The Maccabaean

THE attraction of Jerusalem lies not in its stones, but in its peoples. The city within the walls is but the typical oriental city: bazaars and alleys, through none of which a carriage could pass. The entrances to side streets and to houses seem much alike, and considerable discernment is necessary to prevent the visitor from intruding into the privacy of a house, or from overlooking the street of which he is in search. Every street is stony and hilly, for the seven hills appear to have been multiplied a thousandfold.

The housing question of Jerusalem within the walls seems an oppressive one, and the only practicable solution, to my mind, would be a fire on a vast scale. Jerusalem could then be rebuilt and its inhabitants given breathing space. One of the greatest attractions the city had for me was to see there gathered together representatives apparently of every Jewry on the face of the earth. One meets in the course of a few minutes Sephardim in their “Tab- bush,” Ashkenazim from Eastern Europe in brilliantly hued “Shibbutzim” and fur caps, or in more sober attire capped by the low felt hat that resembles the garb of a Low Church parson more than anything else I know. But whether from Roumania, Poland or Hungary, the Ashkenazi always wears his long straight piyyot.

The Yemenites are far more Oriental than their Polish brethren. With the Yemenites we must class the Moroccans, the Persians, the Kurdistan Jews, all for the most part sunk in deep poverty, and the Georgians. Not far from the Yemenites dwell the Bokharan Jews, the wealthiest of the Jewish settlers of Jerusalem. In their costly coats of many colors we see

them passing to and fro, and if we follow them into their houses we find every sign of comfort and prosperity, and, in many instances, wealth. There are also a few English, German, Russian, Swiss and French Jews of culture and breeding, who are self-sacrificing, devoting their lives to the welfare of their Jerusalem coreligionists. Lastly, there are Russian intellectuals —in some instances, Jewish nihilists (in the religious sense, of course) and others who claim American and British nationality, but whose language casts doubts upon the bona fides of their claim. I am also told there are black Jews in Jerusalem —Soudanese, formerly the slaves of Jews, converted by their masters. This may be, but I was not introduced to any. To the varieties of Jews just mentioned I must add —abandoning geographica distinctions —the Karaites, the Chassidim and the Cabbalists.

Within the last quarter of a century Jerusalem has spread far beyond the walls, so that of its 60,000 inhabitants two-thirds are computed to be dwelling in the suburbs. With one exception all the hotels are outside the Jaffa Gate. Most of the principal shops are also to be found in the same neighborhood. Practically all the public institutions and residences of the upper and middle classes are also without the city.

Finally, in Jerusalem without the walls are also situated the innumerable Jewish colonies that have sprung up within recent years. In these are included the Montefiore colonies, both those established by Sir Moses himself and also by the Montefiore Testimonial Fund. In visiting these colonies, as well as other parts of Jerusalem, we had the invaluable services of two