The Maccabaean

Within a fortnight from the receipt of the San Remo news of a Jewish Palestine under a British Mandate, the Zionist Organization of America succeeded in convoking an Extraordinary Zionist Convention of national scope, as huge in attendance, as impressive in enthusiasm, as swift in decision, as open-handed in showering gifts for national purposes as the most inspired national assemblies on historical records.

The roll call of this rapidly improvised national convention comprised 1,102 delegates from nearly every part of the Union. The proceedings were animated, the galleries overcrowded, the parade with which the convention wound up, and so ably marshaled by that untiring soldier in the cause, Joseph Barondess, brought into line nearly one hundred thousand Jews and ten times as many spectators who with joy in their hearts watched the solemn and joyous procession.

Every purpose in need of financing drew a flood of donations to itself, every resolution of any importance was unanimously carried, every message of good news was greeted by a forest of waving flags, Zionist and American. It was a convention of jubilation.

It was called for two purposes only: To prepare, in a rough-and-ready fashion, a set of resolutions for the impending Jahreskonferenz to be held in London July 4th —resolutions expressive of American Zionist insight and intent—and to transform the national rejoicing into a current of creative energies.

The First Day—Lexington Opera House, May 9th

On Sunday, May 9th, in the early afternoon hours, a torrent of thousands of men and women poured into the stillness of a deserted business district near Fifty-first Street to the opening of the Convention in a gaily beflagged and decorated theatre. Outside this scene of turbulent rejoicing the day was serene, the air brisk and cool, with the Sunday quietness all around and about throwing the pageantry and shouting of an emancipated people into piquant relief. At 3 o'clock the Convention was declared in session by Judge Julian W. Mack, President of the Organization, with the following opening address:

"Fellow Zionists, the long prayed for moment, the much looked for moment has arrived, April 24, 1920, which marks the beginning of a new era in the life of the Jewish people. The civilized world has at last recognized the right of that ancient people again to live its own life in its own home. The Balfour Declaration has been translated from the point of view of the British Government into an international guarantee of all the nations, for its very words have been written into the treaty of San Remo. By that treaty without delay it is sure that Palestine will be forever separated from the Turkish Empire, and acting as the mandatory of the League of Nations, Great Britain will oversee the re-establishment by the Jewish people of their national home in Eretz Israel. I say by the Jewish people for what is it that the Balfour Declaration and the Turkish treaty have given? Not a land, but an opportunity, an opportunity again to build up by our act, our work, our men, the Jewish life.

“In this message of greeting to the assembled hosts of the Zionist Organization, I shall not endeavor to elaborate upon the work of the past year or the past month. Other speakers, in the course of our sessions, will bring to you the full details. Allow me but to point out to you in a few words the responsibility that has been definitely placed upon us—yea, the Mitzvah that has been granted us. Surely the hand of the Almighty has guided the Jewish people in these days of storm and of stress. When the light was darkness and the disaster to which we were beginning to become accustomed in Eastern Europe seemed about to be repeated, even in Palestine itself, the clouds scattered, the sun shone, and in the glory of the daylight the road of opportunity was revealed. Within a few weeks the mandate will be issued, the present military rule will be replaced by a civil administration. The doors will then be thrown open primarily to Jewish immigration, but as the treaty itself proclaims, with full protection of the civil and religious rights of other communities resident in the land. and with complete preservation

of the civil and political rights of Jews, citizens of other lands, There will not be, there cannot be, a dual citizenship; Jews who go off to found their homes in Palestine will, like all the other inhabitants of that land, Jew and non-Jew alike, be enabled to acquire citizenship therein, but with the acceptance of the new citizenship there must necessarily be a relinguishment of the old. There can, of course, be no political tie between Jews, citizens of other countries, and those in Palestine, but there will be, as there ever has been, the ties that mark Jews as a people, a common kinship, a common tradition, a common heritage, and a common faith. The country must be prepared for the coming of the masses; disease must be eradicated, the hillsides reforested, the waterfalls harnessed and converted into electrical energy, the soil refertilized and irrigated, the highways built, the railwäys extended, the harbors established, the land itself in largest measure naturalized, the natural resources and the essential public utilities developed and preserved for the ‚whole people. .

"And over and above all, the schools must be maintained and the educational life of Palestine crowned by the great Jewish University.

"All of these things must be done for the benefit of the entire population of the land, Jew, Arab and Christian alike, in the spirit of the Pittsburgh Platform and at the bidding of social justice as proclaimed by the Prophets of Israel.

“Through the accomplishments of these tasks the Palestine restoration fund is dedicated. We have made but the beginning of the securing of the $10,000,000 essential to the first steps in this undertaking. Every energy must be bent, every eflort must be devoted to obtaining the entire sum. Only in this way can a successfu) beginning be made and only thereafter will it be possible through great national loans to continue and to complete the work. The task ahead of us is an enormous one. While the Eastern world must primarily supply the men, this Western world must in largest measure furnish the material means essential to Palestine’s redemption. In memory of our fathers, who never ceased to pray for the day that is about to dawn, in memory of those pioneers who went forth midst direct hardships and laid the foundation of the future Commonwealth in the Jewish colonies in Palestine, in memory of those brave men and women, Palestinians and legionnaires, who side by side with the Allied forces, shed their blood to free the Holy Land, in memory of our greatest leader, Theodore Herzl, his forerunners, his successors, Wolfsohn and Tschlenow, in thankfulness to our leaders, Weizmann and Sokolow, in deep and abiding gratitude to our own Brandeis, surely every Jew should join in this work. There is no longer a question of Zionism or anti-Zionism. San Remo has settled these controversis. We must all now join hands in the practical work that confronts us. Never was the need so great for one place on earth in which Jews will be welcome, a haven of refuge from hatred and oppression, one land on earth in which in time they will become the dominant element, one country on earth in which their genius may develop freely to the glory of God and for the benefit of all mankind.”

At the conclusion of Judge Mack's keynote speech its international bearings were testified to by a number of messages of greeting and endorsement of the Zionist cause, read by the Executive Secretary, Mr. Jacob de Haas—among them two telegrams from Lloyd George and from Sir Geddes, the British Ambassador to the United States (all messages of greeting are printed elsewhere in this issue, likewise a cablegram from Chaim Weizmann.)

Dr. Wise was then called upon by the Chairman to offer resolutions placing on record the gratitude of a newly enfranchised people to the friends and furtherers of its national aims—to the Government and People of Great Britain, to the Government and People of the United States and to President Wilson, praying for his restoration to health and strength. These resolutions of thanksgiving and gratitude, offered by Dr. Wise, were seconded in a speech, radiant with the eloquence of serene happiness, by Dr. Max Heller, of New Orleans, and by Mr. Jacob de Haas. (The resolutions are vrinted elsewhere in this issue.)