Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago Part 7

The celebration took place on Sunday, November 27th, in the private house of Mr. Barnett. Those who had a.s.sembled were many, in fact, there were present representatives of every shade and section of Jewish communal life in Palestine. Thus there came along Rabbis of all the various congregations, various Jewish communal workers, heads of colonies, teachers, business men and workpeople and even beggars who came to enjoy the material blessings of this great national festivity.

Mr. Joseph Lips.h.i.+tz opened the proceedings by explaining the importance of this great red letter day for Mr. Barnett and then called upon Rabbi Auerbach of Jerusalem who had come specially to take part in this celebration. Rabbi Auerbach delivered a long Talmudical dissertation in which he recited the great merits of the jubilant. He compared Z.

Barnett to a king, because he based himself on a Talmudic statement concerning Omri which a.s.serts that he who builds a little town or village is worthy to be called a king. The learned Rabbi also emphasised the importance of acquiring land in Palestine by many pithy remarks.

Then spoke the Rabbis: Joseph Ha-levi, Shneiur Lenskin, Joseph Arwatz and Joseph Rabbi. All these testified to the great qualities of their host, who besides being a great idealist was also a very practical man too.

After the Rabbis, Mr. S. Nissim, chief of the colony of Petah-Tikvah spoke. He narrated in a very realistic and eloquent way how that pioneer Zorach Barnett came fifty years ago to build up the ruins of the land and how he bought up the land of Petah-Tikvah, which was now a flouris.h.i.+ng colony, but which was then a howling desert wilderness, such as only insane men could ever think of converting this into an habitation of men. At the present day, thousands of pioneers are flocking to the land, but they are only a continuation of the pioneering of Z. Barnett and his stalwart companions. The speaker concluded by blessing the jubilant that he should survive to see thousands of Jewish Colonies in Palestine and tens of thousands of pioneers flocking here from every part of the world.

Mr. I. Adler, chief representative of the Council at Jaffe, also spoke on this great member of the Jewish community at Jaffe. Such men are really a blessing to the whole of Israel; they are not only Banim (sons) of the Jewish people, but also Bonim (builders).

Many were the letters and telegrams of congratulation received on this occasion from various ranks of Jewish representatives in Palestine. The private secretary of Sir Herbert Samuel wrote: "I am commanded by His Excellency, the High Commissioner, to acknowledge your invitation to partake in your celebration of the 27th inst. His Excellency, is, however, restrained from accepting this invitation owing to the various duties which occupy him at present. He sends you his blessing and hopes that all your ambitions will be realised with, the greatest success."

The Chief Rabbi of Eretz-Israel, Rabbi A.I. Kook, wrote: "I should very much have wished to be present at the occasion of the jubilee of my dear and respected friend, who first trod upon this Holy soil over fifty years ago and who has since then been building up the ruins of our land, but, unfortunately, to my great pain, I am not able to realise this my wish, owing to the present troubled state of the Jewish community.

Please accept my heartiest blessings for a happy old age, in which you may verily see the re-birth of our People and of our land."

Rabbi Rabbinowitz wrote: "I bless our jubilant from the depths of my heart. This occasion is not only a happy one for him, it is also for us.

This shows that though the enemies of re-building Palestine were, and are still, many, Palestine is, nevertheless, steadily but surely being rebuilt."

Mr. Diznoff, in the name of the Colony of Tel-Avis wrote: "On this great occasion, we should like to say, that as you have merited to see that the "howling desert" you have found, you have succeeded in creating into a "Garden of Eden," thus may you merit to see the flouris.h.i.+ng state of the whole of Palestine."

Mr. Ephraim Blumenfeld wrote: "Though I should have very much have liked to be present, yet my present bad state of health does not enable me to do so. This is a happy moment for all lovers of Zion. May you merit to see with your own eyes the restoration of Israel on its own land."

Messages and telegrams were also received from the Yes.h.i.+vah Me'ah Shearim, Mr. D. s.l.u.tskin, from the scholars of the Yes.h.i.+vah "Or Zoraiah"

of Jaffa and many synagogues. Also from Mr. Friedenberg of Jerusalem, Mr. S. Tolkovsky, Dr. Eliash, from the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria, from the "Old Aged" Home in Jaffe, from the Mizrachi, from Rabbi S.L. Shapiro of Jerusalem, etc., etc.

At the request of the host, who is a British subject, a special prayer was offered up for the Divine protection of King George the Fifth, and also prayers in the name of R. Barnett for the health of the High Commissioner, the Secretary, the leaders of the Zionist Movement--Weitzman, Sokolov and Usishkin, for the Chief Rabbis of Palestine and for the Rabbi Sonnenfeld, Rabbis Diskin, Epstein, etc., etc.

Mr. Barnett offered a certain sum in the name of each, and among the numerous inst.i.tutions to which he contributed were the following: Hebrew Archaeological Society at Jerusalem, the building of a synagogue on the site of the Old Temple Wall, the school for the blind, the poor of Jaffe, the Home for Aged Jews, etc., etc.

Mr. Barnett was then enrolled in the Golden Book by those present. Great indeed was the honour which R. Zorach Barnett and his wife received on that day, but they were really worthy of it.

May theirs be an example to others!