persuaded to go. This I deem desirable not only for their sakes but also for the sake of Syria and the Turkish empire. I should like to see a very large Jewish population in Syria, and an influential body of Jews in Constantinople. They would be a most valuable factor in working out the destiny of the empire. I also believe that Jews going to Palestine not only from Russia but from Europe and America as well, would find opportunities they little dream of at present for advancement in every direction. They would have a fine chance to grow up with the country. I know from personal observation how successful Jewish agricultural colonies can be in Syria and how apt the younger generation can be in the learning of various trades. There is a type of Zionism that distinctly appeals to me.
On the other hand, I cannot persuade myself that the establishment on an independent Jewish kingdom or republic in Palestine would be either desirable or feasable. Even if it were possible to drive the Mohammedans and the Christians out of the country or to make them willing subjects or comfortable fellow-citizens, and to tempt as large a portion of the Jews now scattered all over the world into Palestine as the land can support, there would still be a serious question as to the value of such a national organization. It is easy to exaggerate the importance and advantage of nationality. It might very well happen that a Jewish state in Palestine, guaranteed in its autonomy by the great powers, would do less for the world and less for the well-being of its own citizens than the Jews to-day as integral parts of every civilized state are doing.
But to attempt to make of Palestine a Jewish state is, in my judgment, to attempt the impossible. Christians and Mohammedans are in the land with equally good rights. It is to them a holy land. There is perhaps no place on earth where the religious feeling is so intense. There is not the slightest hope that, rooted in the soil as they are, Muslims and Christ-
Zionism as a movement calculated to bring economic relief and freedom from oppression to thousands of Jews and to infuse into Syria and the Turkish Empire a most valuable civilizing factor, is to me an encouraging sign of the times. Zionism as a dream of a Jewish state seems to me an illusion that cannot be cherished by those who really appreciate the mission of Israel in the world.
Very truly yours, NATHANIEL SCHMIDT.
IN HONOR OF ELIEZER BEN JEHUDAH.
On the eve of his departure from this country to his home in Berlin, Herr Reuben Brainin contributed last week to our Yiddish organ, Dos Yiddishe Folk, an article on the work of Eliezer Ben Jehudah, a noted Hebrew writer and lexicographer of Palestine. Eliezer Ben Jehudah has just celebrated the thirtieth year of his literary activities and on this occasion a number of tributes were paid him by the Jewish press. Herr Brainin says in part: "As soon as Ben Jehudah began to write, he realized that our land cannot be re-