact that there are Jews everywhere throughout the world who, moved by traditional Jewish sentiment, yearn for a Home in the Holy Land for the Jewish people. This hope, which has been nurtured for centuries, had the Committee’s whole-hearted sympathy. When therefore, the British Government made the Declaration which is now supported by the French Government, that it views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People, and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, the announcement was received by the members of the Committee with profound appreciation.

The Committee regards as of essential importance the conditions annexed to the Declaration, “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” The latter of these conditions corresponded entirely with the general principles on the basis of which the Committee had ever striven to attain civil and political rights for Jews the world over, and with the ideals of all American Jewry.

The opportunity foreshadowed by Mr. Balfour’s letter was welcomed by the Committee, which would help to the best of its power to realise in Palestine, placed under such protectorate or suzerainty as the Peace Congress may determine, the objects set forth in the Declaration; and the Committee resolved to co-operate with all those who, attracted by religious or historic associations, shall seek to establish in Palestine a centre for Judaism for the stimulating of our faith, the pursuit and development of literature, science, and art in a Jewish environment, and the rehabilitation of the Land.

The British and Italian Governments indicated to the Zionist Organization their interest in the welfare of the Jewish people by the opinion they expressed with regard to the clause in the Rumanian-German Treaty referring to Jewish rights. Ever since the Treaty of Berlin, the position of the Rumanian Jews had been one of the scandals of Europe. That Treaty forbade all legal discriminations on account of religious faith. This clause was made a useless “_scrap of paper_” by Rumania considering its Jews “aliens not subject to alien protection.” The Jew has been prevented from living in country districts or owning land outside towns. This does not prevent it from being a standing accusation against the Jews of Rumania that they do not work as agricultural labourers. They have been excluded from the civil service and the liberal professions; they have been disfranchised; factories and mills were forbidden to employ more Jewish workers than one quarter of their entire staff. Yet the Jews in Rumania by no means gave rise to this state of affairs by obvious separatism; the younger generation all spoke Rumanian, both at home and in intercourse with the outer world, and they wore no distinctive dress.

It should be stated that the Rumanians are a peasant people; the landowners, all Christians, are largely an absentee class, spending their money in Western Europe. Anti-Semitism has been a convenient safety-valve for diverting the discontent of the peasants from the real authors of their misery.

These anti-Jewish laws have caused an immense exodus of Jews from Rumania.

Rumania continued its anti-Jewish policy during the war. Rumanian Jews were registered and supervised as aliens, because, owing to defective registration, they could not prove that they were born in Rumania. Many elderly persons were born in places where no registers were kept. There were no registers before 1866, and it was only in 1880 that the whole country began to keep such registers. This brings us directly to the Jewish clause of the treaty with Germany. The German Government had led the Jews in Germany to believe that it would protect the rights of Jews in the treaty. But the treaty merely stated that those Jews hitherto considered aliens were to be naturalized by law if they could prove that they and their parents were born in Rumania, or that they had taken part in the war, either in active service or in army service (_Hilfsdienst_). Such a clause could only open the way to further equivocations. By the addition of this clause to the general statement that differences of religious faith shall have no influence on the legal rights of inhabitants, and in particular on their political and civil rights, the treaty of 1918 actually went back from the position taken by the treaty of 1878. It is not even found possible to make the officers of a regiment in Rumania give a Jewish soldier the paper necessary to prove that he has served in the army.

The letters to the Author, in which the two _Entente_ Powers (England and Italy) expressed their desire to rectify this unjust state of affairs, are as follows:――

FOREIGN OFFICE,
_June 15th, 1918_.

SIR,

In reply to your letter of the 3rd instant, relative to the
question of Jewish rights in Rumania, I am directed by Mr.
Secretary Balfour to state that His Majesty’s Government
fully realize that the enfranchisement promised to the Jews
in Rumania under the recent treaty is less liberal than that
by which the former Rumanian Government had publicly pledged
themselves. They take this opportunity of assuring your
Organization that they are most anxious to do everything in
their power to secure a just and permanent settlement of the
Jewish question in that country.

I am, Sir,
Your most obedient, humble Servant,
(_Signed_) W. LANGLEY.

N. SOKOLOW, ESQ.,
35 Empire House,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.

The Italian Ambassador, the Marquis Imperiali, honoured me with a communication to a like effect, of which the following is a translation:――

LONDON,
_August 2nd, 1918_.

DEAR SIR,

On the instructions of His Excellency, Baron Sonnino, I have
pleasure in communicating to you the following:

“The Italian Government recognizing that the provision
contained in the Treaty of Bucharest of May 7th, 1918,
between Rumania and the Central Empires, relating to religious
equality in Rumania, are, so far as the Jews are concerned,
less liberal than those which the Rumanian Government itself
had spontaneously promised to grant, now declares that at the
final settlement of the Rumanian question, it will use its
best endeavours to secure for the Jews in Rumania a settlement
which will definitely assure them of a permanent position of
equality.”

Accept, dear Sir, the expression of my most distinguished
consideration.

(_Signed_) IMPERIALI.

N. SOKOLOW, ESQ.

One of the first practical results of the British Government’s declaration was the appointment in March, 1918, of a Zionist Commission for Palestine.

The objects and status of the Commission were laid down as follows:――

The Commission should represent the Zionist Organization.

It should act as an advisory body to the British authorities in Palestine in all matters relating to Jews, or which may affect the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in accordance with the Declaration of His Majesty’s Government.

The objects of the Commission were:――

1. _To form a link between the British authorities and the
Jewish population of Palestine._

2. _To co-ordinate the relief work in Palestine and to assist
in the repatriation of exiled and evacuated persons and
refugees._

3. _To assist in restoring and developing the Colonies and in
organizing the Jewish population in general._

4. _To assist the Jewish organization and institutions in
Palestine in the resumption of their activities._

5. _To help in establishing friendly relations with the Arabs
and other non-Jewish communities._

6. _To collect information, and report upon the possibilities
of the further development of the Jewish settlement and of
the country in general._

7. _To inquire into the feasibility of the scheme of
establishing a Jewish University._

In order to be able to achieve the foregoing objects the Commission obtained permission, subject to military necessities, to travel, investigate, and make reports upon the above-mentioned matters.

The Commission left London on March 8th. It consisted of:――

Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the Chairman of the Commission; Mr. Joseph Cowen, Director of the Anglo-Palestine Company; Dr. Eder, Medical Adviser, Representative of the Jewish Territorial Organization; Mr. Leon Simon, selected to be Chairman of the Relief Committee of the Commission; and Professor Sylvain Lévi, Collège de France. Mr. Israel M. Sieff, of Manchester, acted as Secretary to the Commission.

Two representatives of Italian Jewry joined the Commission after an interval of some time――Commendatore Bianchini and Dr. Artom.

The Commission was accompanied by the following gentlemen: Mr. Aaron Aaronsohn, Agricultural Expert, formerly of the Jewish Colony of _Zichron Jacob_; Mr. David Levontin, Manager of the _Jaffa_ branch of the Anglo-Palestine Bank; Mr. Rosenack, Agent of the Jewish Colonization Association, and Mr. Walter Meyer of New York.

Major the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore acted as Political Officer and communicated the Commission’s views and requirements to the Government and the military authorities.

It had been intended that representatives of the Jews of Russia should join the Commission, but the disorganization of communications in Russia caused by the revolution prevented them from doing so until about October, 1918, when Mr. Isaac Goldberg and Mr. Israel Rosoff started for Palestine.

A few isolated incidents alone can be referred to here out of a large amount of work which was done by the Commissioners. They succeeded in obliterating the ill effects of warfare, they restored refugees to their homes, restarted the normal course of peaceful activities, reorganized the hitherto unsatisfactory and disunited _Jerusalem_ communities belonging to the old settlements of pre-Zionist times and pre-Zionist feelings, and extended the _Hebrew_ system of schools.

The Commission started part of its work in Egypt before it reached Palestine. The Arabs had been given wrong ideas concerning the meaning of the British declaration and the intention of the Zionists: pro-German agents had spread rumours intended to be both anti-English and anti-Jewish. They declared that rich Jews would exploit the land of Palestine and would destroy Moslem holy places. Dr. Weizmann met certain Arab leaders in Egypt and succeeded in removing their fears and anxieties. It was found that the Felaheen cultivators in Palestine do not fear the Jews. They realize that the Jewish colonies increase the prosperity of the country by introducing improved agricultural methods. But the Effendi Arabs, who are landlords, fear the establishment of a just rule over the land. These Effendi are largely cosmopolitans and absentee landlords, living in Syria and Egypt. The Zionists are anxious to prevent, if they can, any speculation in land, whether by natives of Palestine or by foreigners. The prosperity of the colonies is bound up with a just land policy, which will prevent the fruits of a man’s labour enriching others and will place at the disposal of the Jewish colonies unused and State lands as well as badly cultivated large estates.

The Zionists have been fortunate in gaining the confidence of the King of the Hedjaz and of Prince Feisal.

Although by the Hague Convention the military authorities could not make any alteration in the laws of the land, they did in two matters of administration increase the power of self-government possessed by the Jews. They allowed certain colonies to appoint their own police and their own Jewish tax-collectors. So corrupt had the Turkish tax-collectors been, that the Jewish tax-collectors, while taking less from the colonists, were able to hand a larger sum to the Government.

Much consideration was given by the Commission to the work of strengthening and supporting the organizations for relieving distress――orphanages, hospitals, and so on: a work much needed owing to war conditions. Special reports on the utilities of the various hospitals, schools, and orphanages were drawn up. In _Jerusalem_ great distress was found. The _Halukah_ Jews, settled in _Jerusalem_ to study and pray and entirely dependent on the support of the Jews of other countries, had been by the war cut off from their means of livelihood. Widows and orphans were many, the adult men having suffered excessively from epidemics. The Commission opened laundries and a kind of shirt factory to provide employment for women and did its best to find employment for the men, although the importation of raw materials was very difficult.

On 17th June there was opened at _Jaffa_ the first conference of Jews of the liberated area of Palestine. Major Ormsby-Gore, the Political Officer in charge of the Zionist Commission, delivered the following speech:――

“You have asked me, as Political Officer in charge of the
Zionist Commission which has been sent out to Palestine by H.M.
Government, to attend this historic gathering and to say a few
words of good wishes to you, the representatives of all Jewry
in the occupied part of Palestine, on behalf of my Government.
I do so with a full heart. My Government――the British
Government――has said one or two important things during this
war concerning Palestine.

“My Government has said that, if England and her Allies
win this war, the future Government of Palestine shall
not be Turkish, because in this war England and her Allies
are fighting, not for the extension of any Empire, nor for
the acquisition of further power or further territory, but
they are fighting for an ideal, shared by all our Allies,
namely, that countries shall be governed in the interests and
according to the wishes and the aspirations of the inhabitants
of those countries. We are satisfied when we look at the
results of Turkish rule upon the land and the people of
Palestine, that such rule ought to disappear in the interests
of Palestine and of civilization. The Turkish rule in
Palestine was an alien rule, and was not in the best interests
of any of the inhabitants of Palestine, and, moreover, such a
rule crippled the free development, economic and political, of
this country.

“My Government has said that it wishes to see the people of
Palestine among others freed from the rule of the Turks, but
it has as yet said nothing as to what Government should take
its place――that is a matter for the Peace Conference. But
Mr. Balfour has made an historic declaration with regard to
the Zionists, that he wishes to see created and built up in
Palestine a National Home for the Jewish people.

“What do we understand by this? We mean that those Jews who
voluntarily come to live in Palestine should live in Palestine
as Jewish nationalists, _i.e._ that they should be regarded
as Jews and nothing else, and that they should be absolutely
free to develop _Hebrew_ education, to develop the country,
and live their own life in their own way in Palestine freely,
but only submitting equally with all others to the laws of the
land.

“I shall tell the British Government, when I go back, what the
Jews of Palestine have done already to realize their ideals,
and what they feel with regard to this National Home. I can
say when I go back that I can see in this gathering to-day
the pioneer work of the National Home, _i.e._ a National
Home built up on a _Hebrew_ foundation with a definite
consciousness and ideal of its own. I can say that whether you
come from Russia, from Salonica, from Bokhara, from Poland,
from America, from England, or from Yemen, you are bound
together in Palestine by the ideal of building up a Jewish
nation in all its various aspects in Palestine, a national
centre for Jewry all over the world to look to. This is the
ideal of the future, an ideal which I am convinced will be
realized without doing any injustice or injury to any of your
neighbours here. But while I look forward to the realization
of this ideal, I must remind you of the grim realities of the
present.

“We can still hear the guns, and we are in the midst of a
desperate struggle――not merely between nations, but between
ideals. Be patient with the British Government, who wish you
well. Do not expect a great deal from them, but expect a great
deal from yourselves. At present we are bound to carry on the
Turkish system of law, taxation, and Government. We are bound
to do this by international law, and England has always tried
to respect this international law. England set its seal to
the Hague Convention, which said that when an advance was made
into enemy country, the administration should be military and
not political, and that such military administration should
make no attempt to alter or change the institutions of the
occupied country; it is not our wish that this is so, but it
is so by the rule of law, and we shall do our best to respect
this law no matter who else breaks it.

“It is difficult for a military administration to make radical
changes or to do much to help you and others in the country.
Nevertheless, some great things have been done already; the
British Government has given opportunity to the young men to
join the battalion of Jews from other countries to liberate
this country. This splendid response of your young men will
have a great moral value when history comes to be written.
Every one of these fine and splendid recruits now enrolled and
who are going to the battalions which have come from England
and America, will go as missionaries of Jewish nationalism in
Palestine, so that these men will stay in Palestine and help
to develop it on just and right lines. The British Government
has done something more of great service to you. The
Government has sent out to Palestine the Zionist Commission.
It has sent out Dr. Weizmann, _i.e._ the British Government
has sent out a man in whom it has confidence to help the Jews
in Palestine in their greatest hour of need. What this help
has meant to you I need not go into in detail. The Zionist
Commission speaks for itself. Dr. Weizmann came here as a
stranger to the British authorities, but in a few weeks he
has won for himself, and for the people whom he represents,
a position among the British authorities and amongst all with
whom he has come into contact in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine;
a position which is not merely a help, but a corner stone of
the work which lies before you. The Zionist Commission is in a
position to do much to acquaint not only Jewry throughout the
world, but also the Governments of the Allied countries, with
the needs, ideals, and aspirations of Palestine Jewry. It is,
therefore, only right that you should be guided in patience
by him, your leader, and accept his advice and direction. Dr.
Weizmann is a leader who will see you through. He is a man
worthy of your confidence, as well as of the confidence of all
of the Allied Governments.

“The work of the conference which I am addressing is very
important. You have a great deal to prepare for. You have
to prepare for peace, for the day when war is no more, and
when there will be, please God, a free Palestine. Gentlemen,
make sure that your foundation-stones are truly laid in your
agricultural, cultural, and educational work. So much depends
for civilization on the work for which you are now preparing
and which you will perform during the next few months. You
will be faced with all the difficult trivialities of life, but
in the Zionist movement there is a spirit, and just as good
transcends evil, so does the spiritual transcend the material.
You can build up a centre of civilization here. We English owe
all that is best in our civilization to the Bible, and that
is why we feel a deep interest and a bond of sympathy in the
work which you are doing. The Zionist movement is not merely
a political move, but it is a spiritual force, and if it
succeeds I feel it will bring something great and noble to the
world, a message which will not only do so much for the sad
but beautiful land, but for the scattered hosts of _Israel_
and for humanity.”

Illustration: _Photo by בן־דוב בצלאל ירושלם_

LAYING FOUNDATION STONE OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY,
MOUNT SCOPUS, JERUSALEM

_15 Ab, 5678_ _24 July, 1918_

On 24th July, 1918, the foundation-stones of the _Hebrew_ University in _Jerusalem_ were laid. This was an event which Zionists had conceived long before, an event likely to be of great importance in enabling _Jerusalem_ to become a spiritual centre for the still dispersed communities of _Israel_, and destined, let us hope, to influence and elevate the mental life, social aspirations and religious conceptions of the Jews of the world.

The site of the University is a beautiful one. It is on Mount Scopus, on an estate purchased from the late Sir John Gray Hill of Liverpool, who was personally in deep sympathy with the scheme. It faces _Jerusalem_ on the one side and the valley of the _Jordan_ and the Dead Sea on the other.

At the ceremony of laying the foundation-stones those present included, besides the members of the Zionist Commission, the Commander-in-Chief and senior members of his staff, the Military Governor of _Jerusalem_, staff representatives of the French and Italian military detachments in Palestine and other officers, the _Mufti_ of _Jerusalem_, Bishop MacInnes, Anglican Bishop of _Jerusalem_, the representatives of the Armenian and Greek Churches, the Mayor and Vice-Mayor of _Jerusalem_, Baron and Baroness Felix Menasce of Alexandria, Maurice Cattaui _Pacha_, President of the Cairo Jewish Community, Mr. Victor Mosseri, the Chief _Rabbis_ of Cairo and Alexandria, the _Sephardi_ and _Ashkenazi_ Chief _Rabbis_, and representatives of all Jewish organizations and committees in _Jerusalem_, _Jaffa_, and the colonies. The day was declared a public Jewish holiday in _Jerusalem_, and a crowd numbering about six thousand people witnessed the ceremony.

After the ceremony had been opened by a chant of praise, Dr. Weizmann laid the first foundation-stone of the University on behalf of the Zionist Organization. He was followed by the two Chief _Rabbis_ of _Jerusalem_ and the heads of the United Council, who laid a stone on behalf of the _Jerusalem_ Community. The _Mufti_ then laid a stone, and was followed by the Anglican Bishop. Stones were also laid on behalf of the following: The Zionist Organization, the Jewish Regiment, Baron Edmond _de_ Rothschild, the town of _Jaffa_, the Colonies, _Hebrew_ Literature, _Hebrew_ Teachers, _Hebrew_ Science, Jewish Artisans and Labourers, Isaac Goldberg (whose generosity it was that provided so largely for the purchase of the site), and the Future Generations.

Dr. Weizmann then added his signature to a parchment scroll inscribed with the blessing:¹

ברוך אתה יי אלהינו מלך העולם שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה׃

¹ “Blessed art Thou O! Lord our God, King of the Universe who
hast preserved us alive, and sustained us and brought us to
(_enjoy_) this season.”

“Wednesday, the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the month of _Menachem-Ab_, being in the year Five Thousand six hundred and seventy-eight from the creation of the World, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine from the destruction of our second Temple, and the twenty-first year after the first Zionist Congress called by Dr. Benjamin Zeeb _ben_ Jacob Herzl, the first year of the Declaration of the British Government issued through the Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour promising to grant a National Home to the Jewish People in the land of _Israel_,――the day on which was laid the first stone of the building which shall become the first _Hebrew_ University in _Jerusalem_. In testimony of which we add our signatures.” The signatures included that of the _Sephardi_ Chief _Rabbi_ Nissim Elyashar, the _Ashkenazi_ Chief _Rabbi_ Zerach Epstein, the _Mufti_ of _Jerusalem_, Bishop MacInnes, Chief _Rabbi_ Uziel of _Jaffa_ in the name of Baron Edmond _de_ Rothschild, _M._ Libowitz, one of the last of the heroic band of _Bilu_, Dr. Thon, Mr. D. Levontin, and some boys and girls in the name of the future generation.

The signed scroll was buried under the first stone.

Dr. Weizmann then delivered an address. He said:――

“We have to-day laid the foundation-stone of the first Jewish
University, which is to be erected on this hill, overlooking
the city of _Jerusalem_. Many of us will have had their
thoughts cast back to the great historic scenes associated
with _Jerusalem_, scenes that have become part of the heritage
of mankind. It is not too fanciful to picture the souls of
those who have made our history here with us to-day inspiring
us, urging us onwards, to greater and ever greater tasks. Many
again will have had their attention riveted on the apparent
contrast between to-day’s ceremony and the scenes of warfare
within a few miles of us. For only a brief moment we are
allowing ourselves to indulge in a mental armistice, and in
laying aside all thoughts of strife we try to pierce the veil
of war and glance into the future. A week ago we were keeping
the Fast of _Ab_, reminding us that the Temple had been
utterly destroyed and the Jewish national political existence
extinguished apparently for ever. But throughout the long
centuries we, the stiff-necked people, have refused to
acknowledge defeat, and ‘_Judæa Capta_’ is once more on the
eve of triumph. Here, out of the misery and the desolation
of war, is being created the first germ of a new life.
Hitherto we have been content to speak of Reconstruction
and Restoration. We know that ravished Belgium, devastated
France, Poland and Russia must and will be restored. In this
University, however, we have gone beyond Restoration and
Reconstruction, we are creating during the period of war
something which is to serve as a symbol of a better future.
It is fitting that Great Britain, aided by her great Allies,
in the midst of tribulation and sorrow, should stand sponsor
to this University. Great Britain has understood that it is
just because these are times of stress, just because men tend
to become lost in the events of the day, that there is a need
to overlay these details by this bold appeal to the world’s
imagination. Here what seemed but a dream a few years ago is
now becoming a reality.

“What is the significance of a _Hebrew_ University――what are
going to be its functions, whence will it draw its students,
and what languages will it speak? It seems at first sight
paradoxical that in a land with so sparse a population, in
a land where everything still remains to be done, in a land
crying out for such simple things as ploughs, roads, and
harbours, we should begin by creating a centre of spiritual
and intellectual development. But it is no paradox for those
who know the soul of the Jew. It is true that great social
and political problems still face us and will demand their
solution from us. We Jews know that when the mind is given
fullest play, when we have a centre for the development of
Jewish consciousness, then coincidently we shall attain the
fulfilment of our material needs. In the darkest ages of our
existence we found protection and shelter within the walls
of our schools and colleges, and in devoted study of Jewish
science the tormented Jew found relief and consolation. Amid
all the sordid squalor of the _Ghetto_ there stood schools of
learning where numbers of young Jews sat at the feet of our
_Rabbis_ and teachers. Those schools and colleges served as
large reservoirs where there was stored up during the long
ages of persecution an intellectual and spiritual energy which
on the one hand helped to maintain our national existence, and
on the other hand blossomed forth for the benefit of mankind
when once the walls of the _Ghetto_ fell. The sages of Babylon
and _Jerusalem_, Maimonides and the _Gaon_ of Wilna, the lens
polisher of Amsterdam and Karl Marx, Heinrich Heine and Paul
Ehrlich are some of the links in the long, unbroken chain of
intellectual development.

“The University, as its name implies, is to teach everything
the mind of man embraces. No teaching can be fruitful nowadays
unless it is strengthened by a spirit of enquiry and research;
and a modern University must not only produce highly trained
professional men, but give ample opportunity to those capable
and ready to devote themselves to scientific research to do
so unhindered and undisturbed. Our University will thus become
the home of those hundreds of talented young Jews in whom the
thirst for learning and critical enquiry has been engrained
by heredity throughout ages, and who in the great multitude of
cases are at present compelled to satisfy this their burning
need amid un-Jewish, very often unfriendly surroundings.

“A _Hebrew_ University! I do not suppose that there is anyone
here who can conceive of a University in _Jerusalem_ being
other than a _Hebrew_ one. The claim that the University
should be a _Hebrew_ one rests upon the values the Jews have
transmitted to the world from this land. Here in the presence
of adherents of the three great religions of the world, which
amid many diversities build their faith upon the Lord who
made Himself known unto _Moses_, before this world which has
founded itself on Jewish law, has paid reverence to _Hebrew_
seers, has acknowledged the great mental and spiritual
values the Jewish people have given to it, the question is
answered. The University is to stimulate the Jewish people
to reach further truth. Am I too bold if here to-day in
this place among the hills of _Ephraim_ and _Judah_, I state
my conviction that the seers of _Israel_ have not utterly
perished, that under the ægis of this University there will
be a renaissance of the Divine power of prophetic wisdom
that once was ours? The University will be the focus of the
rehabilitation of our Jewish consciousness now so tenuous,
because it has become so world-diffused. Under the atmospheric
pressure of this Mount, our Jewish consciousness can become
diffused without becoming feeble, our consciousness will be
rekindled and our Jewish youth will be reinvigorated from
Jewish sources.

“Since it is to be a _Hebrew_ University, the question hardly
arises as to its language. By a strange error, people have
regarded _Hebrew_ as one of the dead languages, whilst in fact
it has never died off the lips of mankind. True, to many of us
Jews it has become a second language, but for thousands of my
people _Hebrew_ is and always has been the sacred tongue, and
in the streets of _Tel Aviv_, in the orchards of _Rischon_ and
_Rechoboth_, on the farms of _Hulda_ and _Ben Shemen_, it has
already become the mother tongue. Here in Palestine, amid the
_Babel_ of languages, _Hebrew_ stands out as the one language
in which every Jew can communicate with every other Jew. Upon
the technical difficulties connected with _Hebrew_ instruction
it is unnecessary for me to dwell at the moment. We are alive
to them; but the experience of our Palestinian schools has
already shown to us that these difficulties are surmountable.
These are all matters of detail which have been carefully
examined and will be dealt with at the appropriate time.
I have spoken of the Jewish University where the language
will be _Hebrew_, just as French is used at the Sorbonne, or
English at Oxford. Naturally, other languages, ancient and
modern, will be taught in the respective faculties; among
these languages we may expect that prominent attention will
be given to Arabic and other Semitic languages.

“The _Hebrew_ University, though intended primarily for Jews,
will, of course, give an affectionate welcome to the members
of every race and creed. ‘For my house will be called a house
of prayer for all the nations.’ Besides the usual schools and
institutions which go to form a modern University, there will
be certain branches of science which it will be peculiarly
appropriate to associate with our University. Archæological
Research, which has revealed so much of the mysterious past
of Egypt and of Greece, has a harvest still to be reaped in
Palestine, and our University is destined to play an important
part in this field of knowledge.

“The question as to the faculties with which our University
may begin its career is limited to some extent by practical
considerations. The beginnings of our University are not
entirely lacking. We have in _Jerusalem_ the elements of a
Pasteur Institute and a Jewish Health Bureau, whence valuable
contributions to bacteriology and sanitation have already been
issued. There is the school of Technology at _Haifa_, and the
beginning of an agricultural experimental station at _Athlit_.
It is to scientific research and its application that we can
confidently look for the banishment of those twin plagues of
Palestine, malaria and trachoma; for the eradication of other
indigenous diseases; it is to true scientific method that we
may look for the full cultivation of this fair and fertile
land, now so unproductive. Here, chemistry and bacteriology,
geology and climatology, will be required to join forces, so
that the great value of the University in the building up of
our National Home is apparent. All that again reminds us of
the fact which one is likely to forget after four years of a
terrible war, with its misapplication of scientific methods,
that we must look to science as to the healer of many wounds
and the redeemer of many evils. Side by side with scientific
research the humanities will occupy a distinguished place.
Ancient Jewish learning, the accumulated, half-hidden
treasures of our ancient philosophical, religious and juridic
literature, are to be brought to light again and freed from
the dust of ages. They will be incorporated in the new life
now about to develop in this country, and so our past will be
linked up with the present.