Zionist Work in Palestine. By Various Authorities with David Wolffson.
Edited by Israel Cohen. (T. Fisher Unwin. is. net.) —A non-Hebrew Zionist, and such a being is possible—any Anglo- Israelite could be such—might say: "Why do not Hebrew capitalists buy out the Ottoman power from Palestine, and so set up Zion at once ?" Such a setting up, whether by purchase or otherwise, has been dreamt of ; but it does not approve itself to the Zionist leaders. "Political Zionism stands as immovably firm to-day as it ever did. Palestine is and remains a national political goal to which we will advance systematically and with open eyes We shall act exactly as lierzl (founder of the Zionist movement) taught us, but we shall proceed by a different way. This other way is practical work." And it is with practical work that this volume is concerned. First we have an account of the material, so to speak, of the Jews already in Jerusalem. Dr. Griinhut, writ- ing from that city, speaks pessimistically. Nor is there any great enthusiasm, we learn from another writer, in the line of immigration. The lad who is seeking a new home prefers the United States. That country has already a Jewish population which would fill Palestine to overflowing. The country, therefore, must be made attractive, agriculture must be put on a sounder footing, and the Jew must be reconverted into an agriculturist. Commerce and business must be organized according to modern methods ; is this possible, one asks, for a Jew who would strictly obey the law Then there is the language question. The Yiddish and Ladino jargons must give way to Hebrew : this is being done by establishing kinder- gartens where Hebrew only is spoken. The book is interesting throughout, all the more so because the writers do not seek to evade difficulties. Dr. Auerbach in his "Jewish Outlook in Palestine" does not do so. One thing is manifest. Much work remains to be done, and this of a difficult kind ; there is one fact : "about 60,000 [of the 100,000 Jews in Palestine] are partially or wholly maintained by the Chalukah." "Palestine will only be a Jewish land," says Dr. Auerbach, "when the greater portion of the soil is Jewish." So we come back to the capitalists, for the ordinary Jew does not care to invest in real property, whether in town or country.
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