The Maccabaean

the Leaders' Bureau is accordingly making provision for the instruction of Young Judaea leaders and prospective leaders in these subjects, and for examination of those who have completed the prescribed courses.

It is also planning to give an Honorary Certificate in club leadership to such as have clearly demonstrated by their past services to Zionist education, their obvious fitness for the work. From the time that the plan goes into effect, which will be on March 1st, no Young Judaea club is to be put in charge of a leader who does not hold at least a temporary certificate from the Department of Education.

In putting into operation a plan that calls for such a radical departure from the chaotic state of leadership that had hitherto prevailed, it is to be anticipated that not all leaders will immediately appreciate the importance of their obligation to conform with the provisions of the new régime. The Leaders' Bureau is attempting to make them understand its significance by circular letters and by discussion of the problem in the Young Judaea Leader.

To carry out this important innovation successfully, however, the co-operation of the district organizations and particularly of their Education Committees is indispensable. It is upon them that ultimately the responsibility must rest for the quality of Young Judaea leadership in their localities. With this in view, the plan for the certification of leaders requires the endorsement not only of the Young Judaea Council, but of the Education Committees of the district, to every applicant for the certificate of the Education

Department. This article has, therefore, been written in order to secure that co-operation, to call to the attention of Zionist workers everywhere the fact that the eficiency of their work in the future will depend upon the intelligent services of well-informed Zionists who have been trained from their youth to serve the Jewish people and its land, to let them know that the number of such Zionistically educated persons will depend mostly on the success of Young Judaea work in their districts, and to make them realize that the success of their local Young Judaea work will be impossible unless they appreciate the responsibility of the task of the Young Judaea leader and assist the Leaders’ Bureau in every effort to raise the standard of leadership. To be concrete, every Zionist district should see to it that its Young Judaea leaders and prospective leaders apply for certification ot the Leaders Bureau. They should satisfy themselves as to whether the facilities for the training of leaders which the Leaders’ Bureau provides are being taken advantage of by those who aspire to lead Young Judaea clubs. They should assist in the organization of Leaders’ Training Groups wherever possible, and, where this is impossible, should induce all who seek to lead Young Judaea clubs to enroll with the Leaders’? Bureau for instruction by correspondence. The problem of training Young Judaea ‚leaders and establishing a high standard of qualifications for the important work of leading a Young Judaea club is not merely a Young Judaea problem; it is a Zionist problem and its solution will ultimately depend on the appreciation of its importance by Zionists generallv.

ROBERT WILLIAMS, F.R.I.B.A., Jerusalem, the City of Many Sieges.Alexandria: Whitehead, Morris & Coy., 1918.

"THIS slight sketch, I am aware, is exceedingly faint, wholly lacking in precise details, and passing over many important events." Thus opens the introduction to the pamphlet of forty odd pages which has just been reprinted for the second time. The next words of the author begin with "but," and express the hope that the booklet will nevertheless prove of value. However, the opening description, which bespeaks at least the virtue of modesty, is a correct one. The book is evidently written with a propaganda purpose, though this is not explicitly stated. That purpose seems to be to extol the British Christian institutions of the Holy City, and to belittle the political ambition of the Jews. The greater part of the booklet is a history of Jerusalem from its earliest beginnings as a Jebusite city until the British conquest. This history is, of course, bound to be sketchy, but even so brief a sketch might have had some color and interest, whereas this is dull and flat throughout, and in many instances gives a false impression of the causes and relations of events. This is notable, for example, in the description of the Maccabaean revolt. The Jews are spoken of as having been a subject people since the return under Cyrus, and Judas Maccabee is described as the first one to fight for their liberation. Such a perversion of causes and motives, without an actual falsification of events, is characteristic of the whole manner of the book. Even the pictures are desceptive. The numerous illustrations are so badly printed that they give no sense whatever of the beauty of the Holy City. There seems little

excuse for inserting pictures at all, if they must be so badly done.

Throughout all its pages, there is not a single vivid description or anything that may properly be called a description at all, with the one exception of the description of a Russian church, in order to emphasize the hideousness of the Russian: architecture and to contrast it with the simplicity and quietness of the British buildings. So, too, there are implied criticisms and veiled suspicions of German activity in the Holy Land, but the evident Christian charity of the author prevents him from any outspoken hostility.

And the treatment of the Jewish question is in exactly the same manner. Throughout there is expressed a certain sympathetic kindness toward the Jews and compassion for their sufferings. When, however, it comes to the discussion of the British Declaration on Zionism, the method used is to belittle its significance and by implication to prove the impossibility of a Jewish return. The quotation of the whole passage will convict the author out of his own mouth: "With regard to the future of the Holy City little can be said. Mr. Balfour's message to Lord Rothschild stating that the British Government was in sympathy with the hope of the Zionists, has brought the 'Return of the Jews' idea very much to the front. Already, as we have seen, Jerusalem and its suburbs holds about 70,000 Jews of all nationalities. But how many of the rich and professional classes of Jews are there who would care to 'sell all' and take up their abode in Jerusalem?

"Concerning the 'Return' idea there is a curious and pretty superstition among the Jews. I learned of it in this wise: