Restoration of the Jews
[The annexed documents have just appeared in a periodical entitled Memorials concerning God’s Ancient People of Israel, and are probably as yet but little known to the world at large:—]
Memorandum.
To the Protestant Powers of the North of Europe and America—Victoria, by the grace of God, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland; Frederick (William) III. King of Prussia; William (Frederick), King of Netherlands; Charles (John) XIV., King of Sweden and Norway; Frederick VI., King of Denmark; Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover; William, King of Wurtemberg; The Sovereign Princes and Electors of Germany; The Cantons of the Swiss Confederation professing the Reformed Religion; and the States of North America, zealous for the Glory of God; grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ!
“High and Mighty Ones,
“The Most High God, who ruleth in the kingdoms of men (Dan. iv. 32), by whom kings reign and princes decree justice (Prov. viii. 15), having in these days granted a season of repose to his witnessing church (Acts ix. 31; Rev. xii. 16), planted in the lands whereof ye are kings and governors (Isaiah xlix. 23); the vine of His planting among the Gentiles (Acts xxviii. 28) hath extended her boughs unto the seas and her branches unto the rivers (Isa. xlix. 6), that now in nearly all the world the gospel of the kingdom is being lifted as a witness unto all nations (Matt. xxiv. 14), and in the isles afar off. The days are drawing near (Rev. xxii. 20) when the dominion, and the glory, and the kingdom, with all people, nations and languages, shall serve Him, who cometh in the clouds of heaven (Dan. vii. 14, Rev. i. 7), whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed (Psalm xlv. 6). Blessed be He! He hath given his waiting people to hear the sound of His approaching footsteps, and to mark the signs of His drawing near (1 Thess. v. 4). The fig-tree putteth forth her leaves again (Matt. xxiv. 32). Israel’s sons are asking the way to Zion, by which we know that summer is at hand. Blessed are all they that wait (2 Thess. iii. 5), and hold fast (Rev. iii. 11), for quickly He cometh. Amen.
“In the prospect of the Christian Church, of the speedy appearing of her glorified head, the zeal of the Lord’s servants hath been stirred up (Rev. iii. 2) to a multiplied diligence in those labours of faith and love which were devolved upon her (Matt. xxviii. 19), when the Son of God, as a man taking a journey into a far country, bade his servants occupy, until he returned again (Luke xix. 13). With other responsibilities, the circumstances of one peculiar people, whom the Most High hath separated (Gen. xii. 1) and taken into covenant with him (Gen. xvii. 7; Exod. xxxiv. 7), and which covenant no act of theirs, however iniquitous or rebellious, can repeal or destroy (Mal. iii. 6), whom he hath scattered in all lands as witnesses of his unity and power (Isa. xliii. 9), connected with whom the welfare of mankind is bound up, and in the lifting up of whose head the most stupendous consequences are made to depend (Rom. xi. 15), are presented at this eleventh hour for the repentance and faith of Christendom, that the blood of our brethren of circumcision which has been unjustly shed may be atoned for in the blood of the Lamb (Isa. i. 18), and the fruits of forgiveness be manifested (Matt. iii. 8) in presenting the children of this people continually at the throne of grace (1 Pet. ii. 5; Ps. cxxii. 6) for the atoning sacrifice of Christ to cover them (Joel ii. 17); and as the Almighty, in his providential appointments, shall make the way plain to present the children of Israel who may be willing to go up (Ps. cx. 3) as an offering to the Lord of Hosts in Mount Zion (Isa. xxviii. 7).
“For 300 years the testimony of the churches, planted in the lands over which Almighty God hath made you rulers, hath been lifted up against that apostacy which hath usurped the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth (Rev. xxii. 5, and xxiii. 5) daring presumptuously to assert power over nations (Rev. xviii. 7), and over kingdoms, to root up and to pull down, to build, to plant, and to destroy (Dan. vii. 20, Rev. xiii. 2, 7). The millstone which shall sink the Great Babylon in the abyss of an unfathomable perdition (Rev. xviii. 21) when her hour arrives (and it is very near!) with the judgment under which she hath long lain, for being drunken with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus (Rev. xvii. 6), shall include the avenging of the wrongs of God’s ancient people (Isa. li. 22, 23), and a terrible account it is; and the issue shall be joy and gladness to the whole earth, for it is written, ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people; for He avengeth the blood of His servants, and shall render vengeance unto his adversaries, and will be merciful to His land and to His people’ (Deut. xxxii. 43). ‘Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help and the sword of thy excellency? and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread on their high places’ (Deut. xxxiii. 29).
“In the events, on which the eyes of nations are fixed, taking place around, whilst the continuance and stability of your thrones and sway, O kings, is the earnest prayer of the Christian church (1 Tim. ii. 2), she cannot but uphold the witness that the days draw nigh, when, under the hallowed sway of Messiah the Prince, the now despised nation of the Jews shall possess the kingdom (Dan. vii. 27), and she directs, with reverential awe, your eye to that mighty empire in the east which is crumbling to dust, and drying in all her streams (Rev. xvi. 12) to make way for the event. Palestine hath been a burdensome stone (Zech. xii. 2) unto the followers of the false Prophet (Rev. xvi. 13), as it was to the ancestors of many of you, O Princes, when, under the banner of the Popish Antichrist, their mistaken zeal sought to recover the Holy City from the Saracen’s grasp. But the fulness of the Gentiles is at hand (Romans xi. 21) and unto Israel the dominion shall return (Micah iv. 8).
“The apostate Julian sought to plant the children of this people in the seats of their fathers, in despite of the holy faith, one of the external evidences of whose trust was, that their house was left unto them desolate, until they should say ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (Matt. xxiii. 38, 9). But is it anywhere declared in the word of our God, that the children of Israel, scattered and peeled, humbled and dispirited, impoverished and broken down, should not be presented as an offering in faith to Jehovah of Hosts in Mount Zion? that there they may be pleaded with face to face by the God of their fathers (Ezekiel xx. 13), that there the veil may be rent (Isaiah xxv. 7) which is over their hearts (2 Cor. iii. 15), that there they may look on him whom they have pierced (Zech. xii. 10). Your attention, high and mighty ones, is directed to the recorded fact that such an offering is expected. And before that full and final gathering which follows the judgments poured out on all the earth (Isaiah lxiii. 15, 16, 20), a power, and that power a northern one (Jer. iii. 12, xxxi. 6, 9, xxxiii. 7, 8—Isaiah xliii. 6, xlix. 12), shall be employed to lead a people wonderful from their beginning hitherto—a nation expecting and trampled underfoot—whose land rivers have spoiled, unto the name of the Lord of Hosts in Mount Zion (Isaiah xviii.). These designs and purposes of the Lord God of Israel, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, are declared unto you, high and mighty ones, his servants (Dan. v. 23), that you may ponder them, and know His will, from the voice, with which He is about to speak unto nations and unto men (Haggai ii. 6—Isaiah i. 10), for the time is at hand (Rev. i. 3).
“Your wisdom hath been exercised to mark the boundaries of kingdoms, and to define the limits of empires; and has not the aggressor overleaped all barriers, and the strength of treaties snapped asunder as tow? And why? Because when the Almighty awarded to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel (Deuteron. xxxii. 7, 8). By an unrepealed covenant, the Lord God declared unto Abram, concerning the land of Palestine, ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates’ (Genesis xv. 18). This gift was ratified unto him for an everlasting possession, and to his seed after him, when the Almighty gave him the covenant, and changed his name to Abraham (Genesis xvii. 4, 8). For the purposes of infinite wisdom fast hastening to maturity, the Lord God hath scattered his inheritance to the four winds of heaven. But hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off. He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock.
“As the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia was stirred up to build the Lord’s Temple, which was in Jerusalem (ii Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23), who is there among you, high and mighty ones of all the nations, to fulfil the good pleasure of the holy will of the Lord of Heaven, saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built’ and to the Temple, ‘Thy foundation shall be laid’? (Isaiah xliv. 28). The Lord God of Israel will be with such. Great grace, mercy, and peace shall descend upon the people who offer themselves willingly; and the fire offerings of their hearts and hands shall be those of a sweet-smelling savour unto Him who hath said, ‘I will bless them that bless thee (Genesis xii. 3), and contend with him who contendeth with thee’ (Isaiah xlix. 25).
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. Signed and sealed in London, 8th of January, in the year of our Lord, 1839, in the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, on behalf of many who wait for the redemption of Israel.”
(Copy 1.)
“London, January 22nd, 1839.
“May it please your Majesty,—I have the high honour of laying at your Majesty’s feet the accompanying memorandum relating to the present condition and future prospects of God’s ancient people, the Jews. Your Majesty’s pious feelings, I doubt not, will be excited to give the Scriptural hopes and expectations therein set forth your earnest attention, considering the high station it hath pleased Almighty God to call this Protestant land to, as the great seat of the church.
“According to the petitions of this peculiar people at a throne of grace, that in your Majesty’s reign ‘Judah may be saved and Israel dwell safely,’ is the prayer of your Majesty’s dutiful subject and servant.
“Her most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of
Great Britain and Ireland.”
(Copy 2.)
“January 19th, 1839.
“My Lord,—I have the honour of transmitting through your Lordship a document which it is the desire of some of her Majesty’s subjects should be laid at her Majesty’s feet, relating to the Scriptural expectations of the church, connected with the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, the land of their fathers.
“I am induced to solicit your Lordship’s good offices in being the medium of communicating this document to her Majesty, as the substance of it relates to the present rights of an ally of this country—namely, the Sublime Porte.
“But I would respectfully press upon your Lordship’s attention, that, in holding forth the Scriptural hopes of God’s ancient people, those who emanate the accompanying document never for one moment dream of political force to accomplish the end desired. When the hour comes of Israel’s planting in, doubtless Almighty God will not fail to raise up chosen instruments, who, with willing hands and hearts, shall accomplish the good pleasure of His will.
“If we are wrong in the course we have taken to bring the memorandum before Her Majesty, we will be happy to be set right. Should your Lordship undertake the duty, desiring the glory of God in this matter to be furthered, the Lord God of Israel will not be slack to reward the labour of faith and love proceeding from a desire to honour His name.
“I have the honour to be, &c.,
“The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Palmerston.”
Lord Palmerston’s Answer.
(Copy 3.)
“Foreign Office, March 14, 1839.
“I have to acknowledge your letter of the 19th January, enclosing a letter and a memorandum from some of Her Majesty’s subjects, who feel deeply interested in the welfare and future prospects of the Jews; and I have to acquaint you that I have laid those documents before the Queen, and that Her Majesty has been pleased graciously to receive the same.
“I am, &c.,
“Palmerston.”¹
Another Zionist Memorandum—Restoration of the Jews
“To the Editor of The Times.
“Sir,—The extraordinary crisis of Oriental politics has stimulated an almost universal interest and investigation, and the fate of the Jews seems to be deeply involved with the settlement of the Syrian dilemma now agitating several Courts of Christendom.
“... The peace of Europe and the just balance of its powers being therefore assumed as the grand desideratum, as the consummation devoutly to be wished, I peruse with particular interest a brief article in your journal of this day relative to the restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem, because I imagine that this event has become practicable through an unprecedented concatenation of circumstances, and that moreover it has become especially desirable, as the exact expedient to which it is to the interest of all belligerent parties to consent.
“The actual feasibility of the return of the Jews is no longer a paradox; the time gives it proof. That theory of the restoration of a Jewish Kingdom, which a few years ago was laughed at as the fantasy of insane enthusiasm, is now calculated on as a most practical achievement of diplomacy.
“It is granted that the Jews were the ancient proprietors of Syria; that Syria was the proper heart and centre of their kingdom. It is granted that they have a strong conviction that Providence will restore them to this Syrian supremacy. It is granted that they have entertained for ages a hearty desire to return thither, and are willing to make great sacrifices of a pecuniary kind to the different parties interested, provided they can be put in peaceful and secure possession.
“It is likewise notorious, that since the Jews have been thrust out of Syria that land has been a mere arena of strife to neighbouring Powers, all conscious that they had no legitimate right there, and all jealous of each other’s intrusion.
“Such having been the case, why, it may be asked, have not the Jews long ago endeavoured to regain possession of Syria by commercial arrangements? In reply it may be said, that though they have evidently wished to do so, and have made overtures of the kind, hitherto circumstances have opposed their desires....
“Now, however, these obstacles and hindrances are in a great measure removed; all the strongest Powers in Europe have come forward as arbitrators and umpires to arrange the settlement of Syria.
“Under such potent arbitrators, pledged to the performance of any conditions finally agreed on, I have reason to believe that the Jews would readily enter into such financial arrangements as would secure them the absolute possession of Jerusalem and Syria.
“I know no reason, under such powerful empires, why the Hebrews should not restore an independent monarchy in Syria, as well as the Egyptians in Egypt, or the Grecians in Greece.
“As a practical expedient of politics, I believe that it will be easier to secure the peace of Europe and Asia by this effort to restore the Jews, than by any allotment of Syrian territories to the Turks or Egyptians, which will be sure to occasion fresh jealousies and discords....
“I believe that the cause of the restoration of the Jews is one essentially generous and noble, and that all individuals and nations that assist this world-renounced people to recover the empire of their ancestors will be rewarded by Heaven’s blessing. Everything that is patriotic and philanthropic should urge Great Britain forward as the agent of prophetic revelations so full of auspicious consequence....
“Your very obedient servant,
“F. B.¹
“Aug. 17.”
Extracts from Autograph and other Letters between Sir Moses Montefiore and Dr. N. M. Adler
My hearty thanks are due to my friend Mr. Elkan N. Adler for giving me access to his father’s letters. It may be mentioned that, although Dr. N. M. Adler was never able to visit Palestine, all his three sons went there. Palestinian activity has practically been a tradition of the Adler family. Mr. Elkan Adler originally visited Palestine in 1888, 1895, 1898 and 1901, in connection with the Montefiore work. His first visit was a professional one, undertaken on the instructions of the Council of the Holy Land Relief Fund. Its object was to clear up certain legal difficulties which had arisen on the land at Jerusalem and Jaffa purchased in 1855 by his father and Sir Moses Montefiore out of the funds of the Holy Land Appeal Fund and the Judah Touro Bequest. At that time their only buildings in Jerusalem were the Judah Touro Alms-houses and the Windmill. The vacant land adjoining had been jumped after the death of Sir Moses Montefiore by about three hundred poor and desperate Jews, who claimed that it had been originally intended for the poor, and they were poor.
The journey was successful. The squatters were removed, and their place was taken by industrious settlers, who, through the agency of the building societies, financed by the Sir Moses Montefiore Testimonial Committee, erected hundreds of pleasant little dwellings in the place of the rude, uninhabited shanties which stood there in 1888.
In 1894 Mr. Elkan Adler became a member of the “Water for Jerusalem Committee,” of which Sir Charles W. Wilson, K.C.M.G., was Chairman and Sir Edmund A. H. L. Lechmere, Bart., M.P., and Sir (then Mr.) Isidore Spielmann, C.M.G., Honorary Secretaries. The Turkish Government and the Jerusalem Municipality had sanctioned the scheme, but bureaucratic dilatoriness prevented its ever maturing. Its object was to secure, under a concession, for purely philanthropic purposes, a modern water supply for Jerusalem from King Solomon’s Pools.
Mr. Adler was also one of the founders of the London Chovevé Zion, and as Honorary Solicitor drafted its Constitution, which was settled by the Right Hon. Arthur Cohen, K.C.
“Grosvenor Gate, Park Lane,
“London, 28th Hesvan, 5602.
“12 November.
“My dear and much esteemed Sir,
“... I am most highly gratified, my dear Sir, by the very kind manner in which you have been pleased to notice my feeble exertions in favour of our unfortunate and persecuted Brethren in the East....
“Believe me to be,
“With sincere Respect and Esteem,
“My dear Sir,
“Your obedient Servant,
“Moses Montefiore.
“The Reverend
Doctor N. Adler, Chief Rabbi, &c. &c. &c.”
“Alliance Office,
“Bartholomew Lane,
“31 May, 5614.
“My dear and respected Sir,
“... I hope to find the amount of Contributions much increased from your admirable Letter having at last found its way in the hands of the several Seat-holders of each Synagogue, and I am sure if they respond to it with the same liberality as our Christian fellow-subjects have evinced for our suffering Brethren in the Holy Land I am confident you will rejoice at the success which has attended your benevolent exertions....
“I am with great respect and esteem,
“Your faithful Servant,
“Moses Montefiore.
“The Revd. Dr. Adler,
Chief Rabbi, &c. &c.”
“East Cliff Lodge,
“Ramsgate,
“17th August, 5614/1854.
“My dear and respected Sir,
“... I am obliged to you for the information which Mr. Albert Cohn’s letter has afforded me and believe me I am most truly thankful to the God of Israel that my days should have been prolonged to see the welfare of our unfortunate Brethren in Jerusalem cared for by so wealthy and powerful a family as the Barons de Rothschild. May the institutions which they propose diffuse all the advantages we hope for. I will endeavour to write this evening to Lord Clarendon and will take the earliest opportunity to communicate the result after I shall have had an interview with his Lordship. I have requested Mr. Green to forward all the letters to you that have arrived from the Holy Land. I shall take no step regarding the Hospital but with your concurrence. You may rely that there will be no opposition in any way on my part, and I am only too happy to see that Jerusalem is not forsaken....
“Believe me,
“With the greatest esteem and respect,
“Your faithful Servant,
“Moses Montefiore.
“To the Reverend
Doctor Adler,
Chief Rabbi.”
“Alliance Office,
“Bartholomew Lane,
“Wednesday Morn,
“23 Augt., ’614.
“My dear and respected Sir,
“... I now beg to trouble you with the enclosed letters which Dr. Lowe has written to the Holy Land with a remittance of £1200 divided in the following manner.... I have not thought it proper to send anything to the Portuguese at Jerusalem as they have not yet complied with your request in the mode of distribution or forwarded any particulars whatever. I therefore hope you will be satisfied with the arrangement that this will bring the Portuguese to a sense of the necessity they are under to conform to your instructions, or they will receive no more money from England....
“To the Revd.
Dr. Adler,
Chief Rabbi.”
“Buxton, 15th Septr., 5614/1854.
“My dear and respected Sir,
“... I have felt much vexed at M. Albert Cohn’s having taken the liberty of using your name as well as mine as having deputed him to carry out his schemes in the East....
“Believe me to be,
“With great regard and respect,
“Your faithful Servant,
“Moses Montefiore.
“The Revd. Dr. Adler,
Chief Rabbi, &c. &c.”
“Alliance Assurance Office,
“Bartholomew Lane,
“Monday Evening,
“26 Jany., 5617.
“My dear and respected Sir,
“Having this moment heard from Lady Montefiore that you expressed a desire to Visit the Holy Land, and well knowing the lively interest you have ever evinced in promoting the prosperity of Jerusalem, I beg to assure you that nothing could be more gratifying to my feelings, than to be honored with your Company during our intended Tour. We had fixed in our minds the 10th day of February for our departure, but to enjoy the honor of your Society, we would postpone it to meet your Convenience to any day that would enable us to reach Jerusalem for Passover.
“Hoping to have the gratification of a favorable reply from you.
“Believe me to be,
“Your faithful Servant,
“Moses Montefiore.
“To the Reverend
Dr. Adler,
Chief Rabbi.”
“East Cliff Lodge,
“Ramsgate,
“14th September, 5619.
“My dear and respected Sir,
“... With respect to the Jaffa farm I hope in a few days to have an opportunity of speaking with you. I think it was your wish that our co-religionists should be employed on it....”
“Believe me with great esteem,
“Your faithful Servant,
“Moses Montefiore.
“To the Reverend Dr. Adler,
Chief Rabbi.”
“To the Rev. Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi, etc. etc.
“East Cliff Lodge, Ramsgate, May 15th, 5614–1854.
“Reverend and Respected Sir,
“For the sake of Zion I cannot remain silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I cannot rest, until the whole house of Israel have been made acquainted with the lamentable condition of those of our brethren who devotedly cling to the soil, sacred to the memory of our patriarchs, prophets and kings.
“Thrice having visited the Holy Land, it was my earnest desire to fully inform myself as to the condition of our brethren there....
“Aware, however, reverend Sir, of your great anxiety for the physical amelioration of our suffering brethren, and how watchfully you note their spiritual welfare, I am induced to put you in possession of the documents and appeals which I have received from the Holy Land, with the assurance that your powerful co-operation, in the shape of a pastoral letter addressed to the Jews of Great Britain and America—or the exercise of the same in any other mode your wisdom may dictate—will, with God’s blessing, not only tend to remove the present appalling misery of our starving brethren in Zion, but spare us the humiliation of its recurrence.
“I have the honour to be, reverend and respected Sir,
“Your faithful servant,
“Moses Montefiore.”
“To Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., etc. etc.
“Office of the Chief Rabbi, London, 18th May, 5614.
“My dear and esteemed Sir,
“.... Although I should have much preferred that the duty of addressing our co-religionists on behalf of the afflicted had been assumed by yourself, as you would have made a far deeper impression than I can hope to do, from the well-known fact that you have devoted a great portion of your life to the amelioration of the condition of our brethren in Palestine, and this, too, at the risk of much personal suffering and danger, yet, to avoid all delay in the present emergency, I have to-day written a letter to the congregations under my charge, a copy of which I beg to enclose; and I fervently pray that the Lord may strengthen my feeble words, and incline the hearts of our brethren to this good work of charity.
“I am, my dear Sir Moses,
“Yours very faithfully,
“N. Adler, Dr.”
“PASTORAL LETTER
“To the Wardens, Members, and Seat-holders of the United Congregations of Great Britain.
“Office of the Chief Rabbi, London, May 18th, 5614.
“Beloved Brethren,
“... the present condition of our poor brethren scattered through the four cities of Jerusalem, Zaphed, Hebron and Tiberias, is absolutely heart-rending. This is no exaggeration but a stern and dreadful reality. The almost total failure of the last harvest, which raised the price of all the necessaries of life to an unparalleled height; the present war and general political disturbances; the diminution of the usual resources for the poor, especially those derived from Russia, which has hitherto contributed the most, have brought about an awful famine.... While all surrounding nations make that spot the object of their deepest concern, expending vast sums thereon, should we be unmindful of that land with which our past glory and future hope are inseparably connected? ... It may be thought by some that the unfortunate state of the Jewish residents of Palestine might have been brought about ... by their reliance on fixed pensions and casual alms without the exercise of industry, either in agriculture, commerce or other employments;... Why, therefore, continue a life of pauperism, which will endure until the springs of poverty are stopped—and what will be the use of a collection, which can but mitigate the evil for a moment?
“My dear brethren,—Before you accuse the sufferers of indolence, and their leaders of neglect, let us assure you that the people are most anxious to free themselves from the thraldom of dependence; that the Rabbis and the heads of the Congregations have proved to Sir Moses Montefiore, who has been at all times the strenuous advocate of industrial pursuits, the willingness of the people to till the soil, if only it could be done with security. But hitherto the great impediment to agriculture has been not alone the want of pecuniary means, but the want of protection on the part of the Government, it being absolutely impracticable to labour outside the walls of the cities, owing to the depredations of the roving and lawless Bedouins, for whatever the inhabitants sow is speedily seized by others.
“Without, however, alluding to the happy restitution that we anxiously look for, which lies in the hand of the Lord who commandeth us ‘not to stir, neither to awake His love, until He please’—the present war may, by the Divine blessing, bring about a great and beneficial change in the Holy Land. It is more than probable that the Government of the Porte will concede to our brethren in Palestine the right of holding land; and that this right will be placed under secure protection. It will then become the duty of our leading men to organise a proper plan of operations, put themselves into communication with the different Committees abroad, to raise the necessary means, to send men of ability, properly authorised, to Jerusalem, to bring about a unity of action among the different congregations there, to purchase land, to establish farms and factories, and to devote a portion of the money annually collected, as wages to those who will labour therein under the charge of the persons superintending those undertakings. The time for the realisation of such a scheme may not be remote, as the munificent legacy of the philanthropist Judah Touro, New Orleans, was bequeathed for this very purpose, which bequest will have an important bearing on the improvement of the Holy Land.
“... I remain, yours very faithfully,
“N. Adler, Dr., Chief Rabbi.”¹
In February, 1855, Dr. Adler and Sir Moses published their first Report enumerating the appropriations of money they had made and the sums set apart for the establishment of institutions designed to relieve distress, and to encourage and promote industry.
In May, 1856, Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore set out on a mission to the Holy Land to organize means for the appropriation of the funds “with a view to the utmost benefit of the supplicants.”
The Trustees resolved to attempt the organization of some industrial scheme, and, says their Second Report, dated 1856: “In a land naturally so fertile as Palestine, offering so prolific a return for industry, but altogether wanting in commercial resources, agriculture must of necessity be the first object of attention, as likely to prove the most powerful auxiliary in bringing about a healthful reaction, by alleviating distress, by promoting industry, and by exciting a feeling of self-reliance.” The Trustees were confirmed in their views by the opinion of experienced agriculturists in the Holy Land, and by the valuable suggestions of munificent donors.
“On the 17th June Sir Moses had an audience with the Sultan, and on the 27th July the first meeting was held with the representatives of Zapphed.
“The desirability of cultivating land was discussed at this sitting, and the great probabilities of success in the undertaking were shown by the mention of numerous well-authenticated facts. The views entertained by the Trustees having been confirmed by the best evidence, a Committee of practical agriculturists—men distinguished by their probity, and of acknowledged skill—was, without further delay, appointed to aid in the selection of land, and to advise as to the fitness of the parties to be employed in its cultivation. Assisted by this Committee, Sir Moses selected thirty-five families from the Holy City of Zapphed, provided them with means to commence agricultural pursuits, and also secured for them local governors. Some orphan lads were also provided for, by being placed under the care of the Committee, to be trained as agriculturists. A district in the vicinity of Zapphed, called the Bokea, having been pointed out as a most desirable spot for agricultural purposes, sufficient means were granted to give employment to fifteen families, to be engaged in the cultivation of that fruitful district; the whole being placed under the supervision of the Agricultural Committee at Zapphed. The claims of Tabaria were next considered ... and means afforded to thirty families to enable them to engage in agricultural pursuits. At Jaffa some land, with a house, and well affording an abundant supply of excellent water, was purchased, and a number of our poor co-religionists are already engaged upon such land.” An establishment for weaving was instituted.
“Sir Moses eventually succeeded in purchasing a tract of land to the west of the Holy City, in a most beautiful and salubrious locality, within a few minutes’ walk from the Jaffa and Zion Gates. Here a considerable number of our co-religionists and others at once found employment on the land and in the building of the boundary wall.” A windmill was erected on this site to supersede the expensive method used at Jerusalem for grinding corn.