The Maccabaean

*The above lecture by the Rev. Dr. Gaster, the Haham of the Sephardic Community of London, is the first of a series of lectures to be delivered in the course of this session before the London Zionist League. This organization is especially active in the western part of London, and lays particular stress on the cultural aspect of Zionism. The lecturers are prominent men, thoroughly acquainted with their subject. By an agreement with the London Zionist League we are enabled to publish these lectures in extenso.

The forthcoming lectures will include, among others, the following subjects: "The History of Palestine in the Nineteenth Century," by Sir Francis Montefiore, Bart.; "The Jews Under Islamic Rule," by His Excellency Abdullah Quilliam Bey, Sheikh-ul-Islam of the British Isles; "The Future of Palestine," by Colonel Conder, R.E.

A series of papers has been announced by the Zionist League, centering in Palestine, and I have been honored by an invitation to open the series. As I always look upon things from my own point of view, even on commonplace subjects. it will, therefore, not surprise you if I have placed a somewhat different interpretation on the subject with which I have to deal here, perhaps not contemplated by those who have invited me, and by you who have come to listen. Surroundings color every subject. What may be fit on one occasion, would not be deemed appropriate on another, even when we treat of historical facts. For what is the aim and object of this series of lectures? I take it to be, doubtless, to bring home to us the everlasting interest which Palestine has had for the Jews in the past, and the value it

has for us in the future as the only true home of our people. We desire to emphasize once more our moral and historical claim to that country, and to show by careful and unbiased investigation that whatever may have been advanced against our aims, from whatever quarter and with whatever arguments, be they historical, geographical, political, or economical, has no foundation in fact. Others, perhaps, having been invited to deliver this lecture might have taken you over the ruins that are still covering the old land, wrought by successive conquerors and de- vastators, both Christian and Mohammedan. They might have given you a detailed description of the Roman Emperors and their legions trampling under foot, as they imagined, the Glory of Israel and stamping out every spark of life. They might have told you of the cruel tyranny of the Byzantine Emperors, who added Christian intolerance to the worst type of the already harsh legislation of ancient Rome; they might have told you of the conflicts between Persian and Christian armies contending for the supremacy of Asia Minor, in which the Jews of Palestine were necessarily implicated. They might have given you a description of the carnage of the God-fearing Crusaders, who celebrated their victory by wading knee-deep through the streams of blood flowing in the streets of Jerusalem and in other places conquered by them, and again of the revenge of Saladin's troops; of the extortion of Seldjuks and Mameluk rulers,