HOME FOR THE JEWS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3795, 14 August 1936, Page 8

HOME FOR THE JEWS

MODERN PALESTINE. £100,000,000 SUBSCRIBED. During the visit to Wellington of the Bishop of Jerusalem a very successful afternoon tea was given by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions to give churchwomen an opportunity of hearing Dr. GrahamBrown speak of the work and problems confronting the Church of Jerusalem and the East. The chairman of the auxiliary (Miss Watson) when introducing Dr. Graham-Brown took the opportunity of welcoming Mrs. Holland (wife of the Bishop of Wellington) and Miss Holland, who were each presented with a posy of spring flowers. There was a large attendance, among those present being B'shop and Mrs. Sprott, Bishop

Bennett, Mrs. Averill, and Mrs. Williams, of Waiapu. The Bishop gave a most thoughtinspiring talk on the work of the Church in Palestine and the surrounding States. He showed the great difficulties confronting them, as his diocese included Palestine, Trans-Jordan, and Irak, and stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. In Palestine, the Jews profiting by the Balfour Act, were entering the country at the rate of many thousands each year; had already subscribed a capital of £lOO,000,000 for 'their new country, and had established a most up-to-date university in Jerusalem, staffed by brilliant scholars and scientists driven into exile from Germany. They were, however, still being held at arms’ length by the men of other nationalities living in the country, though they themselves longed for friendship and kindness. Here was one great problem, that of the Jewish population. On the other hand the Bishop stated there was the Arab population

who felt they had been unfairly treated by Britain in the passing of the Balfour Act, and who were det rrmined to ignore it entirely and to ive their own lives, keeping their < wn customs and religious faith, and brooking no interference from other : ations—such was the Arab-Moslem ; roblem.

Yet a third problem confronted the Church in Jerusalem. The task < f ministering with a skeleton staff < f Englishmen, scattered in widelyceparated small groups, all over the country, from the Persian Gulf to the borders of Turkey. The Bishop paid a great tribute to his loyal staff of workers, especially to the band of women workers —but stressed the need for new recruits.

The Rev. F. Long (general secretary of the Board of Missions) thanked Bishop Graham-Brown for his his vivid and interesting talk, which gave those present a far more intimate idea of the needs of Jerusalem and the East Church than they had before.