THE LAND OF THEIR FATHERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 16, 20 January 1910, Page 6

THE LAND OF THEIR FATHERS.

Shrewd, practical, and worldly-wise — proverbial f for his keenness in trade and exchange and his ability to drive a hard bargain, there is yet no greater idealist than the Jew. Irrepressible and inexterminable, the race has maintained its character and separate existence in the face of massacre and persecution such as no other people has ever survived, and under th.c unprecedented conditions of being for nearly two milleniums without home or country, scattered among' all peoples on earth. The tribes of Israel passed from history when they were carried captive "beyond Babylon." Such a remnant, if any, as may have remained, has blended so thoroughly with other peoples as to have lost its racial type, its language, its religion, and its traditions. Theorists have discovered it in Central Africa, in America, in the Islands of the Pacific, and last of all in Britain. It is otherwise with the Jew — all liis racial characteristics persist, including pride of race, and he glories in his traditions. He has adapted himself wonderfully to environments the most oppressive and uninviting. Shut up within a ghetto, deprived of civil lights, debarred from honourable professions, from agriculture, and from the exercise of skilled handicrafts, he has yet accumulated! wealth and holds a large share of his oppressors' property in pledge ; and where he is granted a measure of freedom, or, as in Britain, equality of privilege, he speedily distinguishes himself in commerce, in politics, in literature, and in art. He is a power in the political counsels of the alien j his influence is continually felt in international finance, and being an idealist he has had a potent influence in shaping the music of the age and every other form of art. He loves power, and that love is gratified. But he keenly feels his isolation, and the more so, apparently, the more he prospers. The most touching lament in literature tells how under the shade of the willows the tears of the captives fell by the rivers of Babylon; and in the same land of exile Daniel, with a splendour and authority regal in all but name, pursued his regular, devotions with his windows open towards Jerusalem. Nehemiah, the patriot, forsook dignity and ease in a" foreign land to rebuild the ruined walls of the ancient city, sacred even in patriarchal days ; and in our own day a remnant weep over the broken walls and lament: "Thy saints take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof." Within the last few years has arisen the remarkable Zionist movement, which seeks to give practical embodiment to the vague hopes of the ancient people Some time ago it was recorded that the reforms of the Young Turkey, Party in the direction of religious freedom and civil equality had greatly delighted the Jews, and the cable news of Tuesday shows that the changed situation has notably stimulated the movement Zionward. For a long time wealthy Zionists have been buying such of the soil of ancient Palestine as came into the market, with the view of settling colonies of their persecuted countrymen, and now the estates of the ex-Sultan Abdul, in the valley of the Jordan, are being purchased by Jewish capitalists. Counsels have been somewhat divided among the Zionists, 'who, like their Christian brethren, differ widely in their interpretations of prophecy, and these varying views necessarily affect their ideals. The practical side is not likely to be lost sight of. The Jewish leaders have become experts in the administration of charities among their own poor and needy ; and the idea of settling Russian and other exiles in the land may offer the best solution of the problem. Hitherto they have invaded the great cities of Europe with an alien and often undesirable element, crowding wretched tenements and competing in sweat-shops with the native artisan. Ages of oppressive legislation have shut the Jew out from primary production, even if they have not £iven him an active distaste for it; it remains to be seen whether he will settleytlown contentedly, when the opportunity offers, " under his own vino and his own fig-tree." Also, what capacity he may develop for selfgovernment. Apparently, however, the situation in the end will adjust itself, whatever the ideals of the leaders of the movement may be. Their authority will scarcely be recognised by all the thousands of Jews who v have crowded into Jerusalem, or those who are settling by the thousand in and around the ancient ports; and those who have purchased their own plots of land may be expected to assert the privileges of freeholders. It is not likely that they will invite trouble by resisting the payment of taxes or otherwise irritating the Government of the country. The love of gain will not be expelled b_y the spirit of patriotism, nor is that patriotism likely to take the form it assumed under the Roman rule, when it was in perpetual revolt against the authorities. But underlying all is the age-long call of Palestine, and particularly of Jerusalem— that call to which Kipling, in another connection, has given such simple and eloquent expression :—: — "lam the land of their fathers : In me the virtue stays. I will bring back my children j After certain days." '