out emotion. "We were the first to see the eyes of the foe, and the first to fling ourselves upon them."
Then his voice became softer. A thought, a hidden corner of his soul, seemed quivering.
“While at the court of Pharoah, one of the body-guard of our Deliverer, I lost my heart to an Egyptian maiden. She was the daughter of one of the High Priests. I loved her, and my love was returned. She was a fair and comely maiden. But she would not be mine unless I foreswore the God of Israel. I loved her dearly, and one bleak night, in the heathen Temple, I renounced our faith and agreed to worship the accursed ones. I heaped curses on the name of God, and performed beastly rites, too unclean to mention or to recall. And when the ordeal was over, she mocked me. She had pretended to love me to ensnare me. She thought, ‘What joy will there be in the land when runners would bring the tidings that the Captain of a Thousand of the hated Moses had turned renegade. O, my soul was a stench in my nostrils! Mad with hate, I slew her and her attendants. Then I vowed that my soul could be cleansed of sin only by dying for the Lord and His Name.
"I bared my soul to that meek man, Moses. He kissed and embraced me, and wept bitter tears over my sin, and consoled me.
"He shouted in an unearthly voice:
"The Lord taketh to his bosom the repentant. Fear not that ye have cursed His Name and renounced the faith. The tears of prayer wash away your sins. But you have taken life not in battle, not for the good of the people, but in private anger, and not of a man bearing a spear, but of a woman without a weapon of defense. This you must make amends for."
"Thus spoke the Master Moses. And I hastened to make amends. Grievous were those days in Mizraim. We were ready to shake the Egyptian dust from our sandals and return to Canaan. While I wandered along the banks of the Nile aimlessly, looking into my soul and seeing its smallness, there came to me, in the stillness of the night, a light from above. I would atone for my sin and look my Creator in the face on the Day of Judgment, knowing that I had been cleansed.
"I approached the Master of Pharoah's armies, and simulating that my apostasy was real, and that I had
slain the maiden because she had spurned my love, I made friends with him. I held speech with him daily, and filled his head with a plan for turning over to the Egyptians the men of my command, deliver Israel to the foe. Thus I discovered their plan of attack, the number of their legions, their secrets. It was agreed that I was to pierce the entire line with the apparent purpose of being drawn into an ambush.
“It was at the shores of the Red Sea. There were massed the fighters of the world. I ground my teeth and gave the word to move forward. As we appeared, the heathen surged toward us. They expected me to be true to my covenant with them and false to God. They opened their ranks to admit us until we were close to the royal tent. Then we smote them hip and thigh. They re- coiled before us as does the lamb before the lion. I hewed to the bone for the Chosen of God, in atonement for my great crime. Countless faces appeared before me, contorted with passion and the lust of slaughter. Countless hands were stretched out to slay me, and countless forms went down before me, hacked and mutilated beyond recognition. As I hewed about me, I felt my arm grow weaker. My breath came in gasps. The blood gathered in my eyes. I was bathed in blood. Faintly I felt that I stood before the chariot of the Master of Pharoah’s army, and with a last effort, I grasped my sword firmly and slew him as he stood there. I do not know what happened then, but I remember Moses, the man terrible in battle, leaning over me and saying, ‘Thy sins are atoned, thou servant of the Most High.’ And I knew no more.”
He was exhausted, this Master of a Thousand. And when he left me that night, he did not know that he had revealed the secret of his soul; that he, the raw youth, babbling of prize-fights and athletic games, babbling of Jewish heroes and of Zion, was the reincarnation of the Hebrew warrior who had participated in the great battle or freedom fought on the shores of the Red Sea, where once more the hosts of Israel are now foregathering. And as I thought of this David, I could not help wondering how many such Davids there are among the Jewish people. What talisman is needed to bring to life in them—in all of them—the consciousness of having fought for their people, and the desire to give their lives again that their nation might live?
Zionism
(The writer expresses what Zionism means to her.)
O Star of Hope! O Blessed Star! That riseth in the East afar, Thou shed'st a wondrous, holy light, A pillar of fire thou art by night. Shine forth, thou great and lovely Star! That riseth in the East afar, A beacon-light of faith and cheer, Be thou to Israel far and near.
O Star of Hope! Thou beauteous Star! To Golus-land bring from afar, A message of love and courage true To each and every steadfast Jew.
Arise! Arise! Thou Blessed Star! That shinest in the Heavens afar! To Israel’s children be thou a sign Of faithfulness and trust divine.