PALESTINE SCENE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 15, 19 January 1939, Page 5

PALESTINE SCENE.

JEWISH SETTLERS. AMERICANS PROSPERING. MANT HARDSHIPS OVERCOME. [The struggles and successes of American colonists in Palestine, whose settlement is named in honour of Supreme C<jurt Justice Brandeis, are described here by <i member of the faculty of Hunter College, New York, who has spent Home time studying and teaching in l'alestlne. ] (By DR. DORA ASKOWITH.) NEW YORK, December 24. In these days of storm and stress when the hearts and minde of humanity are overburdened by a medieval recurrence in a twentieth century civilisation, it is like coming upon an oasis in a desert to find one place where racial and religious discrimination cannot find vent. This is the American colony at Jiara, on the northern Esdraelon Plain near Haifa, Palestine. The American colony was. renamed Kibbutz Ein Haehofet, in honour of Justice Louis L. Brandeis, of the United States Supreme Court. Significant, indeed, is the literal translation of the Hebrew term, "The well of the Justice," but more than the attribute of justice is inherent in the/group of 130 young men and women and 18 children. It is the will power of youth to regain the ■fertility of barren soil. This indomitable Will power ia strengthened and mellowed by the hope of building a national homeland in the Holy Land. The story of the origin and growth of this colony is indicative of a pioneer spirit that is undaunted by physical limitations. The nucleus of the colony, made up of a group of chalutzim from the American Hashomer Hatzair, Jewish scouts, arrived in Palestine in May, 1931. Imbued with Zionist ideals, inculcated with the fundamental principles inherent in all scout movements and carefully trained in land cultivation by at least a year's residence and work on the farm of the American Hashomer Hatzair in New York, they joined an older colony, Mishmar Ha Emek, in Palestine. For a year, these young ecouts participated in every type of work in the colony, in the fields, at building, at planting trees and at "Shmirak," night watch. With the arrival of another sen all group of "Shomrim," or scouts, from America, they were enabled to organise an independent colony in the village of Hadera in the fall of 1932. Seventeen Persons and * Cow. The newly created Kibbutz at Hadera numbered 17 persons and one cow, a gift from the mother colony, Mishmar Ha Emek. Within a very short, time, the first tente, set up on a plot of ground offered by the Jewish National Fund, served to create livable quarters on an otherwise barren and desolate spot. The tents were soon replaced by cottages constructed by the coloniete with loans from the Keren Hayesod. The loans had to be met by the income derived from wage-labour in "pardeesim," orange grovee, and the various building works. Within two years, the colony could claim among its assets 10 cottages, a large dining hall, shingle and tile workshop and a shoe repair ehop. Although the young Kibbutz had made rapid stridee, etill it could not be regarded ae a self-sufficient unit, because of the small number of colonists. From the scout training group in America, only 12 to 15 chalutzim could be sent to the colony annually. The American Kibbutz decided to unite with "Banir," a Polish colony also made up of young chalutzim of the Hashomer Hatzair, in July of 1937. At first only 35 members, including five girle, went to the new location on the hills of Jiara, about seven kilometres from the Haifa-Jenin highway, between the Emek and the Shomron. Gradually, the other members of the original American colony went to the new location, now renamed Ein Hashofet, and the "tzrifim," bungalows, were moved to the new frontier. When the first settlers arrived at Jiara, they found an area with not a shrub or a bit of green to relieve the barren desolation of the soil. Here and there among the multitude of stones peered thorny and bleached thistles. The new home of the colonists wae a deserted stone house, once owned by the Sheik of Jiara. Dozens of mud huts, inhabited by Arabs, surrounded the region. On the first day of their arrival, the settlers erected a barbed-wire fence about the yard of their settlement, and sand-bags and walls of crushed. stone were built at every strategic point. Twelve "ghaffirim" or watchmen, provided by the Government, were stationed about the quarters. Comforts Quickly Provided. Not many days passed before th settlement, through the fervour of the chalutzim, became a comfortable habita- * tion. The jroof of the-ahiek's home wae

torn down and replaced by one of concrete. A water tap system for the house and showers was built. Water was piped from a spring for use in the garden, laundry and yard. The Arab villagers were paid to demolish their mud huts and move to new quarters several miles away. The hilltop on which the settlement is located is too small to serve the needs of the growing colony. Already work has been started on erecting permanent buildings on a broader hilltop, a few hundred yards away, to replace the present site. At present the Kibbutz obtains its water from springs near the settlement. The three cubic meters of water obtained per hour is sufficient for the drinking and household needs, and for irrigation of the vegetable garden and ;he tree nurseries. Prospects seem promising for obtaining sufficient additional quantities of water for irrigation for large vegetable and fodder crops. The development of the colony is dependent, in large measure, upon the extent of the water supply. After the task of removing the stones from the IiOO acres, or 4500 dunams, of land has been accomplished, it will be possible to prepare between 2500 and 3000 dunams for agricultural cultivation. The first year's experience has shown that the nature of the soil is good. The climatic and topographical conditions seem to warrant utilisation of the greater portion of the land for vineyards and fruit trees. The portion of the land not suited for agricultural work is to be used for forestation and for sheep and cattle pasture. First Year's Harvests Good. The achievements of the first year at "Kin Hashofet" augur well for the coining year. The yield of the first harvest of hay and grain crops was good. The barley crop produced an average of 300 kilograms, per dunam. The 200 duname of held corn provided a good yield. For the "Falcha," or grain cultivation, the colony has already acquired machinery to the value of 1500 Palestinian pounds (7500 dollars). Apple, plum, pear trees, and vineyards have been planted on 72 diinams of land. The herd of eheep has already grown to 350 head. The r lit dunams of vegetable garden provide sufficient vegetables for the needs of the settlement. The tree nurseries have progressed favourably. With the help of the Keren Kayemetb, 140 duname of pine, carob and other forest trees have already been planted.

All adult members of the Kibbutz are university students. Sixty per cent are graduates of American colleges, including two from McGill University, in Montreal, and Queen's University at Toronto. There are graduates from Columbia, New York University, Hunter, Brooklyn and City College of New York City, Cornell, Harvard, Boston University and Detroit City College. Thirty-five college graduates from Poland, twelve from Vienna and ten Palestinians are included in the group of settlers. Fifty of the chalutzim are women, eeveral of them mothers of the , eighteen children, all of whom were born at the colony in .Tiara. Work is apportioned among the members of the Kibbutz. Each hae a specific task to perform, even to the children able to participate. Together they work and together they play, to the tune of their own songs of settlement, or American eongs, such ae "Deep River," translated into Hebrew, the language in common use among the eettlers. When one surveys the Kibbutz Ein Hashofet to-day, the general impreseion is that of a prosperous community in a modern setting. The twenty-five cottages, each with ite little garden, a large community dining hall, a hexagonal library and reading room, the only one of its kind in Palestine; a carpentry workshop, equipped with most modern electrical machines; a workshop for roof shingles and floor tiles; a shoe repair shop where, in addition to repairs, at least one pair of shoes is made each day; a dairy barn with ten cows and calves, a poultry house with several hundred Leghorn hens, and a vegetable garden —all give expression to what can be done within a brief space of time, under untold difficulties, when actuated by l'ie fervour that permeates the whole Kibbutz. The success of the efforte of the '.halutzim finds concrete expression in assets of over 75,000 dollars and 8000 dollars in net savings from four and a half years of wage labour in Hadera. Many and difficult tasks, however, still confront the settlere. Kohut Memorial Library. Within the precincts of the colony of Ein Hashofet there is being planted now a grove in honour of Rebekak Kohut, the matriarch of world Jewry. Included in this grove will be a tree soon to be uprooted from Central Park. New York City, and transplanted in the soil of the Holy Land. Like her late husband and son, Dr. Alexander Kohut and Dr. George Alexander Kohut, who devoted their lives to furthering Jewish learnand scholarship. Mrs. Kohut is helping to finance the George Alexander Kohut Memorial Library, to be established in the Kibbutz Ein Hashofet. The initiative in establishing the George Alexander Kohut Memorial Library has been taken by the Hunter College Graduate Menorah Society, to perpetuate the memory of this acholar

and patron of learning and as a tribute to the Hunter graduate chalutzim in the American colony. Many scholars in the United States are being asked to contribute copies of their books to the memorial library for the use of the members of the Kibbutz Ein Hashofet and for chalutzim in neighbouring colonies. It is hoped that other American colleges will establish divisions of this memorial library at Jiara, Palestine, which will serve as a source of light and inspiration to all Palestinian students. The cultural, economic and social work of the American colony in Palestine will find expression in the Palestine Pavilion, now being erected at the World's Fair. The cornerstone, sent from Hanita, the most recent colony in Palestine, has already been laid on the site of the pavilion that will symbolise two thousand years of Jewish aspirations and craving for a homeland and give concrete expression to what has already been done to make this Zionist ideal a living reality.—N.A.N.A.