The Maccabaean

two cultures: that of the minority —the Jewish culture; and that of the majority —the culture of the people among whom the Jew lives. How will it be with Jewish children in Palestine? There will be no such conflict. To them, Jewish culture will not be a dead and faded flower, treasured for past associations; it will be a tree of life. Without analyzing the situation intellectually, they will feel themselves part of the majority that determines the char acter of the country; they will have the sense of security, the poise, that come from the per fect adjustment of a sensitive substance to the position it occupies in space. Which would we prefer for the Children of our People, that they join us who live in the lands of the Dispersion, or those others who live in a Jewish homeland? Where will they be likely to count for most, contribute most, gain the highest satisfaction? A writer whose words have come to me very indirectly, asks:

“Is there no one who can see in these children the hope of the Jewish future? These children who are saved from war’s destruction, but are left homeless and without the protection of family life, are thrust, naked as it were, upon the Jewish nation, as a gift. It is the sacred right of these orphans to become significant in the life of their people. It is only in this way that their tragic fate finds compensation, yields the promise of a joyous fulfillment of a noble destiny.” (See Supplement to No. 25 of the “Bulletins” of the Copenhagen Office of the Zionist Organization).

Palestine is poor in children now. Many who had to flee the country are in refugee encampments. These will, no doubt, return as soon as they can; but many others have died. Could we not fill their places with some of the orphans from the Moravian fugitive camps, where a year ago a thousand Jewish orphans were registered; or from among survivors of the eighteen thousand children who then were literally straying about the streets of Galician villages and towns; or from those in the Bukowina or Poland or Russia? I know Palestine is poor, and is totally unprepared to support a large influx of dependents. The dearth of food and of buildings must be reckoned with. But I believe that some of those children for whom, in their native lands, temporary accommodations would, in the meantime, have to be provided, could gradually be transferred to new homes in Palestine. Possibly a year would be required to prepare for the reception of the first detachment. A children’s village should be prepared in advance. Palestinian laborers would not only erect houses for this village, but would establish a dairy, a poultry farm, truck-gardens, to supply milk, eggs, and other food for the children, perhaps an apiary for the sake of honey. Probably the first group to be transferred to Palestine would consist of older boys and girls who, under direction, would assist in preparing the Children’s Settlement for the next arrivals, somewhat as Booker Washington’s first pupils helped to build Tuskegee. It would seem to me that, later, the entire equipment of dairies.

farms, etc., could be used, not only for the sake of its useful output, but in place of a technical school. The boys and girls of the Children’s Village would there receive instruction in those occupations most necessary to the prosperity of Palestine—occupations which would enable the children to become self-supporting citizens. As time went on, the war orphans’ village would become a normal etllawea 2 7-2

If the loving care of the Jewish war orphans is a duty resting upon us all, then the care of the orphans who are in Palestine or who are to be brought thither, is an obligation resting especially upon those Jews who wish to make Palestine the heart of Jewish life, from which health will circulate through the whole body into its furthest parts.

The amount of money needed for all these undertakings that have been proposed for the International Commission staggers the imagination. All our attempts to fix the figures are mere guesswork. Of a certainty, no matter what we do, we shall not be able to solve the whole of our problem; but that is no reason for contracting our vision of what should be done. We must begin the work. We are horrified at the thought of the numberless hosts of the children of our people who will die before the help that may be on the way will reach them, as so many thousands have already perished. The cry of the children should serve as an alarum to a wicked world to come with sacrifice and do penance with charitv.

**O leaders, pause; give ear, twice exiled folk, Awaiting, with girt loins, the word ‘Return’— So waited we in Egypt, slaves, ayearn, Who free at Sinai proudly chose Law’s yoke. Bondmen were we too long; our faith we broke; Unfit for Freedom and State-building stern, Weaksouled and stiffnecked, lacking will to learn, Landless we died. From desert graves we spoke When Ezra led repentant Israel home. These listened not—God sent chastising Rome. O leaders, pause, lest for an instant’s sin Ye gaze as Moses gazed, nor enter in. O people, come again by Sinai’s way, Reverent to hear, and resolute to obey.”