Untitled

United Free Church of Scotland

JEWISH MISSIONS

Progress in Palestine

PUBLICATIONS OFFICE

121 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH

232 ST. VINCENT STREET, GLASGOW

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PROGRESS IN PALESTINE

as seen by

Rev. W. M. CHRISTIE, D.D.

Rev. Prof. W. M. MACGREGOR, D.D.

Rev. JOHN HALL, O.B.E.

And the Editors: Rev. J. MACDONALD WEBSTER and Rev. W. J. COUPER, M.A.

INTRODUCTION.

IT is impossible that Palestine can ever lose its fascination for the Christian Church. Her faith has so many attachments to the land—its peoples, its languages, its history, its literature, its antiquities, its natural features—that its development and contemporary politics must always be of interest to Christian believers. Zionists maintain that without possession of the land their faith is in danger of extinction. The Church can exist and advance even if Palestine ceased to be, but how much of the Scriptures would be obscure if we were ignorant, say, of its configuration? Were its historical records blotted out with all their topographical allusions, how vague and indefinite would become the story of “the ways of God to men.” There is no land whose historical geography has such vital importance for the devotional life of so many multitudes, not even India for the Hindoos. For that reason, if for no other, Palestine must ever be dear to the Church.

When we begin to analyse the secret of the Land's perennial interest, we are at once struck with

Its Smallness.

Wide territories have done less proportionately for the world's advancement than small countries like Scotland. Palestine stands pre-eminent among lands that, being small, have yet been universal benefactors. How many peoples to-day look to Palestine as the place of their spiritual origin? Yet it is not larger than Wales or a few Scottish counties. It can be traversed easily in a single day even without the modern means of swift locomotion. The length of time it existed does not account for its long roll of fame, for its virile days comprised but a few centuries at most of its age-long history. Its population was never dense even in its palmiest days, and it was cut off from the rest of the world by sea and desert and mountain. The whole circumstances of God's revelation are wonderful; perhaps one of its most striking wonders is that it should have emerged from such a land to bless the wide world.

A Holy Land.

Scattered over the world there are holy cities, holy rivers, holy mountains. There are “closed” lands, but there is only one “Holy Land.” Is there any country whose place-names have entered more freely into the common thought of so many peoples—Jerusalem, Jericho, Gath, Jordan, Nazareth, Hermon, Lebanon, even the Dead Sea? All of them are ingrained in our proverbs and in our poetry. And why? Not merely because the literature of Israel had such a hold upon the literary imagination of the world; not merely because the Bible once upon a time was the chief school book and so stored the minds of pupils with Scripture names and scenes; not merely because Jewish history is frequently as fascinating as romance, but because all these things were

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The Jewish Register. Vol. IV. No. 15. September 1922.—One Shilling per annum.

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associated with what is most vital in human life—religion. The Land became the “Holy Land” because it spoke of righteousness and personal holiness, and because those who made holiness their chief concern had lived and taught there. It became holy because the Holy One revealed Himself in its history; because the Holy and Just One lived and suffered there, and because its inhabitants were ordained to be a “holy people to the Lord.” Especially was it

The Scene of Our Lord's Ministry.

That has been enough to make the Land sacred for all time, not merely to Christian believers but to all lovers of their kind everywhere. For what are the Stoa and the place where Gautama taught compared with the shores of the Sea of Galilee and the Temple Courts of Jerusalem where Jesus of Nazareth spoke of love and goodness? Johnson grew eloquent over the sanctity of lona; lona and numberless other spots are sacred because Nazareth and Bethlehem and Bethany showed the way. Bunyan made one of his characters desire to plant his footsteps in the print of the shoes of Jesus; every devout Christian must have longed to see the place where He spoke with the woman at the well, where He healed Blind Bartemæus, the hillside where He prayed, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Hill of Calvary and even the reputed site of the Place of His Sepulture. It is well nigh impossible to think of the Saviour except in association with these “holy fields.” He is seated on the throne but He lived and suffered amid the cities and fields of Palestine. And Palestine is

The Natural Home of the Jewish People.

Those who are concerned with the evangelisation of the Jew find the lure of Palestine irresistible. To them it is unbearable that the land where David sang, where Isaiah prophesied and where Jesus ministered, should still be without the complete knowledge of which the poet sang, for which the prophet hoped and which Jesus revealed. It is unbearable that the false prophet should be in the ascendency there and that a Christless Judaism should claim it as its sole heritage. It is the natural possession of the Lord Christ first and so they plan and pray that the Holy Land may soon acknowledge Him as Saviour and Lord. Perhaps never has the Land seemed more desirable as a Christian province that it does to-day. Jews are turning their steps towards it in increasing numbers. During the first six months of this year no fewer than 4,399 Jews landed in it as permanent settlers within it, and probably every one of these was in nominal allegiance to Judaism. It may not be the strategic centre of Jewish evangelisation but to leave it unchristianised is to abandon the citadel of Christian history and sentiment. The Christian Church has a duty, an insistent duty, to the scattered millions of Jewry in other lands but it cannot be indifferent to the urgent call that comes from the Lord's brethren in the land of His nativity.

Hence this issue of the Jewish Register is devoted to the position of Palestine as it exists to-day. It is hoped that it will stir up renewed interest not merely in the Jew of Safed and Tiberias, of Jerusalem and Jaffa, but turn the attention of the whole Church to the clamant need of more energy, more zeal, and more devotion in this service of Jewish evangelism everywhere—a service which must lie very near the heart of their Lord and Master.

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THIRTY YEARS AGO.

By the Rev. W. M. CHRISTIE, D.D.

THE Palestine of thirty years ago cannot be better described than in the words, “The Land that is desolate.” There was then not a single bit of roadway between Dan and Beersheba, not a yard of railway, not a town or a village with a water supply, and scarcely a substantial building apart from the remnants of those that had been erected in pre-Turk days. Outside of Jerusalem and the German Colonies the houses had only

mud roofs, which had to be carefully and regularly rolled, and, even with that attention, happy was the family that could get through the winter without repeated flooding. All travelling had to be done on horse or mule back, by bridle paths across the mountains. The land was in many places the richest in the world, and, if cultivated, would have produced enormous crops, but at the best its surface was merely scratched by wooden ploughs of the kind that had been used since pre-Abrahamic days. The peasant remained poor, for it was his interest to do so; otherwise he was at the mercy of the tax-gatherer, or, what was even worse, of rich and unscrupulous speculators from Lebanon.

A Turkish Province.

All these conditions were the natural outcome of the political position of the country. It was an outlying province of the Turkish Empire, submitting to control from Constantinople simply on account of the fact that the majority of the population was Muhammadan, and the Turk was the only man that could rule. All the leading Government officials were Turks, and, with rare exceptions, they held office only for a short term, during which, as they said themselves, they had “to earn three fortunes”—one to pay for the office they had got, another to justify themselves to their superiors when accused of mal-administration, and a third to purchase a new office. Responsibility to the Government on the part of officials consisted mainly in collecting and transmitting to Constantinople the various imposts, and the great duty of the subject people was loyally paying up the assessments, which included also taxes levied for departments that did nothing, e.g., those for road-making and sanitation. This of course meant oppression, and perhaps the best comparison that can be made of the circumstances of the people is with those endured under the publicans in New Testament days. The “military exemption tax,” the badge of servitude of Jews and Christians, who were not allowed to serve in the army, was a special grievance, and had led to many abuses in earlier days. By the intervention of Russia, however, it was permitted that it be collected by the ecclesiastical authorities. This meant that the power to oppress was simply transferred from the Turkish official to the priest and the rabbi, and by them a tyranny unknown to the Turk was wielded against such as would dare to think of a change of faith or even of seeking for light. At the same time the evasion of this tax was systematically connived at by all parties, with the result that all communities were hundreds of thousands of piastres in debt to the Government.

Bribery.

These remarks regarding oppression suggest the question of bribery, with which the Turkish name is generally associated. Here, however, some injustice has been done to the Turk, in that no distinction has been drawn between “backsheesh” which means a gift, and “barteel” which means a bribe in our sense. Our own experience, and it includes seven years as a judge in a Turkish Court, was that 80 per cent. of the monies paid in connection with Government work was “backsheesh” and was really equivalent to what we call “fees” in our own country, but which in Turkey were not yet legalised. A governor in Safed made the position very clear when he said, “I get so much as salary. Every one knows that it is not a living wage. It represents payment for my responsibilities to the Government alone. Whoever in the districts wants my services must pay me besides for them.”

But it was usually at the Custom House that the European had his first experience of annoyance with a view to “palm-oil.” To the “ greener” it was indeed vexatious at the moment, but the trouble was often mingled with incidents that afforded material for many a hearty laugh in later years. In our own case a copy of Sankey's Hymns was challenged because it contained the hymn “Hold the Fort,” and it was seriously stated “We Turks do not allow people to hold forts in our country.”

The Jewish Population.

In those days the Jewish population was mainly confined to the Four Holy Cities—Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed—while in Jaffa and Haifa there were as yet but small communities, and the colonies were still in their infancy. The city Jews have been correctly designated, “The Monks of Judaism.” They were supported by the contributions of their brethren throughout the world. The money given in this way was “divided out” monthly and was, therefore termed “chaluka.” The duties of these Jews were, as representatives, to study and pray for Israel. Narrow and exclusive, their fanaticism was intense and bitter. The colonies were by no means the ideal spots they are to-day. There was mismanagement on every hand. The colonists had no initiative and no ambition. They were paid eight piastres per day, but finding that they could get “an Arab” to work for four, they divided the income with him, they themselves lying on the ground in a shady place smoking, and looking on while he laboured.

Then the Israelite Alliance had opened schools throughout the country, and of these we had a typical example in Safed. A French Jew was at the head of it, and he had twelve teachers under him, more than half of them being of local origin, and to them was entrusted the overcoming of local rabbinical opposition, the gathering in of Jewish pupils, and the preventing of any Jew whatever attending a Christian School. As the Alliance School was supposed to be “tainted with unbelief” the little schools or “chedarim” of the rabbis still persisted, and in these only strictly Jewish subjects were taught.

Christian Missions.

It was in the midst of such conditions that the first Mission Boys' School was started and conducted by one European and one Syrian Assistant in two small rooms. The Day-School never had the chance of being tested as a Jewish School, but its presence was an incentive to good work in the Alliance School, and it was the cause of the opening and endowment of two Moslem Schools, the first attempt of this kind on the part of the Government in our district. But if the Day-School hardly reached the Jews, the Evening School, started exclusively for Jewish lads, had a large measure of success, and several distinguished converts went out from it. This Evening School too was the means of breaking the power of the “cherem,” hitherto an all-powerful weapon in the hands of the rabbinical authorities.

Medicine.

The old system of medicine still had a great hold on the people. This was in reality a “quack system.” Men had learned from their fathers, who in turn had gained “experience” from gathering herbs in the fields, but neither fathers nor sons had any knowledge of the human body, nor of the relative position of the organs. Still these men talked profoundly and were treated with confidence. As they possessed no diplomas, they had themselves to submit from time to time to the process of “bleeding” at the hands of the Government officials. Between “doctor” and patient all was a matter of bargaining. This led the native to attempt the same system of dealing with the European doctor, and we ourselves have had a share in the discussion of a case when an Arab Chief proposed concerning the cure of his epileptic daughter, “Nothing if you fail, but if you succeed the best mare in the possession of my tribe.” In the matter of Hospital work the native very soon imitated the European, but, left to his own resources, he did it badly. In Safed the Jews hired a house and opened what they termed a Hospital, but the whole place was so filthy, and the medical work and attendance so badly carried through that very early in its history the Jews themselves called it “The Court of Death.”

Some Progress.

In the face of the difficulties such conditions indicate, the possibility of effective mission work might well be questioned.

Still there was light in the midst of the gloom. The very craving after imitation, and the opposition that went the length of establishing rival schools and hospitals manifest this. A clean courtyard and a tidy room impressed visitors with the need of cleanliness. It thus came about that even the second night's attendance at an Evening School showed change in the get up and manner of a pupil. The dawn too was breaking for the Hebrew Tongue. In former days there had been Jews who on the Sabbath would use only the Holy Language, but very often their silence was more apparent than their speech. Now there was a rising enthusiasm for “living, spoken, Hebrew.” Jerusalem sent out two rival newspapers, all in Hebrew; and Hebrew books were being brought in from Russia, Austria and Germany, dealing with all subjects of human interest, including Chemistry, Physiology, Mathematics, the Development of Rabbinical Tradition, and above all that hitherto tabooed subject—Hebrew Grammar. When a book was altogether in Hebrew (even in its paging) the pious Jew could find little to say against it, and even the man that would refuse to handle an edition of the Hebrew Bible with the titles of the books in Latin, as in those issued by the Bible Societies, never raised objections to reading “Robinson Crusoe” in the Sacred Speech.

Missionary Literature too was gradually circulated, and often read in secret; and when it did not lead to change by way of profession of faith, it did enlighten by way of presenting points of view unknown before. It convinced the most fanatical that men with other beliefs from theirs might be honest, and it prepared the way for what we hope will be a glorious future. It was essentially a “Sowing in Hope,” but in both volumes of our Sacred Record we have the fullest assurance that this is a hope that will not be disappointed.

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THE LAND AS IT IS.

By the Rev. Prof. W. M. MACGREGOR, D.D.

I SUPPOSE that for thirty years or more I have been accustomed to hear from authorities that, unless I went to Palestine at once, it would not be worth going, for alterations of all sorts were setting in which would change the look of the land. In many respects, no doubt, these authorities were right, though they pushed their assertion too far. The changes have come, and the stream still runs vehemently in that direction. Tourists race about in motor cars instead of ambling on horseback and living in tents under the guardianship of Thomas Cook; they can stray about the lanes of Hebron without the fear of being pelted with stones, and even women may enter the sacred mosque; women in the villages go to the well with petrol tins on their heads instead of the shapely earthenware jars they used to carry, and the village headmen are “deaved” with instructions to improve the sanitation and to provide quarters for school teaching. It seemed a curious clashing of the eternal and the timeless with the modern and the trivial and the insignificant to be stopped by a band of native Boy Scouts on the way to Gethsemane, because the road was to be kept clear for Mr. Winston Churchill!

Some Changes.

This note of change recurred continually. Russian Hospices stood pathetically empty, as no pilgrims were coming; Bedawin chiefs looked quaintly incongruous as they arrived in crowded cars from east of the Jordan; Syrian traders groaned over the new urgency of competition which was sucking their trade away, and Arabs noisily protested at the stealthy transferance of land to Jewish hands, and grimly anticipated the Day when Britain will withdraw, and they will sweep the new come Hebrew into the sea. Here and there we saw Arabs driving a modern plough, and everywhere notices were

posted in three languages—English and Arab and the new Hebrew, which is being created to serve the needs of the rising Palestinian State.

It is sometimes said in newspapers that things are actually worse than they were under the Turkish administration, but that is extravagant folly, and it is gravely unjust to the British representatives. Certainly there are more complaints, but then there is hope today of complaints being heard. The old lounging methods were appallingly inequitable, but, in many ways, they suited a mass of the people; and the new peremptory insistence on cleanliness and on some approach to justice, the inflexible demand that an order must be obeyed and can no longer be evaded by some secret payment, is extremely distasteful to many who are ready to lift their voices in protest. The very fact that Arab and Syrian and Jew alike are grumbling is a substantial proof that a serious attempt is being made to hold the balance even.

The Unchanging Landscape.

But whilst there is abundant change, much more remains unaltered. The land itself, the framework of every picture, remains as before, an almost eerily empty place. There are no scattered farms or cottages, but unbroken stretches of sheer vacancy, sometimes with patches under plough, but oftener given up to the scantiest pasture. Beyond the immediate outskirts of any of the towns—Jerusalem itself, or Hebron, or Nazareth—one comes to these silent places, where scarcely a human figure can be seen, and thought and meditation have their chance. Over the whole land there broods this dumbness, as if it were waiting for something, for still Matthew Arnold's epithets apply—it is “that silent, sacred land.”

The Unchanging People.

And the people are the same. It remains to be seen what village schools and the franchise will do for them, but as yet there remains a deep-rooted and continuous life in the villages, which are the main part of the population. The frivolous talk of a few Zionists about decanting the peasants of Palestine into Mesopotamia is not only unpractical, it is iniquitous. These people were here before Israel came out of Egypt, and they will be here after the dream of “a Palestine as Jewish as England is English” has been dispersed. One sees and admires there the noble tradition of manners—the splendid courtesy and the boundless hospitality of these unlettered folk. Craft and ferocity may lie below; but the ancient forms of life are fixed, and anyone who is received in a village as a guest sees the Old Testament spectacle reproduced.

It may be urged that the whole system of land tenure in the village communities and the methods of tilling the soil are bad, so that not half the possible harvest is secured. But there the system stands, understood and acquiesced in by those who work it. In religion these people are nominally Moslems, and on occasion they can flare up in fanatical enthusiasm, but here also the assertion of continuous life applies. “The religion of the so called Moslem peasant is the paganism of the days before Islam was preached. He swears by Mohammed, but his real gods are the buried saints whose power to hurt he dreads. He lives in fear of the Jân, the ghouls, the goblins, he prays to the holy tree, he believes in magic and in witches.” And so the whole fabric of existence is traditional. Dr. R. A. S. Macalister speaks of the first Semitic invaders “as beginning to build houses of the type that has persisted with little change down to the villages of the twentieth century in Palestine . . . The Semitic natives—Amorite, Hebrew, Arab—never invented anything; they assimilated all the elements of their civilization from without.”

Mohammedanism the same.

And Islam is the same, without any sense of challenge or any hampering self-consciousness. Wherever a man is, he falls to prayer without a touch of shyness. And the confidence of this system is

encouraged by the extreme degradation of the forms of Christianity with which it is contrasted. The vulgar frippery and tinsel of the interior of the Churches of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the baseness of superstition and factiousness exhibited in them are almost beyond belief. I suppose that some people have found God in these places, but it cannot be easy.

In majestic contrast to this Christianity at its worst, Islam in Palestine is represented at its grandest in some of the mosques, where, in spite of the intrusion of witless superstitions, the dominant notes are simplicity and dignity and beauty. Anything more impressive than the interior of the Mosque of Omar I have never seen, in its subdued glow and wealth of colour, but most of all in its silence and the absence of all distracting trivialities. Change has not entered, and it will be slow to enter there.

The Possibilities of the Future.

Thus unchanged in what is most significant, the Land invites our interest. It is called on now to face a new system, for which the older races in the country have no desire or welcome; even the long settled Jew in Palestine looks with disgust on the noisy, braggart modern Zionists, who seem to make existence harder for everyone, and who dream of a land altered but certainly not amended, either in manners or in devoutness. I suppose that whether they welcome it or not, a new order is bound to come in; and our concern must be for the place which Christ is to have in the land, from which both Islam and Zionism would exclude Him, whilst those who name His name in Palestine have scarcely begun to realise His meaning. But a rightly discovered faith—simple, dignified, ethical, infectious—might give the Land its soul. And for this we must seek.

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PRESENT DAY POLITICS.

By the Rev. JOHN HALL, O.B.E.

IN these days we are witnessing an extraordinary development of the idea that small nations have a right to their own independent culture. Along with this is the demand for the reunion of peoples possessed of similar ethnical traditions. The old ideal of a drab cosmopolitanism is dead. If there is to be a world brotherhood of common life, it is to be built upon the broad basis of the federated unity of national freedom. This claim to live their own life in a free national existence is the inspiration of Zionism amongst the Jews. For centuries, the ghetto had been the chief instrument in maintaining the communal sense of the Jewish people, but times have changed and the desire of many amongst the “Scattered People” is to possess not a spiritual centre, but “a circumscribing circumference, such as every other people enjoys: not an airy nothing but a local habitation: not a spiritual sophistication but a solid surveyable territory,” within which to develop, according to modern ideas of freedom, their own ideals, language, literature, and life. Strangely enough, for reasons which cannot be stated here, few proposals have aroused keener controversy amongst the Jews themselves: few ideas could have produced a sharper disruptive tendency than this suggestion of a return to Palestine for the object named.

The Balfour Declaration and its Interpretation.

Discussion has of course centred round the famous Balfour letter of 2nd November, 1917, and the demand for its precise interpretation has called forth the British Government's recent White Paper. The issue of the now famous letter certainly sent a thrill through Christendom, which seemed to see in the pledge it contained some redress for centuries of wrong, and the beginning of reparation for the martyrdom of exile and suffering borne by the Jewish people. They were at last to recover a national centre round which their language, tradition, culture and religion might gather.

This seemed the bearing of the undertaking given on behalf of the British Government. It was, however, subject to

one vital condition, viz., that there was to be no interference of any kind with the civil and religious rights of any other community that might be resident in Palestine or might enter it at any time. Had this proviso been better kept in mind, much trouble would have been saved. It would certainly have been perceived that, while a National Home might be provided for the Jews, what Zangwill claims, “the conversion of Palestine into a Jewish State,” was next to impossible, seeing there was a non-Jewish population of about 700,000 bitterly opposed to anything of the nature of Jewish domination, and intent upon the establishment of democratic institutions.

A strange absence of statesmanship has marked the extreme forms of Zionist idealism. It has never explained how Palestine could absorb the 30,000 immigrants, whom Dr. Weizmann considered the yearly quota: it did not seem to consider, that, even though the land could do this, a generation at least must pass before a majority of the population could be Jewish: and nothing was said as to what was to become of the Arabic-speaking peoples in the interval. Silence was observed, also, as to how far or how long a Jewish State could suffer the Arab to remain in possession of the very centre of Jewish aspiration, the Temple area, whose great retaining wall is wet with the tears of exiled generations. It requires no imagination to forecast the effect of Jewish rule upon Christian missionary enterprise: it could not possibly have permitted a propagandism which it would regard as at once subversive of its national faith and its national life: for a Jew to become a Christian would have been an act of treason, and he would have been dealt with accordingly.

The Declaration Modified.

The issue of the White Paper, defining the meaning of the Balfour letter, and at the same time forecasting the terms of the expected Mandate, has completely modified the situation, witness the vehement attack made upon it by the Zionist press, and the bitter denunciation of the Executive of the Zionist Organisation for having been guilty of a grave act of disloyalty to the movement in meekly consenting to accept and work according to Mr. Churchill's interpretation of it. The change is spoken of as “the Churchill Renunciation of the Balfour Declaration.” The modification lies in the fact that the extreme claim of the Zionist policy to make Palestine “as Jewish as England is English” is expressly repudiated. The definition of citizenship in Palestine as Palestinian, no section of the population having any other status in the eyes of the law is clearly set forth. In order to create this Palestinian citizenship, the first steps are to be taken towards the ultimate establishment of a full measure of self-government by the immediate setting up of a Legislative Council which shall have a majority of elected members. A Jewish National Home is still in view, but immigration must not exceed the economic capacity of the country to absorb new arrivals, arrangements being made for its regulation.

The restrictions made upon extreme Zionist claims by these provisions are obvious. It is difficult, however, to understand why so halting and tentative a measure of self-government is to be given: it may be years before a popular Assembly can be placed in control of the Executive instrument of rule.

But an arrangement of more doubtful character lies in the quite unusual relation of the Palestinian Zionist Executive to the government of the country: it seems a self-constituted agency superimposed upon democratic institutions. This may not be the reason for the sharp and relevant criticism of it by the Vatican, but it certainly means the creation of a body alien to the majority of the population, part of whose function is to “assist in the general development of the country” in addition to that of supervision of measures affecting the Jewish population. How is this to accord with the avowed purpose of government by Mandate, which is supposed to be a temporary tutelage of a people not

sufficiently educated up to the standard. of self-government? And, how is this Zionist Executive, as it functions in the direction of agriculture and industry, to be restrained from exercising a most specific effect upon the general administration of the country, in spite of the safeguards laid down? These are questions, which as citizens of the Mandatory Power, we cannot but ask.

The Government and Missions.

What, however, more directly concerns us is the prospect of future missionary work under the conditions referred to. The White Paper repeats the former assurance of the Balfour letter that scrupulous regard will be had to the rights of each religious community, but it also declares for “the maintenance of the fullest religious liberty in Palestine.” To British ears such a phrase is susceptible of only one meaning, viz., the unquestioned freedom of every citizen to worship God according to his conscience, and if he so desire, to change his faith and worship without let or hindrance of any kind. Christian Missions under such a provision are secured in their place and service. As a matter of fact, the relation subsisting between the missions of our Church and the Palestinian Government is of the happiest character. Our educational policy falls easily into line with theirs in having boys and girls of all three faiths sit side by side in school. What Zionist educational policy, which aims at the creation of an exclusive Hebrew culture and language, will ultimately issue in it is not easy to foresee. The ideal is in direct conflict with the declared Government aim of creating a common civil life. As to our medical policy, the Department of Public Health readily recognises and sets high value upon what we do: it regards our medical service as part of the stewardship held on behalf of the people of the land. One thing, however, is clear beyond argument. Under these conditions, in which a New Palestine is being built up, Christian Missions, in order to be of any effect at all, must be conceived on generous lines and be

equipped on the highest standard possible. Only thus can we hope to prevail.

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THE GALILEE MISSION.

FOR long years it has been a dream of the Church in Scotland to have a strong and well-equipped Mission to our Lord's kinsmen according to the flesh in Galilee—a region closely associated with so much of His teaching and so many of His mighty works. Ever since Jewish Missions were spoken of in Scotland, the heart of the Church has turned to this particular part of Palestine. The idea firmly gripped the mind and imagination of Black arid Keith, Bonar and M`Cheyne, the saintly men who formed the Mission of Inquiry sent out by the Church in 1839. Not only did they suggest Galilee as a Field of operations, but they were also convinced that there should be two Stations, the one complementary of the other, at Safed and Tiberias. The reasons they gave for their choice were conclusive:—“A Mission established in Galilee would have this great advantage, that the headquarters might be at Safed in summer and at Tiberias in winter, where the cold is scarcely felt. The Jews both of Safed and Tiberias . . . have a peculiar love for these two places, being two of their four holy cities, and many of their saints being buried near.”

The Start.

Although the Galilee Mission was thus early proposed, our first Mission to the Jews was not in the Holy Land but in Budapest, where the fruits have been so precious and ample. Palestine, however, was never forgotten. To Mrs. Smith of Dunesk, sister of the Earl of Buchan, and a daughter of the famous Henry Erskine, belonged the distinction of having laid the first stone in Scotland's Mission to Israel—she left £500 for a Mission to the Jews in their own land. In 1883 Dr. Hood Wilson, who was asked to investigate the situation while on a visit to the Near East, reported

in favour of Tiberias and Safed, and recommended a commencement of operations at the latter place. But once again Safed had to wait; the London Jews Society had begun work there, and Tiberias became the place where our activities in Galilee began.

In 1884 Dr. D. W. Torrance, who had been appointed medical missionary, went out in company with Dr. Wells to discover the best sphere. Very speedily crowds of sick people sought the good doctor's aid, but when it became known that he was a Christian missionary Jewish opposition was roused. That was, however, gradually overcome by Christian patience and professional skill, and, within a few years, as outside observers have told us, the whole character of the place was changed. The name of Torrance became one to conjure with through the length and breadth of the land and far beyond it. For a number of years work was carried on in a rented room about sixteen feet square divided into three apartments. Great were the difficulties encountered in the way of obtaining ground on which to build and then of getting permission to build at all. But these also were mastered, and, on 1st January, 1894, the first hospital that ever stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee was opened. It had room for thirty patients.

Extended Operations.

In the meantime Safed had come within the radius of the Mission's influence. The great summer heat in Tiberias, which is 682 feet below sea level, drove the workers up to “the city set on an hill.” Missionary work was commenced alongside that of the London Jews Society. New enterprises were started and the Staff was increased. Sunday Schools, Bible Classes, colportage became branches of the service. Education was pushed forward at both places, and the Gospel was proclaimed far and near—wide-spread itineracy, evangelistic and medical, became a regular method of work. Dr. W. Ewing, who joined Dr. Torrance in 1888, was our first ministerial missionary in Galilee, and Dr. Christie, now of Glasgow, having been appointed in 1889, was the first missionary teacher. A manse, a doctor's house, school-houses, mission houses, and, in Safed, a Girls' Hostel, superintended for a number of years by Miss Elizabeth Jones, were erected. Other names well known in connection with our Galilee Mission are such as Rev. Dr. J. E. H. Thomson, Rev. John Soutar, Rev. James Cohen (a convert of the Mission), Rev. S. H. Semple. Mr. Soutar died during a cholera epidemic, and Mr. Cohen, who held the fort during the early years of the War, lost his life under the barbarous treatment of the Turks.

The Great War.

The years of War seemed to bring disaster; the missionaries and the Jewish Mission Committees alike have been involved, through looting and destruction of property, in losses that run into thousands of pounds. But the call to re-establish the work has resounded clearly. The granting of the Palestine Mandate to Great Britain, and the creation of a national home for the Jews in Palestine mark a new situation. And the Committees, firmly believing that it is still the mind and will of the Church to possess Galilee for Christ, are going forward in the faith that every need will be supplied.

Some years ago Dr. Torrance received a gift of £1,000 towards the erection of a hospital for women and children; that sum and much more has been expended during these past two years in re-starting medical work, and, as his general hospital was the first in Galilee, so is his hospital for women, already opened, the first of its kind in the Holy Land. His son, Dr. Herbert Torrance, has joined him in the work, and the nursing staff has been added to—new members being Miss Vartan and Miss Ferguson.

It has been determined not to resume school work at Tiberias, but to make Safed, with its healthy situation, the headquarters of our educational enterprise in Galilee. Mr. Semple has become our director of education. Various considerations have led the Committees to adopt this policy. When the Mission of Inquiry of 1921 went to

Galilee, they were waited upon by leading inhabitants of Safed who begged our Church to set up High Schools. Representatives of the Palestine Government made similar request. The advice of others who knew the country and of other Missions at work in it pointed in the same direction. The London Jews Society, in pursuance of the policy of concentration and co-ordination of missionary activity now adopted by Jewish Missionary Societies, agreed to evacuate Galilee in favour of our Church and to leave their school work to us. Thus the whole field lies open before us.

Higher Education.

The great four who went out in 1839 thought of Safed as the principal of the twin Stations; hitherto Tiberias has had premier place, and perhaps it will retain that position, but Safed is bound to become much more important for us than it has been. A Boys' High School and a Hostel were opened last year, and for the coming session extension is contemplated. Mr. Gordon Grant, M.A., has gone out to be headmaster; Mr. Haddad, the old headmaster of our elementary school, has joined the Staff, other members of which have been found on the spot. This month will see the opening of a Girls' High School also, and for it a native Staff is being got together, while Mrs. Weaver-Hurst and Miss Henry are appointed as senior and junior mistress respectively. It may be noted that the Government itself is providing elementary education, but wishes to see Christian enterprise develop secondary and high school work.

Thus our Church is face to face with a great opportunity in Galilee, and has it in her power to realise her eighty-year old dream and purpose. It is likely that Safed will become an important residential centre, and that our Schools will draw young men and women, not only from the city and immediate neighbourhood, but from all parts of the land, and so by giving higher education and a Christian training to the youth of Palestine we shall leaven the people, and Galilee shall again see a great light.

Problems of the Mission.

Two problems still await solution. For both appeal is made to the liberality of the Church. The one is provision for evangelism. While institutional work not only opens doors but has a definite evangelising influence, the Gospel must be preached, and, for the fuller reaping of results, specially trained evangelistic agents must be provided. Is there an individual or a congregation willing to undertake responsibility for the salaries of a missionary and an evangelist for service in this hallowed area? The other is the provision of adequate buildings for the educational work. The London Jews Society has made first offer to us to acquire their valuable sites and properties in Safed, which are admirably suited to our needs. To secure them, the Committees require from £7,000 to £8,000 more than they possess for this purpose. This need is stated in the expectation that as generous gifts have made our magnificent institutions at Tiberias possible, so will the willing-hearted make as liberal provision for the city that cannot be hid.

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OUR FIELDS IN PALESTINE AND ELSEWHERE.

ALL interested in the cause of Jewish evangelisation will rejoice to learn that the Committees concerned have recently appointed several New Workers who will enter upon duty this month. Among them is Mr. L. Gordon Grant, M.A., who takes the post of headmaster in the Boys' High School at Safed. For the corresponding position in the Girls' High School there Mrs. Weaver-Hurst has been chosen, and to assist her as

junior mistress Miss Elsie Gordon Henry has accepted the Committee's call. These three are now at Language Schools in the Near East in preparation for their future labours, The School staffs at Constantinople have also been greatly strengthened by the appointment of Mr. J. and Mrs. Livingstone, Miss Bird-Jones, Mr. O. R. Baker, and Mr. J. Thomas. Miss M`Mordie, B.A., who before war was headmistress at Constantinople and during the past two years has been assisting at Budapest, is also returning to her old sphere, and to meet staff requirements at Budapest teachers are being appointed locally. We commend these new labourers to the sympathy and prayers of our readers.

From several stations Diverse Wants have been intimated, and our Missionaries will be greatly encouraged if friends would supply their needs. Safed much requires a good lantern with acetylene generator, and for bursaries for pupils in the High School several gifts of £10 each would be warmly appreciated. Constantinople is still waiting for wall-pictures to replace those looted daring the War, and, to help keep pupils off the streets in a city in which more evil than good prevails, appeal is made for tennis nets, rackets and balls, for cricket sets and footballs. About one-fourth of the £2,000 required to enable the Church to establish a Mission in Transylvania has been received. Friends in Transylvania are asking when a start is to be made. Will readers help us to answer? Gifts or enquiries about these “wants” may be addressed to the Jewish Mission Secretary, 121 George Street, Edinburgh.

Reports from our Missions around the Sea of Galilee have distinct notes of expectancy and indicate signs of progress. From what is stated above regarding staff it will be evident that educational work is being rapidly developed. The Girls' High School at Safed opens this month. To welcome the new lady workers a reception was arranged by Mrs. Semple and the Governor's wife, a daughter of Dr. Ewing of Edinburgh, and, on the occasion, Jewish, Moslem, and Christian women of the city to the number of 150 availed themselves of the gracious hospitality of the Governor's lady. Mr. Semple expects to double the number of boys and young men in the Boys' High School this session. On the past year's work the Palestine Government's Director of Education has made a highly appreciative report in which he recommends the payment of a Government grant in aid of this school. At Tiberias medical work was both hard and hot during the early summer months—so hot that the hospital had to be closed down at the end of July for a short vacation. Nurse Ferguson has gone to Jerusalem to a Language School in order to increase her efficiency. Dr. Torrance has been much cheered by the gift from an anonymous donor of the motor ambulance for which he appealed some time ago, and in it foresees both comfort to many patients and great benefit to the work. The Jewish Mission Committee has under consideration at present the provision of agents for evangelistic work in this important sphere.

Consequent upon the decision of the General Assembly changes have taken place in Southern Palestine, and since 1st August control of the Mission at Hebron has passed into the hands of the Church Missionary Society, to which the work, together with the property and the funds for finishing the half-built hospital, have been transferred. This change does not, however, imply absolute separation from our Church, for the Jewish Mission Committee has undertaken to contribute an annual grant for a period of years. There can be little doubt that this arrangement will tend not only to concentration, but to more effective work in the evangelisation of Southern Palestine.

The success of the work in the Turkish Capital last session has been very striking and has necessitated those additions to the staff mentioned in the first paragraph of these notes. The Constantinople Joint Committee at a recent meeting had the benefit of Mr. Morrison's counsel and authorised steps to further the work along several lines. Fees paid by pupils give evidence of the

value put upon our educational work and it seems not unlikely that within a year or two our schools will hold premier place in Constantinople. We are happy to state that Mrs. Morrison's health has greatly improved through the visit home.

Regarding our work in Eastern Europe deeply interesting reports from Mr. Beveridge have recently come to hand. During the past year Sunday Schools at home raised over £250 on behalf of the Budapest Girls' Institute, and that is being expended on improvements and furnishings. Mr. Beveridge, who has had an almost life-long experience of educational work in Scotland, states that he has been profoundly impressed by the high level of education given in our Budapest schools. A Jewish gentleman has recently made a gift of 1,000 Crowns to provide prizes, as a token of his appreciation of our efforts. No sooner was last session closed than parents besieged the offices to enrol their children in the day-schools for next year; the Girls' Home is also full to over-flowing and many applications have had to be refused for lack of room. With reference to extension, Mr. Beveridge writes, “The need is tremendous—I can use no other word. It touches the imagination to realize something of the influences that radiate from our Home and our Schools throughout Hungary and the middle East of Europe. I am hoping most fervently and eagerly that we may be able to secure larger buildings.” Evangelistic work is also going forward, and besides the regular meetings and services special evangelistic campaigns are projected for the coming winter. Dr. and Mrs. Nagy and Miss Prém, who spent the summer in Scotland, have returned to their labours, greatly refreshed in body and spirit after all the strain and suffering they had undergone since 1914.

Our enterprise in the West of Scotland has benefited by the appointment of Dr. Sinnreich to assist Dr. Christie, whom we congratulate most cordially on the honour conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow. During July the Mission House in the Gorbals was closed for the annual holiday, but in June increasing numbers of Jews gathered at the open-air meetings, and these have now been resumed. Ever since the Church began Jewish Mission work in Glasgow, it has been under the general supervision of a local advisory committee. The Presbytery of Glasgow, the Assembly's Home and Jewish Mission Committees have now adopted a new scheme whereby a Mission Board, representative of all three bodies, has been created and will have control of the work. The main purpose is to link up the Jewish Mission in this area more closely with the home mission efforts of the Presbytery in the conviction that still more efficient service will be attained.

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MATTERS OF MOMENT.

The Mandate.

After prolonged discussion, wire-pulling, and diplomatic communications the Palestine Mandate has at last been ratified by the League of Nations, but not before Mr. Churchill made it plain in the House of Commons that Zionists have done much harm by their cry that Palestine was to be made “as Jewish as England is English,” and that the famous Balfour Declaration is not to be interpreted to mean the establishment of a Jewish State in the Holy Land. Jews in restricted numbers are to be allowed into Palestine and may form a “community,” but the aim is the creation of a Palestinian citizenship with freedom of conscience and religious and civil liberty secured for all the inhabitants.

The interpretation of the Balfour Declaration is not relished by the leading Jewish journal published in English. Patently it has lost its temper on the matter. It writes

of the “Churchill Renunciation” and comes near to suggesting perfidy on the part of the British Government. With more show of common sense, however, the Executive of the Zionist Organisation has assented to the Colonial Secretary's interpretation of Earl Balfour's statement. But the Arab Delegation is still unsatisfied, and its members breathe out threatenings and slaughter, although assurances have been given of fair-play.

In the circumstances the prospects for happiness among the people of the Holy Land in the near future are not bright. We understand that nearly a score of revisions and drafts of the Mandate have had to be considered before even a moderately acceptable formula has been discovered—evidence sufficient of the extreme difficulty which the settlement of the Palestine question presents. Probably the battle will now rage round the actual Constitution to be given to the country. The draft of the Constitution, issued early in the year, left much to be desired in regard to the status and rights of Christians, but we have reason to believe that, as a result of representations made in high quarters, modifications of a satisfactory nature are to be expected.

A New Attack on Jewish Missions.

The Edinburgh Rabbi has already made himself notorious by his numerous and ofttimes violent controversial letters on Jewish missionary affairs in the Scottish daily press. More and more frequently is it being said that no one in Scotland today can say “Jew,” but Rabbi Daiches must needs rush into print. By his action he is not tending to make either himself or his people beloved in the land, but unfortunately he does not see things that way. For the present he has betaken himself to fresh pastures, and a recent issue of the Jewish Chronicle contains over two columns in small type on an interview with him.

Some of us have known for long the purposes of Dr. Daiches' settlement in Edinburgh, but now we have them stated in print by himself. Apparently one is to propagate Zionism, another is to unite the divided elements of Edinburgh Jewry, and the third is to counteract Jewish missionary enterprise, and the greatest of these is the last—to judge at least by the fact that well over half the whole interview is devoted to the Jewish missionary work of the Scottish Presbyterian Churches. Among other things he says, “One of my aims since I have been in Scotland has been to influence Scottish public opinion against the attempt made by the Jewish Mission Committees of the three Churches of Scotland,” which he names. So Church members will now know the purpose of the Rabbi's letters to the press—it is to endeavour to persuade them not to fulfil our Lord's commands. It is the old, old story over again of Rabbinical antagonism to Jesus Christ using any means that may lie to hand to compass its purposes. It is different with the Jewish people, who hear Him gladly.

But the Rabbi makes remarkable admissions. He grants, for example, that the growing generation of Jews have no thorough knowledge of their own Bible, and that “there is no denying the fact that the activity of the Missionaries has become a problem which ought to be faced by the Jewish community.” Other statements of the Rabbi should give pause to those members of the Christian Church who with might and main have lent their support to Zionist claims, for he declares that “Zionism is one of the best ways of counteracting the missionary movement,” “the revival of Zionism is the best means of defeating the object of the perverters”—the opprobrious epithet used to describe the missionaries of the Cross. He calls for the formation of committees in different parts of the world to counteract Jewish evangelisation, he wants to see the leading Jewish organisations in Britain taking steps to undo the effects of Christian enterprise among Jews, and even suggests a committee of the Jewish War Memorial for the purpose. But surely, one may legitimately ask, why all this pother if it be the case, as is so often

contended, that Jewish Missions have no success? For the facts we refer readers to our last issue. And, although the Rabbi endeavours to combat the Inquiry Report of our own Jewish Mission Committee, his impassioned call for activity against this essential part of the work of the Church is evidence of the truth of statements contained in that Report—the Rabbis tremble for the future of Judaism and of the Synagogue, which cannot stand against the Evangel faithfully proclaimed by the Church of Christ.

Rabbi Daiches calls attention to one matter, the issue in which is against him, although he does not know it. A year ago he had launched in the Jewish press of Budapest a bitter attack against our Mission in that city. In his interview he boasts of his effort. But the actual result of his interference was a larger enrolment of Jewish pupils in our schools than ever, and outspoken indignation on the part of Jewish people in Budapest against Dr. Daiches for his attempt to cast aspersions on an institution which they regard with affection. The Edinburgh Rabbi's attacks on Jewish Missions are really excellent advertisements. Verb. Sap.

—Observer.

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SIDE-LIGHTS ON JUDAISM.

The Cry of the Modern Pharisee.

Dr. Joel Blau, a learned American rabbi, has in the Atlantic Monthly been dividing modern Jews into Sadducees and Pharisees. The former are those who are interested mainly in the social, philanthropic, economic and political side of Jewry, while the latter are concerned only with “the catastrophe of the utter decadence of Jewish spiritual life, as they observe it, particularly in the Occident,” and are determined to find a solution for it by means of “a new education, a new understanding, and a new vision.” The author commends the Pharisee type. He emphasises the pride Jews should legitimately have in their racial personality, and shows how improbable it is that those who cultivate it will ever allow themselves to become assimilated with neighbouring peoples. The Pharisee's essence is “distinctiveness, separation, noble aloofness.” Dr. Blau imagines that this ideal will bring spiritual emancipation for the Jew and spiritual advantage to the world. What a delusion! The Talmud says that only a thin partition separates hell from heaven: the modern Pharisee will stand perilously near the hypocrite of the New Testament. The spirit of humility and sacrifice, especially those of Jesus Christ—and not the exaltation of pride—will bring the Jew into his own kingdom.

The Mystics of Safed.

Anything that refers to the town in Northern Palestine where our Mission station is situated should have importance for our readers. A recent lecture by a Jewish minister recalled some interesting particulars regarding its former religious life. He said that “to Safed had come by degrees many fugitives from Spain. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, they had three synagogues and one Talmudical College. At the end of the century there were eighteen synagogues and twenty-one colleges. It was religion that had effected this transformation. The town was like a revivalist camp in permanence. Its inhabitants banded themselves into societies for godly living and for Talmudical study. The common round of their life was transfigured by a noble spirit. They gave themselves to the quest of God. They scourged themselves and they fasted. They indulged in weekly confessions of sin. At midnight they rose from their beds and occupied themselves in prayer and study till daybreak. They led

the ascetic life, and made Safed a veritable City of God.” The names of one or two leaders are given. As Christians we believe that the studies of these men did not go far enough, for we would like to know if the name of Jesus was taboo among them. We have started Christian schools where this lack will be made up. May it be that these schools will acquire a fame for learning that will cast the former glory of the city into the shade.

The Harmless, Necessary Pig.

During the War Jews on active service were freed from their ceremonial antipathy to bacon, and many of them found it both nourishing and appetising. Now it has been found that certain Scotsmen have the same prejudice, and the “Fortunes of Nigel” is quoted in proof. Sir Walter Scott says: “The Scots (lowlanders) till within the last generation disliked swine's flesh as an article of food as much as the Highlanders do at present,” and reference is made for supporting evidence to Ben Jonson and Dr. Samuel Johnson. It need not be denied that such a ban existed, for Mr. Donald A. Mackenzie proclaimed himself under it at the last British Association meetings. How the prejudice came to exist in Scotland is matter for enquiry. It may have been due to the Hebrew dietary laws or it may have been brought into the country with other Egyptian customs. If it be the Hebrew legislation, it is strange that it confined itself to one article and allowed the hare and the rabbit to minister to the Scotsman's need.

Chaucer's Prioress's Tale.

The stir made because a Glasgow class in English literature was studying this piece of old literature was referred to in our February issue. What do the objector's say to Maurice Hewlett's version of the story in his “New Canterbury Tales”? With much amplification he narrates what he conceives may have been the course of events in the Jews' dealings with the lad, although their crime against him amounted only to attempted crucifixion and did not issue in actual murder. He depicts some of the oppression suffered by the Jews and also the blind fanaticism with which they sought to carry out their intentions. It is a horrible effort of the imagination even although its gloom is relieved by a touch of medieval romance. The Jews show themselves cruel, fanatical, and superstitious, and their co-religionists of to-day can hardly be pleased at the ease with which the whole inhabitants of the ghetto are turned into Christians.

The Wandering Jew.

The legend of the Wandering Jew is that of the man who stood in the crowd watching our Lord bearing His cross to Calvary and spat at Him as He passed. Jesus turned to him and said that the man who thus demeaned himself would be a wanderer upon the earth until he should meet Him once again. And so down the ages the Wandering Jew has gone looking for death in many lands and at divers times but unable to encounter it—immortal until He come again whom he despised and rejected so scornfully. Is the legend not the story of the Jewish race since the Crucifixion? They have wandered everywhere, and time and human enmity seem powerless to destroy them. And shall they not be at peace only when again they look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn their desperate deed in crucifying their Lord and Messiah?

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THE “REGISTER FUND.”—Since last issue, in addition to the Annual Subscription, the following sums have been received as donations in aid of the circulation:—Miss Webster, £1; Miss Campbell, 4/-; Miss Connell, 3/-; Mrs. Wilson, 2/6; Rev. A. Goodfellow, Mr. H. Smith, Mr. D. Sutherland, Rev. A. Duff Watson, 1/6; Miss Burgess, Rev. W. Forbes, Rev. K. Hewatt, Mrs. Pettigrew, 1/-.