Sejarah Zionisme, 1600-1918/Volume 1/Bab 41

CHAPTER XLI.

THE “LOVERS OF ZION” IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND

The work in France—Baron Edmond de Rothschild and his activity in the colonization of Palestine—The effects in England—Colonel A. E. W. Goldsmid—Elim d’Avigdor.

To come back to France, it is significant that whilst England took the first place in the propaganda of the idea, its practical progress was due to French Jewry, or, to be more precise, to an individual French Jew. The work of the “Lovers of Zion” entered upon a new period when Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Paris started his great activity in the colonization of Palestine in 1895‒1896.

Baron Edmond de Rothschild is one of the most honoured figures of Jewish contemporary history. Born to an exalted station in life and to a large fortune, he has devoted the best of his life and of his thought neither to pleasure nor to personal advancement, but to the furtherance of the material and moral well-being of the oppressed Jewish people. It is not too much to say that he has acquired a world-wide fame as a philanthropist, and that his name is indissolubly connected with all the greatest achievements of the Jews in Palestine. He is pre-eminently the friend of the persecuted and the outcast, without distinction of nationality or creed, and his generous sympathies and ceaseless efforts on behalf of his brethren entitle him to the foremost rank in the illustrious roll of Jewish leaders. His philanthropic enthusiasm can be traced to his profound Jewish national feeling.

Recent improvement in the condition of Jewish life in Palestine is due to many causes and to the efforts of many men, but to none more than to the noble work of Baron Edmond. He was not the originator of the idea of colonizing Palestine, but he carried it further than any of his predecessors or contemporaries, and he is responsible for developments beyond any that they conceived. His activity should serve as the grandest example of what can be accomplished when work is undertaken for the sake of a great ideal and carried out with staunch conviction. The creation of a sound Jewish settlement in Palestine is his vocation and his life-work. Nor is it the least interesting feature in his character, or the least honourable incident of his career, that the idea took hold of him at a time when there was every reason for even a generous man to dissociate himself from such thankless work.

Baron Edmond began to take an interest in Palestine at a time when the doctrine of assimilation was still triumphantly making headway throughout the whole of West-European Jewry. Under the guidance of the preachers of disintegration, Judaism was supposed to emancipate itself from the antiquated traditions of Palestine and from a belief in its future renascence. All this was to be altered. Neither the past nor the future was to interfere with the present. All that Jewish leaders could do to mitigate the lot of their unfortunate co-religionists was—charity. It was in such a world as this that Baron Edmond found himself when he first became a public character and a public force. Breaking away from the assimilation doctrine, he co-operated most cordially with the “Lovers of Zion.”

His activity found appreciation and emulation in England. Representatives of English Jewry, who were at the same time English patriots, supported the colonization of Palestine movement. One of the most prominent “Lovers of Zion” and an ardent supporter of the Jewish national idea, was Colonel Albert Edward Williamson Goldsmid, M.V.O. (1846‒1904), a scion of an old and distinguished Anglo-Jewish family. He made the Army his career, and in January, 1869, after serving two and a half years with the Fusiliers at Walmer, proceeded to India with his regiment. He was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General at headquarters in 1889, and held this position till 1892. In 1892 he accepted the responsible task of organizing the Jewish agricultural colonies in the Argentine, and, having obtained a year’s leave of absence, he proceeded to South America as Director-General. During his administration there enormous tracts of land were surveyed and parcelled out. About seven hundred families were settled in four great colonies, the majority of whom, being quite ignorant of agriculture, had to be instructed in its first principles. The Colonies were organized on a system whereby, as the colonists gained sufficient experience, the administration could be so materially reduced as to render the Colonies virtually self-governing. On returning from the Argentine, Colonel Goldsmid was unanimously elected chief of the “Lovers of Zion” Association of Great Britain and Ireland.

Another active leader was Elim Henry d’Avigdor (1841‒1895). By profession a civil engineer, he supervised the construction of railways in Syria and Transylvania, and of waterworks at Vienna. He was the author of several works in connection with his profession, and had literary leanings in other directions. Under the pseudonym “Wanderer,” he published many hunting stories of merit, for which he was well qualified, being himself an intrepid rider to hounds. At one time he was associated with Vanity Fair; and afterwards owned the Examiner, and subsequently brought out the Yachting Gazette.

It may be noted here, that “A Jewish State,” issued in 1896, was the English translation by Sylvie, the third daughter of Elim H. d’Avigdor, of Theodor Herzl’s “Judenstaat.”

He was like Colonel Goldsmid, one of the first English Jews to join the new movement for establishing agricultural colonies of Jews in the Holy Land. Such an idea was unwelcome to the prosperous and assimilated Jews, for the idea of assimilation had by now made some progress even in English Jewry. The impression left on the minds of many who heard of the idea was that there was a large number of Jews desirous of forestalling the promised advent of the Messiah. They had grown accustomed to the notion that Palestine was a thorny desert, infested by hordes of marauding Bedouins, and only fit for beggars and pious pilgrims. They were ignorant of all that had been written to the contrary by a number of authors, particularly by the indefatigable workers of the Palestine Exploration Fund. They had learned to discredit the sacred promises as to the future of the country. They felt themselves secure in the positions they had gained for themselves, and ridiculed the thought of renouncing them at the bidding of a few enthusiasts and dreamers, as if anyone had ever thought of placing such an alternative before them. They considered this idea mauvais ton, and thought that it might endanger their newly acquired social position, such as it was. These motives, and others like them, induced most of the prominent Jews to turn away from a movement with which they could have no sympathy.

Not so d’Avigdor. His intuitive mind showed him the futility of such fears and the possibility of attaining the grand results hoped for and partly achieved already by kindred societies, if only the efforts made were kept within the bounds of prudence. He took up the cause of the Jewish colonization of Palestine with ardour and energy. When he began work the “Lovers of Zion” Association did not yet exist, but numerous meetings had already been held in support of the movement for colonizing Palestine by Jews, though no steps had until then been taken to give the agitation a practical turn. It was necessary first of all that a proper organization should be established, not only for the purpose of utilizing the energies of the more practical promoters of the scheme, but also to prevent rash measures, which would have had the effect of destroying the undertaking at its very birth.

With both these objects clearly in view, d’Avigdor urged the speedy completion of a constitution calculated to give the movement shape and substance, and to establish a system of work on defined and methodical lines. To this end he brought his organizing abilities into full play, and together with Colonel Goldsmid drafted a set of rules, which was made the basis of future procedure. The services rendered by him to the society were innumerable. He addressed public meetings in various parts of London, and travelled to the provinces for the purpose of rousing general interest in the work. He went to Paris and carried on important negotiations for the acquisition of land in Palestine, a task for which he was eminently fitted by reason of his wide experience and great business ability. He secured 10,000 dunams of land in the Hauran on favourable terms. The departure of Colonel Goldsmid for the Argentine made his work more arduous. d’Avigdor was then elected chief of the Association, while at the same time, as Commander of the Western Tent, he attended to the working of that particular branch.

A prominent feature in his activity was his chairmanship of the Central Committee of the “Lovers of Zion” in Paris. The idea had seized hold of some branches of the Association on the Continent and in America, that valuable results might be achieved by united efforts in various countries. A meeting to consider proposals for the realization of this idea was held in Paris, and some progress was made in the direction of co-ordination (Appendix lxxv).