still poor in spiritual forces generally, and in literary forces particularly; but yet—Palestine is the bestower. If we had always had a complete, healthy conviction of the worth of our object; if we had always remembered that what we are seeking to build in Palestine is a refuge for our spirit: we could never have refrained from doing all that was possible to increase the spiritual wealth of Palestine, to increase, little by little, its moral influence on the people. In that case we should undoubtedly have striven also to establish in Palestine a literary organ, an altar on which all our best national writers would have felt it their duty to offer their best, in order to win for it affection and honor among the Hebrew race. An organ such as this, though it would have been at first an artificial creation, would certainly have uplifted the spirit and fostered literary talent in Palestine itself; perhaps also it would by now have become a true, natural literary centre for us, drawing sustenance from the forces it had called to the land and developed there.
But as I said: In the human mind no conviction springs from darkness into light at one bound. It was necessary for experience to teach us how slender is the thread on which hangs all our spiritual work outside Palestine, before we could be made to remember that in reality we had no need of such experience, since it only taught us that which was an essential part of our convictions long ago.
It is just at this moment that our editors come and tell us: "The time has come to begin to plant our literature in the land of its birth." Need I express my feelings when I read these words?
Yes, the time has come to begin to plant, and to plant not alone our literature, but also our spirit as a whole. All that now runs to waste in exile, voluntarily or involuntarily, must be gathered together and planted in the place of its origin; every man in whom the Jewish spirit lives is bound to help in this planting to the utmost of his power, because therein lies our life and our last hope.
A CURIOUS WILL
In an English court recently the will of a certain A. J. Kenward, disposing of his property in a curious fashion to the "Zionist Congress," it was declared that its vagueness was fatal to its validity, and that the bequest should revert to the next of kin. The will reads as follows:
"I, Arthur James Kenward, do leave any prorperty belonging to me at death, half to my mother, brothers and sisters equally, and half to the Zion Congress promoting the following for the resetttlement of Israelites in Palestine: Land from Zedad North to Kadesh South, east boundary; west boundary, the Mediterranean; lines east and west to those boundaries marking each lot. Each lot about twenty miles from north to south, except the holy portion between Judah and Benjamin, which is about thirty English miles. Twenty miles Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manassah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah. The people to be selected by casting lots. Thirty miles holy portion — Benjamin, Simeon, Issacher, Zebulon, and Gad."
Mr. Younger, K.C., for the Zionist Congress and the Jewish Colonial Trust, submitted that the gift was good. The amount at stake was between £2,000 and £3,000. He urged that the field of operations covered by the Zionist Congress included the tracts of country referred to in the will.
Mr. Justice Joyce said that upon the construction of the will the words immediately following "Zion Congress" were descriptive of the object to which that money was to be applied, and the Zionist Congress could not take it for its own benefit. He thought the money was intended to be applied for the resettlement of the Israelites in Palestine in a particular method. Any scheme for that purpose was not charitable, but rather political. That being so, any vagueness as to its meaning was fatal to its validity. The money was given to the Zionist Congress, not for the benefit of any particular persons, but for objects which were altogether too vague. The gift therefore failed, and the next-of-kin were entitled.