Chapter XXIV: Part I: ¹ (8)

The Jewish workmen are the natural allies of Zionism, but they will become the actual and co-operating allies only through independent workmen organizations. The Jewish workmen, independently organized, would go hand in hand with the labour party in all single claims dictated by class interest, but otherwise they would be independent. National as the Jewish workmen are distinctly enough in life, national in consequence of their education, their peculiarities――why should they not be so as a working-class? Do then the workmen of other nations lay aside their nationality when they take their stand to the social question? And do they give up their nationality when they have done for the moment with debate and action? And the Jewish workmen alone should renounce their nationality, they who are not even yet capable of sharing properly in the culture of another nation? Although it is not out of love for Zionism that the Jewish workmen, for the greater part, feel nationally, they may yet in time become national even in a Zionist sense. And that through the natural community of interests, passing from the unconscious to the conscious, which will establish a more and more intimate relation between them and Zionism. The whole political development of recent times has made it clear to the Jewish workmen how powerful the national thought is among workmen. Even in the event of the victory of the collectivistic idea it could hardly become different in regard to race contrasts. And when Eduard Bernstein in the epilogue of the translation of Mr. Webb’s _History of the Trade Unions_ observes: “Class struggles manifest themselves only seldom so acutely as national ones,” we may add that race contrasts may still exist long after class contrasts will have disappeared.

It is evident of what extraordinary importance for Zionism the Jewish working-class would become. The workmen if they became Zionist would, so to say, constitute the solid effective force which could be relied upon at any moment. On the other hand, it can well be assumed that the Jewish nation will meet as far as possible the claims of the working-class. It is only with the attainment of the Zionist aim that the condition for the prosperity and unfolding anew of national life will be realized for the first time. Judaism, united as a nation, will hereby be confronted by the question with the solution of which all civilized nations are so anxiously preoccupied. The difficulties may be ever so great, occasional crises and storms may break forth, but the nations will not be permanently depressed thereby, nor paralyzed. Like other nations the Jews hold the unshakable belief in a continually progressing economical amelioration, in a prosperous development of all. Even that party which has developed class contrasts into a theory of society, is seen to be receding ever more from the revolutionary principle and paying homage to the evolutionary. To the principle of evolution Zionist Judaism also holds fast, and will, surely, as soon as it is nationally consolidated, not be willing to lag behind other nations as regards social legislation. And if one may conclude from the historical past of a nation what its conformation will be in the future, so, doubtless, a breath of that gentle spirit will be felt in the modern Jewish community which pervades the Mosaic legislation. And this not only as regards the future but also the present. The Jewish National Fund is the model of a broad Mosaic-socialistic institution which has for its object the nationalization of the soil.

The _Poale Zion_ was established in 1901. It originated in Russia, and has now adherents in America, Palestine, Austria, Russia and the United Kingdom. At the time of the Zionist Congress at the Hague in 1907 an International Conference of the _Poale Zion_ was held, which led to the establishment of the General Union of the _Poale Zion_ Societies in America, Russia, Austria, Palestine, England, etc., on federal lines. The programme of the organization represents a synthesis of Zionism and Socialism on the basis of the Basle programme.

The principles of the _Poale Zion_ have been fully expounded in a book written by Dr. Pasmanik, entitled _The Theory of the Poale Zion_. Among its official publications may be mentioned _The Jewish Worker_, Cracow; _The Jewish Fighter_, New York; _Forward_, Vilna.

It is not easy for the Gentile workman to understand and appreciate to the full the position taken up by the Jewish workmen who support the principle of the _Poale Zion_. The Gentile workmen have no national problem to solve; they have only an economic question to deal with. The Jewish workmen are face to face with two problems, the economic and the national. The _Poale Zionists_ are convinced that although a nation may love its traditions it must concern itself also with immediate economic needs. It is for this reason that they are primarily Zionists, although supporters of Socialism. Unlike other Socialists they deem it their duty to devote themselves mainly to their own national cause. Apart from this, they have a great love for Jewish tradition, and are in the fullest sense of the term nationalists.

9. _The Mizrachi_

The _Mizrachi_ (a composite word derived from “_Merchaz Ruch’ni_,” which means Intellectual Centre) is an organization of religiously orthodox Zionists.

After the fifth Zionist Congress, where a lively debate took place on the question of national Judaism on a religious basis, the desire arose among those Zionists who maintained orthodox views on religious questions to organize themselves for common purposes. The object of the _Mizrachi_ is therefore of a cultured and not a political character. It strives to champion, within Zionism, by means of a sound organization, the standpoint of orthodox religious belief, and further, to show clearly that a conservative tendency in religious matters can go side by side with national aspirations. Politically the _Mizrachi_ has no special aim, but desires to work in unison with all other Zionists.

Soon after the fifth Congress Russian Zionists of _Mizrachi_ conviction assembled at a conference in Vilna and officially founded the _Mizrachi_. Subsequently support was also forthcoming from _Mizrachi_ Zionists in other countries, and at the sixth Congress the organization was represented by a group of over one hundred delegates. From the 19th to the 21st of August, 1904, a general _Mizrachi_ Conference took place at Pressburg. This conference was called by Rabbi I. J. Reines of Lida, Russia, and was attended by a large number of Rabbis from Russia, Roumania, Galicia, Hungary, Germany, England and America. Rabbi Reines was elected president of the entire organization. The regulations of the organization maintain in general the Zionist principle, but lay particular stress upon the necessity of the _Mizrachi_ cultural tendency. Already at this conference three centres of propaganda were created, an East European centre for Russia, Roumania and Galicia, of which Rabbi J. Reines became the president; a West European centre for the other European countries, with its seat in Frankfort, of which Rabbi Dr. Nobel became president; and an American centre at New York, of which Rabbi D. Klein became president.

In addition to the usual shekel and the local contributions, the _Mizrachi_ members pay a further contribution to cover the expenses of an office and propaganda. The _Mizrachi_ carries out its aim by organizing mass meetings, issuing from time to time periodicals, pamphlets and leaflets, and arranging lectures and debates for its members.

The fear expressed on the beginning of the _Mizrachi_ movement, that the _Mizrachi_ as a section might destroy the unity of Zionism, has proved unfounded. From the past activity of the _Mizrachi_ it is now certain that their propaganda is not detrimental to the interests of Zionism――that on the contrary their principal aims, such as the fostering of belief in the laws of our forefathers, the maintenance of ancient rites and customs, and the revival of the Hebrew language, are such as to obtain for them continually new supporters among strictly orthodox Jews.

Among a number of books written to explain the standpoint of the _Mizrachi_, there should be mentioned _Zionism from the Standpoint of Orthodoxy_ (1904), by Rabbi Dr. Roth of Papa (Hungary); _The Voice of Zion_ (1905), by Rabbi Reines, and _Mizrachi_ (1907), by Dr. Feuchtwanger.

10. _Women Zionist Societies_

In the measure in which the Jewish national movement had begun to expand the question was raised more and more frequently what the attitude of the Jewish woman would be towards this movement. In the Jewish nation woman occupies a pre-eminent position.

At the time of the existence of the Jewish state the whole inner life rested upon family organization. Woman is the entirely coequal ruler of the home, and truly regal is the description which the Bible traces of her. She is prophetess and bard, the inspirer of all that is good and strong, and the bestower of the prize of combat. She is the first to display that wonderful enduring heroism which is the heritage of the Jewish race. She initiates the great national works; it is significant that tradition traces back the liberation out of Egypt to the merit of noble women. At the time of the erection of a spiritual country after the loss of the homeland, at the time of formation of the Talmud, the high appreciation of woman rose still more. In the writings of that time she appears as the naive leader whose untrammelled and unsophisticated mind grasps the nature of things, and who, quick in discernment, settles matters resolutely. But the highest importance woman attains during the period of the “Ghetto.” Here all life concentrates in the family. Free civic life is replaced by the narrower but pleasurable family life. Here woman becomes the creator of a self-contained family culture. She relieves man of a great part of his business dealings and makes it possible for him to devote himself to his intellectual pursuits. In the midst of the heaviest persecution she inspires him with courage and confidence. She brings up her children to be valiant and steadfast Jews. She carries into the home a wonderful natural freshness which replaces as far as possible the tender verdure of the lost country. The Jewish woman it is who, in this time of suffering, encourages man to persistence in the faith. Spanish-Jewish women urged their husbands to seek death together with them. In all the massacres and persecutions of the Middle-Ages Jewish women gained the highest crown of martyrdom.

But the disposition of the Jewish woman has radically changed since complete or partial emancipation. The cause lies in the change of the whole situation. At the time of the Ghetto the sufferings of the Jew were as unspeakably heavy as his joys were profound and intimate. For good and for evil he was under the shadow of a great fate, and therein he developed. Suffering destroyed his strength, the passive heroism peculiar to him, home happiness, his kindness of heart and joy of sacrifice; both united made him true, true to the past and true to his nation. This grew gradually different. With the advance of so-called civilization persecution became more petty and perfidious; it no longer threatened existence itself at any moment, but it crept into every hour of life, into each everyday activity. The one stab of the dagger had become a thousand pinpricks, out of the great fate which drew heroism out of man, and an abundance of passions, virtues, resolutions, renunciations, struggles and victories of all kinds, a painfully dragging, tortured and harassed existence had come into being. And with lesser sufferings the joys got lesser too. The beautiful unity of home-life became loosened through the great gulf between old and young, such as is not met with in any other nation of the world. The increased struggle for daily life separated married couples and impeded the education of the children, the apparently greater absence of danger operated against the strong national resistance and the welding and segregating special customs.

This state of dissolution was reinforced to a great degree by the declaration of the legal equifranchise of the Jews. Their instinct of self-preservation adapted itself to the new conditions of existence in just as extreme a manner as their seclusion had formerly been extreme. In the now arising fanaticism for assimilation the women, who adapt themselves most easily to their surroundings and assume their nature, shared most intensely. While all strove after non-Jewishness the inner structure of Judaism was crippled, all innate power discarded, Jewish solidarity dispensed with and independent culture destroyed.

The rigid family organization upon which the vitality of the Jewish nation reposed, collapsed under the impact of the extraneous; with Jewish customs the Jewish home began to break up, with the evanescence of fidelity love too faded. An attempt was made to stupefy through an outward life of luxury, as bustling as possible, the feeling of forlornness brought about by the want of inner contentment. Thus it frequently happened that the assimilated Jewish woman became ever more estranged from her sphere of activity. She who had formerly been mistress in her own house was often the slave of her servants; she gave herself up to a dull, nervous idleness; with her the old charitableness of the Jews became snobbishness. The desire for beauty which formerly animated Jewish woman, was distorted by her into a tasteless and unhealthy love of finery, as if someone transformed a beautiful national costume into the gaudy robe of a carnival pierrot. Sincere, devoted faith has gone without making room for a new and strong conception of life; the more burdensome religious practices have been given up, a few easier ones have been outwardly retained, without apprehension of their meaning and without the feeling of their sanctity. The synagogue and the sermon, the only religiously stimulating momenta, which one attended ever more seldom, were not sufficient to counteract a thousand other influences of life and surroundings.

Therefore Jewish woman, more so than man, needed a great, inspiring Jewish ideal. And on the other hand, the realization of this ideal needed the collaboration of woman no less than the collaboration of man. For national rejuvenation in its innermost core can emanate from Jewish woman to a considerable extent. For a nation without a land and for a nation in dispersion, home is the pillar of life. In the Diaspora the Jewish home is the Jewish nation. In the first instance it was found desirable that Jewish woman should become active for Zionism, that is contribute in speech and writing to the diffusion of the national idea, and exhort to self-help. Through her warmth of feeling and freshness of will she is to help to reunite the divergent members of the nation, and from her love of the nation a community of souls is to resuscitate. She must recognize that she can only then become a whole personality if she values highly the peculiarity of her race, and if she tends and develops the Jewishness in her. She will then again make home and family life what they once were: the hub of life and the spring of ever new energy. One will see there Jewish works of art on the walls, Jewish books upon the table, and Jewish customs being practised with deep, gladsome understanding. Then the quiet force which overcomes laughingly everything inimical will again gather in the family. True, living love for the great destiny of the Jewish nation, strong, helpful love for its present, hopeful and cheery readiness to work for the future of this nation, and preparation of this future through energetic collaboration in the Zionistic organization, which acknowledges no difference of duties and rights between man and woman――with this message the modern Jewish national idea appealed to the Jewish woman.

To be sure, Jewish woman did not enter the national movement in numbers, nor at once: nevertheless she joined the first pioneers of the _Chovevé Zion_ as well as the first Zionists. At all Zionist congresses Jewish women took part as delegates, and in Palestine they have unfolded a particularly beneficial activity in the domain of home industry for women.

B. FINANCIAL

1. _The Jewish Colonial Trust_

The Jewish Colonial Trust is the financial instrument of the Zionist movement, and its main object is the industrial and commercial development of Palestine and the neighbouring countries.

Among the prominent Jews who supported the formation of the
Company from its inception were the following: S. Barbasch,
_Odessa_; Herbert Bentwich, _London_; M. T. Eliasberg, _Pinsk_;
T. H. Ellman, _Braila_; M. Farbstein, _Warsaw_; Leopold
Kahn, _Vienna_; Samuel L. Heymann, _London_; Theodor Herzl,
_Vienna_; Isidor Jasinowski, _Warsaw_; J. H. Kann, _The Hague_;
Stanislaus Landau, _Lodz_; Gregorie Lurie, _Pinsk_; Max
Mandelstamm, _Kieff_; Alex. Marmorek, _Paris_; Oscar Marmorek,
_Vienna_; Moritz Moses, _Kattowitz_; Max Nordau, _Paris_;
Samuel Pineles, _Galatz_; Heinrich Rosenbaum, _Jassy_;
S. T. Sachs, _Dwinsk_; Leib Schalit, _Riga_; Moritz
Schnirer, _Vienna_; Heinrich Steiner, _Vienna_; W. Temkin,
_Elizabethgrad_; E. W. Tschlenow, _Moscow_; David Wolffsohn,
_Cologne_; and Oser Kokesch, _Vienna_.

According to the Company’s Articles of Association it was permitted to commence business as soon as an eighth part of its capital, viz. £250,000, had actually been paid up. This stage was reached at the beginning of 1902.

The subscribers to the Memorandum and Articles of Association
were: David Wolffsohn, Jacobus Henricus Kann, Samuel Leopold
Heymann, Samuel Barbasch, Gregorie Lurie, Salomon F. Sachs,
Heinrich Rosenbaum. For the last four the Haham, Dr. Moses
Gaster, acted as Attorney. The first Council of the Company
consisted of Dr. Theodor Herzl, Dr. Moritz Schnirer, Dr. Oser
Kokesch, Dr. Leopold Kahn, Oscar Marmorek, Dr. Max Mandelstamm,
Dr. Richard Gottheil, Dr. Israel Jelsky, Isidor Jasinowski, Dr.
Max Bodenheimer, D. J. Bernstein-Kohan, Samuel Pineles, J. H.
Ellman, Dr. Alexander Marmorek, Wladimir Temkin, Dr. Samuel
Schur, Carl Herbst, Dr. E. W. Tschlenow, Dr. Salomon Rosenheck,
and M. Ussischkin.

The first directors were the aforementioned subscribers to the
Memorandum, and the first Governors were: Dr. Rudolf Schauer,
Leib Schalit, Abraham Hornstein.

The first Secretary of the Company was Mr. James H. Loewe, who
resigned his post in May, 1903, on his appointment as Manager
of the East End Branch of the International Bank of London, Ltd.

For the first business year (1902) Mr. David Levontin was
Manager.

The Company carries on ordinary banking business at its Head Office in the City of London (10‒12 Walbrook) and its East End Branch (41 Whitechapel Road, E.), and is registered at Somerset House as bankers, in accordance with the requirements of the law.

The nominal capital of £2,000,000 is divided into £1,999,900 ordinary shares of £1 each and 100 founders’ shares of £1 each. These latter shares are jointly held by those persons who for the time being are the members of the Council of the Company. The members of this Council are appointed by the Actions Committee of the Zionist Congress from the members, and are entitled at any General Meeting of the Company on all questions, with the exception of that relating to the declaration of a dividend, to as many votes as all the holders of ordinary shares present and voting at such General Meeting. The capital issued, including the aforementioned 100 founders’ shares, amounted, on the 15th May, 1916, to £261,658. The Company is controlled by a Council consisting at present of twenty members, who are at the same time the joint holders of the founders’ shares referred to above, and by a Board of Directors consisting at present of thirteen members, of whom four are Governors ( Representatives of the Council). Until his death in September, 1914, David Wolffsohn was President of the Council and a Governor. He succeeded the late Dr. Herzl in these positions on his death in 1904. Previous to that Wolffsohn was Chairman of the Board of Directors, which position he had held since the formation of the Company in 1899.

The members of the present Council are Professor Dr. O.
Warburg (Vice-President), Dr. M. J. Bodenheimer (Reporter), M.
M. Ussischkin, I. A. Rosoff, A. Podlischewsky, Simon Rosenbaum,
I. Naiditsch, J. H. Kann, L. Kessler, Jean Fischer, Dr. V.
Jacobsohn, M. Hornstein, Dr. A. Marmorek, Julius Simon, L.
Motzkin, Dr. A. Hantke, J. Kremenetzky, Dr. A. Friedemann, Dr.
A. Klee. The members of the present Board of Directors are:
Dr. V. Katzenelsohn (Chairman), J. H. Kann (Vice-Chairman),
S. Barbasch, H. Urysohn, Joseph Cowen, I. A. Rosoff, M. M.
Ussischkin, Jean Fischer, Julius Simon, L. Kessler, M.
Feldstein, Dr. V. Jacobsohn, J. Kremenetzky. The last four
members are the Governors.

2. _The Anglo-Palestine Company, Ltd._

This Company was registered on the 27th January, 1902, and began its business operations in the spring of 1903. Its Head Office is at _Jaffa_, and it has Branches at _Jerusalem_ (Manager: Dr. Isaac Levy; Sub-Manager: S. Gordon), _Hebron_ (Manager: S. Slonim), _Haifa_ (Manager: V. Kaisermann), _Beirut_ (I. Lipawsky, who died in October, 1915, was Manager before the outbreak of war), _Safed_ (Manager: J. Karniol), _Tiberias_ (Manager: Mr. Bentovim).

The Managing Director of the Company is Mr. David Levontin,
who is assisted at the Head Office by S. Hoofien, Assistant
General Manager, and J. Grasowsky and M. Arwas, Sub-Managers.

The Company is the mainstay of Jewish colonization in Palestine. It advances money to Land Societies for buying land, which is then sold to new immigrants, also to building societies for establishing modern hygienic quarters in the vicinity of towns (Jaffa, Jerusalem, Haifa, etc.). It also makes advances for the installation of water supplies in the Jewish Colonies, and grants loans on long terms for the development of plantations. It has further organized with its own means Co-operative and Loan Societies for the purpose of buying agricultural implements and selling the products of the soil, especially oranges, lemons and wine. The Company has also elaborated various projects for public enterprises, such as tramways, irrigation works, electric lighting, etc. The Company also carries on every kind of banking business, dealing with all elements of the population regardless of race or creed. Thus the Company has become an important factor in the economic life of the country.

The nominal capital of the Company is £120,000, divided into 120,000 ordinary shares of £1 each. The paid-up capital on the 15th May, 1916, was £99,727.

The Board of Directors of the Company consists of the
following members: J. H. Kann (Vice-Chairman), Dr. N.
Katzenelsohn, S. Barbasch, H. Urysohn, Joseph Cowen, M. M.
Ussischkin, L. Kessler, M. Feldstein, J. Kremenetzky, I. L.
Goldberg, D. Levontin (Managing Director). The last Chairman
of the Company before the war was the late David Wolffsohn.

3. _The Anglo-Levantine Banking Company, Ltd._

This Company was registered on the 8th May, 1908, and has since then carried on banking business in Turkey.

The nominal capital of the Company is £100,000, and the paid-up capital on the 15th May, 1916, was £25,038.

The Board of Directors consists of the following members: Dr.
N. Katzenelsohn (Chairman), J. H. Kann (Vice-Chairman), S.
Barbasch, Joseph Cowen, M. Feldstein, Dr. V. Jacobsohn, L.
Kessler, J. Kremenetzky, D. Levontin, S. Mitrani, H. Urysohn.
The Constantinople Managers are: S. Mitrani (Director) and Dr.
V. Jacobsohn (Director).

4. _The Jewish National Fund_

The Jewish National Fund was established in accordance with a decision of the second Congress, its object being to acquire land for the Jewish people in Palestine, such land to remain for ever the property of the whole Jewish nation. The management of the Fund has deemed it its duty to promote all undertakings of public utility in Palestine, assisting thereby to the utmost the general progress of the work of colonization. The Jewish National Fund is the most popular of Zionist institutions.

The Jewish National Fund was legalized in this country on the 8th of April, 1907, as an “Association Limited by Guarantee, and not having a Capital Divided into Shares.” By the constitution of the Association the permanent right of control is vested in the representatives elected by the Zionist Congress, who are identical with the holders of founders’ shares and members of the Council of the Jewish Colonial Trust, Ltd. (referred to above).

According to the Articles of Association, only 75 per cent of the assets of the Fund may be invested in Palestine; the remaining 25 per cent must always be left in the shape of money on deposit or investment of an easily realizable nature. The Bankers of the Association are the Jewish Colonial Trust, Ltd. The Fund amounted at the end of the year 1914 to £209,243 18s. 6d.

The means of collecting contributions to the Fund are numerous and varied. They include: General Donations, Collecting Sheets, Collecting Boxes, the Golden Book, National Fund Stamps and Telegrams, Olive Tree Donations, Contributions to the Workers’ Dwelling Fund, etc. The Golden Book has been instituted for the purpose of entering the names of Zionist workers and supporters, on payment of the sum of £10 or more. The first Golden Book, containing 5000 names, has already been filled. It is an elaborately executed work of art, and is generally exhibited at Zionist Congresses. The second Golden Book, now in use, was produced by the Palestinian Art School “Bezalel” at Jerusalem. On the entry of a name in this book, an artistically executed certificate is issued.

A few years ago another book, called “Memorial Book,” was instituted for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of Jews who have defended the honour or property of the Jewish people in Palestine, or have been permanently and successfully occupied in the interest of the Jewish National Fund, or have left by will, according to their means, a considerable legacy for the benefit of the Fund.

The Fund has also received from time to time considerable sums for the purpose of foundations, principally to build homesteads for the workers. The principal contributions under this heading have been: The David and Fanny Wolffsohn Foundation, about £3000, and the Halperin Foundation (Vienna), about £4000. Besides the foregoing sums other contributions towards the Workers’ Homestead Fund, amounting to about £17,000 in all, have been received.

The total income from every kind of contribution to the Fund was about £25,000 for the year 1915, contributions having come from about thirty different countries in all parts of the world.

By the end of the year 1914 the Jewish National Fund had invested in Palestine close upon £150,000――70 per cent of its entire assets.

The members of the Company are the holders of founders’ shares of the Jewish Colonial Trust, Ltd. (see above).

The administration of the Fund is in the hands of a Board of Directors, consisting of five Directors elected by the members, and two Governors appointed by the Controlling Committee. This Committee consists of the persons who for the time being form the Smaller Actions Committee of the Zionist Congress, and its functions are merely those of vetoing or prohibiting any act of the Directors that the Committee may deem to be detrimental to the interests of the Association.

The present Directors are: Dr. Max Bodenheimer, L. Kessler, J.
Kremenetzky, and Dr. A. Hantke.

The only Governor is Professor Dr. O. Warburg (the second
Governor, D. Wolffsohn, having died in September, 1914).
The Secretary of the Association was H. Neumann, and its
registered office is at 10‒12 Walbrook, London, E.C.

The Administrative Office of the Association is situate at
the Hague, and the principal officials at that office are:
Engineer J. Kaplansky, N. Gross and S. Hallenstein.

Central offices exist in many countries for the collecting
of contributions and donations to the Fund. The addresses of
these officers are:――

Argentine: Federacion Sionista en Argentine, Buenos-Aires,
Sarmiento 2086.

Australia: The Brisbane Zionist Society, c/o J. A. Blumberg,
Hon. Sec., Brisbane-East, Wellington Road.

The Victoria Zionist Association, “_Hatchiah_,” Melbourne,
313 Drummont Street, Carlton.

The Sydney Zionist Society, c/o M. B. Michelson, Hon. Sec.,
Sydney, Pett Street 64.

Belgium: Oscar Fischer, now at Scheveningen, Cornelius Jolstr.
105 Sam. Schmeidler, Scheveningen, Stevinstr. 142.

Brazil: Associacio Zionistat _Tiferes Zion_, c/o Jaime
Horowitz, Rio de Janeiro, Rua Visconte Itanna.

Bulgaria: Comité Central Sioniste, aux bons soins de Mr. le
Dr. Benroya, Philippopoli.

Canada: Bureau Committee of the Federation of Zionist
Societies of Canada, Montreal, P.O. Box 912.

China: E. B. Ezra, Esq., c/o the Bank of Territorial
Development of China, Shanghai, Nanking Rd. 33.

Denmark: S. Skorochod, Kopenhagen, Bordergade 30.

Egypt: Jacob Caleff, Heliopolis-Le Cairo, Rue Zagazig.

Germany: Jüdischer Nationalfonds, Zentrale für Deutschland,
Berlin, W., 15 Sachsische Str. 8.

England: Jewish National Fund Commission for England, 15 New
Broad Street, London, E.C. 2.

France: J. Salzmann, Paris, 41 Rue de la Tour d’Auvergne.

Greece: Syllogue Sioniste “_Poale-Sion_,” Volo.

La Commission Mixte de Fonds National des Sociétés
“_Bené Sion_” and “Nordau” aux bons soins de Mr. J. Usiel,
Salonique.

Holland: Alfred Polak, Tilburg, Telegraafenstr. 1.

Italy: Mademoiselle Emma Coen, Verona, 14 Via Gran Czara.

Croatia, Bosnia, Slavonia: Frau Clara Barmaper-Jacobi, Agram,
Boskovicg 23.

New Zealand: The Auckland Zionist Society, Auckland Park Rd. 42.

United States of America: Jewish National Fund Bureau for
America, New York City, 44 E. 23rd Street.

Norway: Norske Zionist Forening, p. Adr. Aron Grusd,
Christiania, Karl Johan Str. 7.

Austria: Jüdischer Nationalfonds, Sammelstelle für Österreich,
Wein ii Zirkusgasse 33.

Eastern Asia: Josef Levy, Singapore, 10 Robinson Road.

Portugal: W. Terlo, Lissabon, Rua St. Nicolau 59.

Roumania: M. Heinrich Schein, Galatz.

Switzerland: W. Simon, Zürich, Neugasse 11.

Serbia: Dr. D. Alcalay, Belgrad.

Sweden: J. Abel, Stockholm, Storkyrkobrinken 8.

South Africa: South African Zionist Federation, Mr. B. J.
Chaimowitz, Johannesburg, P.O. Box 18.

Tunis: Association Sioniste Tunisienne, Tunis, 52 Rue des
Glacières.

Hungary: Zsido Nomzoti Alap magyarorszagi irodaja, Budapest
Kiraly utca 36.

* * * * *

In England the collection of funds is entrusted to the
National Fund Commission for England. This commission consists
of two representatives of the English Zionist Federation
and two representatives of the Order of Ancient Maccabeans.
The office of the Commission is at 15 New Broad Street, London,
E.C. 2, which has a number of sub-commissions in London and
the principal provincial towns. It organizes frequently
house-to-house collections, flower days, collections at public
meetings, places of worship and entertainment, etc.

The English National Fund Commission has recently published a small pamphlet, giving full particulars of its activities. A larger pamphlet, entitled _The Jewish National Fund_, is now being issued in the English language by the Head Office of the Fund, and by the time that this book reaches the public will no doubt be obtainable at the Office of the National Fund Commission in London.

5. _The Palestine Land Development Company, Ltd._

This Company was registered on the 20th of January, 1909. Its main object is to encourage the settlement of Jews in Palestine by the purchase and parcelling out of the land and by preparing the soil for the successful settlement of a larger number of small holders.

The nominal capital of the Company is £50,000, divided into 40,000 ordinary shares of £1 each and 200 founders’ shares of £50 each.

The Secretary of the Company is W. Wolf, and the Office at 10‒12 Walbrook, London, E.C.

6. _Jüdischer Kulturfonds Kedem
(Kedem Keren Hatarbuth Hoiwrith), Ltd._

This Company was established for the purpose of developing and promoting and assisting in the development and promotion of Jewish knowledge and learning, the cultivation of Hebrew literature and Jewish history, and the revival and use of the Hebrew language in the prescribed region (which expression means Palestine, Syria and the Peninsula of Sinai). In order to carry out these objects the Company aims at establishing an Academy (_Sinhedrijah_) as a central institution of Hebrew and Jewish learning. It further intends to publish all kinds of books, useful for its purpose, and distribute them among individuals, academies, colleges, universities, schools and other institutions. It also proposes to establish and maintain all kinds of schools and teaching establishments, to promote the main object of the Company. Among its many ancillary objects are the granting of scholarships, and the subsidizing of funds, pension schemes, etc., for maintaining Jewish authors, teachers and artists.

The foundation of the Company is due to the initiative of Mr. Moses Feldstein of Warsaw, who contributed the sum of about £1500. In commemoration of this fact a Fund was created under the name of “Feldstein Foundation,” which is to comprise the aforementioned sum and all other capital donations given to the Company from time to time towards this Fund. Since the establishment of the Company several other similar contributions have been made to the Fund, but the outbreak of the war has prevented the founder of the Company, Mr. Feldstein, and his co-directors from carrying out the vigorous propaganda which they intended to set on foot in all parts of the world. The members of the Company consist of the joint holders of the founders’ shares of the Jewish Colonial Trust, the Directors of the Jewish National Fund, and the President of the Odessa Committee (the Committee of the Company for assisting Jewish Agriculturists and Handicraftsmen in Syria and Palestine).

The Directors of the Company are M. Feldstein (Chairman),
Dr. A. Hantke, Dr. S. Levin, A. Podlischewsky, N. Sokolow,
M. Ussischkin, Dr. Ch. Weizmann.

The Secretary of the Company is W. Wolf, and the office is at
10‒12 Walbrook, London, E.C.

7. _The First London Achuzah Company, Ltd._

The First London _Achuzah_ Company, Ltd., was founded by Dr. J. M. Salkind, with the assistance of Mr. M. Rosenblum and Mr. T. Z. Teacher, in April, 1913, when fifteen members joined the Company. Towards the end of 1913 the number of members amounted to fifty. It has now increased to eighty, about fifty of whom live in London, fifteen in Edinburgh, one in Russia and the rest in provincial towns in England.

The Company was incorporated as a limited liability company in England at the beginning of 1914. The members decided to pay 25 per cent of the amount subscribed by them (a full member’s share amounting to £300). At the same time the Company sent two delegates to Palestine to make investigations with a view to the purchase of suitable land. This was in February, 1914, after fifty members had paid up an aggregate sum of £4000. The two delegates who proceeded to Palestine were Dr. J. M. Salkind and Mr. H. Sterling. The nominal capital of the Company amounted on registration to £15, 000, but was increased in August, 1914, to £25,000, and it is now intended to increase it again to £50,000. Most of the members have already paid the Company more than one-third of the amount of their shares (£120 on each £300 share). Some of the members have taken more than one share――one and a half, two, two and a half, and in one case three shares. About half of the members belong to the artisan class, while the other half consist mostly of merchants. The Company intends to establish also an industrial _Achuzah_, for the purpose of encouraging and establishing industrial undertakings in Palestine.

When the delegates came back from Palestine, they proposed the purchase of the second half of Kerkur, the first half of which belongs to Mr. Schlesinger (a Zionist of Chita, Siberia), and covers an area of 5134 dunam (about 1280 acres). The proposal was accepted in May, 1914, and the Company paid half of the purchase price, which amounted to £8850. The purchase was made through the Palestine Land Development Co., Ltd., London.

From that time onwards the membership in London, Cairo, and the two small branch companies in Paris and Antwerp, increased considerably. The progress thus achieved induced the Company to increase the extent of its holding in Palestine, and it purchased in 1914 a large area of land called Rabia, in the neighbourhood of Kerkur, measuring about 4000 dunam (1000 acres), the purchase price being £6030. The first instalment of £2000 has already been paid to the Palestine Land Development Co., Ltd., in connection with this transaction.

Owing to the outbreak of the War, the work of the _Achuzah_ Company had to be suspended, and, consequently, the branch companies in Paris, Antwerp and Cairo collapsed. In the United Kingdom, however, and particularly in Edinburgh, the activities of the Company have recently been revived, and a number of new members have joined, in spite of the unfavourable general conditions. In view of this unexpected success, the Directors of the Company intend in the near future to remove the restriction which prevents the Company from having more than fifty members (it having originally been registered as a private company).

The present Directors are: L. Eisen, W. Kirsch, Ch. Inwald, Ch.
Kaufman, H. Teacher, Abraham Bendas, Ch. Warschawsky, Dr. J. M.
Salkind (Managing Director).

The land purchased by the _Achuzah_ in Palestine is most favourably situated from the point of view of communication. From the Arabah (Dothan) station it is only one hour’s journey by car to Toul Kerem, a station on the new railway line from Merchawia to Lud and Beersheba. Thus the _Achuzah_ settlement will be in a position to keep in touch with Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, and other places, by means of railway communication.

8. _The Maccabean Land Company, Ltd._

The Maccabean Land Company is registered as a limited liability company, with a capital of £52,000, divided into forty founders’ shares (reserved for subscription by the Order of Ancient Maccabeans, its Beacons and Allied Societies) of the value of £50 each and 1000 land shares, offered for general subscription, of £50 each, each entitling to an allotment of land in the proposed Maccabean Settlement. The object of the Company is to enable its members, by the accumulation of small periodical payments, to acquire landholdings in Palestine, either for personal occupation or for profitable development. For this purpose it is proposed to acquire forthwith a large area of land (preferentially in the south of Palestine, in the district of Modin, the ancient home of the Maccabees), capable of being parcelled out in allotments and profitably cultivated. The minimum subscription of £10,000 has already been assured, and the Company proposes to enter into negotiations with one of the existing public bodies engaged in the acquisition of land in Palestine for the purchase of an area of land sufficient to provide allotments for all the subscribing members. Unfortunately, the War has compelled the Company to suspend its activities for the present.

C. HEBREW SCHOOLS IN PALESTINE,
AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS OF THE NEW COLONIZATION

The new Jewish colonization movement in Palestine has led to the establishment of more than fifty primary schools, two high schools, two agricultural schools, one handicraft school and one school of arts and crafts. A polytechnic institute on a large scale, for the training of engineers and chemists, was about to be opened when the War broke out. Particulars concerning the Agricultural Experiment Station are given elsewhere in this volume.

The principal schools under the care and supervision of the Zionist Organization are the following:――

_The Hebrew Teachers’ Seminary and School of Commerce at Jerusalem_, attended by ninety pupils. This school is situated in the centre of the Jewish Settlement, with sufficient space for classrooms, the teachers’ room, collections of specimens and instruments for instruction in natural science. The garden is used for drill and instruction in botany. All graduates of the Teachers’ Seminary are teachers in Palestine, and some of the graduates of the School of Commerce have also found employment as teachers. The students have organized evening classes for mothers, where they teach them to speak Hebrew, while their children attend the Kindergarten. (The Director is M. David Yellin.)

_The Hebrew School for Boys_ at Jerusalem, attended by 205 pupils, including a great number of Sephardim (55 per cent). This number is continually increasing. Instruction is given in all Jewish subjects, as well as in Mathematics, History, Geography, Botany, Singing, Drawing, Gardening, in the Arabic language and some European languages. (Director: M. Sutta.)

_The Girls’ School_ at Jerusalem is attended by 280 pupils, 55 per cent of whom are Ashkenazim, and 33 per cent Sephardim, the rest belonging to Georgian, Yemenite and Persian Jewish families. The subjects of instruction are: Hebrew, Bible, History, Arithmetic, Geography, Zoology, Botany, Drawing, Singing, Gardening, and Modern Languages. More than half of the regular pupils are boarded at the School.

_The School for Kindergarten Teachers_ at Jerusalem is attended by thirty-three pupils. Here the girls are trained to become Kindergarten teachers. The instruction is practical as well as theoretical.

_The Hebrew Boys’ School_ at Jaffa has eight classes and is attended by about 150 children. Pupils who have passed through this School enter the Teachers’ Seminary at Jerusalem, the Hebrew Gymnasium (High School) at Jaffa, or the Agricultural School at Petach-Tikvah, or take up their parents’ trade. (Director: Dr. Marschak.)

_The Hebrew Kindergarten_ at Haifa is attended by seventy children, and is developing satisfactorily.

_The Hebrew School_ at Haifa has 104 scholars (ninety-seven Ashkenazim, seven Sephardim), and consists of three elementary and four other classes. A preparatory course has also been established, which is attended by twenty-six children. As in all other Zionist schools, the instruction is given in Hebrew. The syllabus is that of a Continental secondary school.

_The Agricultural School_ at Petach-Tikvah has about fifty pupils, children of the local colonists. Besides instruction in Jewish subjects, modern European languages and Arabic, practical instruction is given in agriculture and horticulture. Some of the pupils work with the colonists, and in that way not only acquire a good practical knowledge, but are able to earn their own living. This School has endeavoured to establish a special department for every branch of agriculture, each with its own plot of land for experimental purposes.

_The Jewish Music Schools_ at Jaffa and Jerusalem, called “_Shulamit_,” and founded by the late Mrs. Ruppin in 1912, are attended by several pupils of other schools, and have gained great popularity in the country.

_The Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts_ is an important element in the Palestinian Hebrew revival, and has already influenced the Jewish communities of Europe and America. Many Jewish homes possess specimens of the new Palestinian handicrafts, which remind them that in the home of the Jewish people deft handicraftsmen, inspired by the Jewish spirit, are giving a new expression to the genius of their race in metal-work and wood-carving, in carpet-weaving and embroidery. Hebrew characters and emblems enter into the woof and the warp of a Bezalel carpet and give character to the design.¹ The School and Workshops, founded by an enthusiastic Zionist artist, Boris Schatz, are supported by several Committees on the Continent, in this country, and in America, and form a means of most successful Zionist propaganda among all classes of the Jewish and Gentile population. Many Bezalel exhibitions and bazaars have been held, one as recently as 1912, in London. The Bezalel includes also a beautiful little museum of Palestinian antiquities and specimens of Palestinian flora and fauna, as well as of modern Jewish art (including Glitzenstein’s masterpiece, _Messiah_, Joseph Israels’ portrait――one of the last works of his life, painted for the Bezalel, of which this great master, a sincere friend of the Zionist movement, was a patron). This museum has also the largest existing collection of old Jewish coins, described in M. S. Raffael’s (Raffalowitsch) _Matbeoth Ha’ibrim Ha’kadmonim Jerusalem_, 1913.

¹ _Palestine and the Hebrew Revival_, by E. Miller. _p._ 15.

_The Jaffa Hebrew High School_ (for boys and girls), the so-called _Gymnasiah Ibrith_ (Herzliah, founded in 1906), is first and foremost among the institutions of the Hebrew revival in Palestine. No institution has proved so triumphantly the vitality and significance of the modern revival of the Hebrew language and of Jewish national education as the _Gymnasiah Ibrith_ has done with its staff of pioneer-teachers, graduates of various European universities, and its eight hundred pupils from all parts of the world-wide Jewish Diaspora. The great merit of establishing this institution belongs to Dr. Methman-Cohn, who was assisted by the late Dr. Leo Kahn of Kishinew. The most vigilant and generous friend and patron of the _Gymnasiah Ibrith_, Mr. Jacob Moser, M.P., of Bradford, provided the institution with the means to erect the impressive building which forms the centre of the little Jewish town Tel Aviv, near Jaffa. This institution, equipped with everything that is necessary for the teaching of all branches of science, has attracted the best of the younger Zionist intellectuals, who have made it their life-work to inaugurate a system of national education in a modernized living Hebrew. (The most important workers in this institution are mentioned elsewhere in this volume.)

_The Jaffa Hebrew School for Girls_ (_Beth Sefer Le’banoth_) was founded by the Odessa “Lovers of Zion” Association in 1894, and is attended by a few hundred girls. The principal is that most able pioneer and Hebrew educationist, Dr. Tourov. It is the best school of its kind in the country.

_The Seminary for Women Teachers_ at Jaffa, also maintained by the Odessa “Lovers of Zion,” was founded in 1913 in a house built for the purpose, the means having been supplied by the Russian Zionist M. Isaac Feinberg, in the shape of a donation.

_The Tachkemoni Secondary School_ at Jaffa, founded in 1905, and attended by a few hundred pupils, is chiefly supported by the strictly orthodox section of Zionists, the _Mizrachi_, and is doing important educational work on traditional lines, but with a modernized syllabus. Instruction is given in science, Arabic and modern languages. (The school was under the control of Rabbi Kuk and a _Mizrachi_ Committee.)

_The Jerusalem Gymnasium_ (High School), attended by about 150 pupils, boys and girls, was established in 1911 by a group of teachers interested in national education. Although it has not so far achieved its full development, it bids fair to produce good results.

The Odessa “Lovers of Zion” Association maintains Kindergartens in Safed, Tiberias and Jaffa; schools for children in the colonies of Chederah, Bir Jacob, Wadi el Chanin, Artuf, Moza and Kastinie; and schools at Tiberias, Haifa and Gaza. It contributes also to the support of the Tachkemoni and the Handicrafts School attached to the _Talmud-Torah_ (religious school) at Jaffa, and of the Bezalel at Jerusalem.

The “Free Association for the Defence of the Interests of Orthodox Judaism” at Frankfort supports a number of schools in the colonies, which have also accepted Hebrew as the language of instruction. To this category belong the Talmud-Torah schools at Petach-Tikvah, Rishon Le’Zion, Ekron, Rechoboth and Haifa.

The Jewish Colonization Association maintains almost all the schools in the colonies, but the management of the schools is left to the colonists themselves. As we are confining ourselves mostly to “Lovers of Zion” and Zionist work, we refrain from giving full statistics of these schools, which are important from the standpoint of numbers as well as from that of efficiency. To mention just a few of them, the schools in Upper Galilee (at Rosh Pinah and other colonies) are excellent, both from the pedagogical point of view and in the teaching of living Hebrew, which is the language of instruction.

The _Alliance Israélite Universelle_ of Paris has a long and important record of school work in Palestine, and the _Hilfsverein der deutsche Juden_ has also established a large number of schools, etc. In 1913 the _Alliance_ requested its schools in Palestine to give more attention to Hebrew. The Evelina de Rothschild School for Girls of the Anglo-Jewish Association, under the headship of Miss Landau, is doing very useful work.

Mention should be made also of the numerous religious old-fashioned schools and colleges (Talmud-Torah schools and _Yeshiboth_) for boys and young scholars at Jerusalem and in the provinces, in which thousands of Jewish children are educated in knowledge of the Bible and the Talmud. In spite of its defects, the old Jewish settlement in Palestine was instrumental in paving the way for the new colonization, and in this respect the old schools, notwithstanding their out-of-date methods, deserve the highest appreciation for having preserved in the children the knowledge of religion and ancient Hebrew literature. Gradually the new spirit is penetrating into some of these schools, as, for instance, into the _Cheder Torah_ (founded in 1906), where the Hebrew language has been adopted as the language of instruction.

In connection with the ever-increasing and extensive work of national education in Palestine the “Union of Teachers” (_Merchaz Ha’morim_) calls for mention as one of the most important organizations. It was established some years ago for the purpose of fostering educational development in the new Jewish settlement, of providing means for the further training of teachers, and for completing the education of those engaged in school work, by such means as holiday courses, lectures, excursions, research work, discussions and debates dealing with the curriculum and methods of instruction, and so on.

The _Merchaz_ has also established the nucleus of an Education Museum, with sections for history, pedagogy and hygiene.

The “Language Board” (_Vaad Ha’lashon_) at Jerusalem (including D. Yellin, E. Ben Jehuda, Dr. Maze, Sutta and others) plays an important part in the national awakening. The rebirth of the Jewish nation being impossible without the rebirth of the national language, the work of modernizing and enriching the national language is as essential and as indispensable for the realization of Zionism as the purchase and cultivation of land or the financial arrangements for that purpose. To unearth the treasures of our ancient language, to reveal to our people the wealth of our national intellect, to broaden national thought and to guide it towards clear expression in its own way――this is fundamental Zionist work. Prosperous and happy nations have established academies for this purpose, which are maintained out of public funds; our more unassuming task is still in a preliminary stage, although much useful work has already been done. The “Language Board” is publishing a series of pamphlets containing suggestions for new idioms, etc.

The good work of the two last-named institutions has earned the appreciation of the Zionist Actions Committee, which has decided to provide them with the necessary means.

The Public Hebrew Library “_Bait Neeman_,” “_Midrash ♦Abrabanel_” and “_Ginze Joseph_” at Jerusalem, founded by Dr. Joseph Chazanovitsch of Bialystok, is also worthy of record. It is the only big library in Palestine which is of use to scholars, and it is therefore of immeasurable value for the revival of Palestine. (There are also collections of rare Hebrew books and MSS. in some Sephardi _Yeshiboth_, and a Hebrew Library, “_Shaar Zion_,” founded in 1891 by the new Jewish settlers at Jaffa.) It is far from being adequate――it requires extending and systematizing――but this beginning must win the admiration of all those who fully conceive the immensity of the Zionist task.

♦ “Abarbanel” replaced with “Abrabanel” for consistency

The Gymnastic Societies (_Maccabee_) at Jaffa and Jerusalem, with branch societies in Rishon Le’Zion, Zichron Jacob, and other colonies, are doing useful work for the physical development of the new generation. All these Societies have been founded during recent years by Zionists, and are supported by the Zionist Organization.

Mr. Nathan Straus, the well-known philanthropist of New York, who has identified himself with the Zionist Organization, has established a number of useful institutions in Palestine, partly of a philanthropic and hygienic, partly of a pedagogical character. His “Health Department,” which is assisted by some other Jewish Societies on the Continent, has become a real blessing to Jerusalem, likewise his “Soup Kitchen,” his classes for instructing girls in handicrafts, and his workshop for manufacturing articles of mother-of-pearl.

To the hygienic institutions belongs also the Pasteur Institute at Jerusalem, which is controlled by the well-known Russian Zionist, Dr. Arji Behm, for vaccino-therapeutical work.

The People’s Hall (_Bet-Am_) at Jerusalem is a sort of Toynbee Hall for popular lectures in Hebrew, and for concerts and amusements. Institutions of this kind exist also in Rishon Le’Zion, and other colonies.

The best known of the Hebrew Publication Societies, and of the periodicals, newspapers and magazines founded by Zionists in Palestine and devoted to the revival are the following:――

_Kohelet_, founded by the Association of Teachers for the publication of Hebrew text-books;

_Le’am_, for popular pamphlets and pamphlets on scientific subjects;

_Yefet_, for the translation of classical works of European literature;

_Moledet_, a literary periodical for young people;

_Ha’chinuch_, a periodical for teachers, dealing with pedagogical questions;

_Ha’chaklai_, a Hebrew monthly devoted to agriculture, gardening, etc.;

_Yerushalaim_, a year-book containing useful information regarding Palestine, by A. M. Luncz;

_Luach Erez Israel_, a Palestinian calendar with a literary section, by the same author.

Hebrew journalism was represented during many years by the old weekly _Chabazelet_ (editor: M. Frumkin) and by the modern _Hashkafa_ (editor: Elieser Ben-Jehuda). During recent years Ben-Jehuda has edited a daily paper, _Ha’or_. Until recently Palestine had two daily papers: _Ha’cheruth_ and _Moriah_, and two weekly papers: _Ha’poêl Ha’zair_ and _Ha’achduth_.

D. MISCELLANEOUS INSTITUTIONS

The most important institutions for the conduct, support and control of colonization work and companies for practical undertakings are:――

_The Zionist Office._ Chief Administrators: Dr. Ruppin, Dr. Thon; Agricultural Engineers: Oettinger, Zagorodzki, Vilkansky, and others.

_The Chovevé Zion Office_ (Dr. Chissin).

_The Jewish Colonization Association Office_ (M. Frank, M. Brill, and others).

_The Palestine Wine Company_ “_Carmel_,” and _The Syndicate of Vine-Growers_. (The “_Carmel_” Company has branches in Warsaw (1896) , in America (1898), the “_Carmel Oriental_” in Alexandria (1902), with sister companies――The Palestine Wine Company (“_Carmel Oriental_”) in London (Manager: A. Günzburg)――and branches in several countries. The centre is at Rishon Le’Zion, under the management of M. Gluskin).

The _Geoulah_, for the purchase of land (founded in Warsaw, 1902, in the names of Goldberg, Gluskin and Oettinger, with a branch in Odessa).

The _Pardess_, a syndicate of orange-growers; the _Ha-shaked_ for almond growing, and some other companies of the same kind.

The _Ahuzat Bait_, for house-building at Jaffa (this Company founded Tel-Aviv), and other Companies for the purchase of land for house-building, etc.