The Maccabaean

The Summer Agricultural Course

Whether you intend to settle in Palestine or not, here is a constructive vacation that will clear the mind of intellectual cobwebs, and build up the spirit. Although there will be helpful hints on agriculture doled out to the members of the course, no man, woman or child, for that matter, ever suffered a nervous breakdown from overstudy on a farm.. Not that we condemn the fashionable watering place, but may we not suggest a six weeks’ vacation that is free of the ennui of fashion and the persiflage of a boardwalk stroll, moon- lieht or no moonliceht?

Beginning July 11 (the so-called Registration Day, but in reality, the hand-shaking day when every student learns his fellow student's nickname) the course will extend over a period of six weeks, which brings us to August 22, and harvest moons. Take an old suit, an old pair of shoes,—everything most informally old, and take a train to the National Farm School, Bucks County, Pa. The course is under the combined auspices of the I. Z. A. and the National Farm School. Tuition free, the only fee is for board and lodging, and that is nominal. Cuisine, kosher, and menu from the farm.

It is hoped that the course will give an extensive, impressionistic acquaintanceship with the many aspects of agriculture and land husbandry. Then, too, there is the intention to give suggestive and helpful ideas of the work and problems of farming as they p:esent themselves on the average farm. The course will be of special value to those who intend to settle in Palestine—no matter what their walk of life may be. Whatever the economic future of the Holy Land, the agricultural side must. not be neglected. By way of stimulating interest in Palestine colonization, rudiments of dairying, farm crops, animal husbandry, horticulture, poultry raising, {arm economics. and rural sociologey will be studied.

A large part of the course will be devoted to field work, which will be carried on side by side with the regular students and instructors of the school. Though the practical side of farming will be stressed, provision has been made for laboratory and lecture work. And those interested in Hebrew will be enabled to avail themselves of the course in spoken Hebrew and literature.

Any senior or graduate of accredited colleges is eligible, provided his or her health is good and he (or she) is over 21. But we are not indisposed to consider the applications of special cases, especially where age is concerned. If time is limited, one may take any third of the course. Units of two weeks comprise the curriculum. The first unit comprises animal husbandry and stock judging and breeding, and dairying; the second, farm crops and horticulture; the third, more horticulture, together with farm economics and rural sociology. But, interspersed throughout the six weeks will be lectures by “city folks” and shindys ’round the fire.

Rolling country, the fragrance of flower, and meadows, and the open sky untouched by the jagged insinuations of tall buildings—these things invite you. And down there by the rising sun, across the sea lies Palestine.

German Student Organizations

(Translated from the German of Berthold Cohn in "Die Arbeit," by AARON J. EZICKSON, Columbia Graduate Chapter.)

The services rendered by the Zionist student bodies of Germany in the development of our national movement are undeniable. In every position of the Zionist organization are found Jewish intellectuals who have received their Zionist training within the Jewish student organizations. Inspired by that training a spirit of sacrifice and relentless zeal has arisen in the cause of Zionism. Despite these

generally recognized achievements, there has developed an attitude of indifference toward the union of Jewish societies in many places, and particularly in wide circles of the national Jewish youth. Although fellowship ran strong within the Zionist student bodies, nevertheless, between the intellectuals and those outside the academic pale there has been a distinct coolness. The intellectuals have regarded themselves as a powerful unit within German Zionism, inaccessible to outsiders. Thanks to a persistent practice of Star Chamber proceedings they have come to regard themselves as more than important—a viewpoint bodering on conceit.

However, they are not altogether blameworthy. Their cult takes its origin from the German academic fraternities whose growth through centuries has given them a typically feudal stamp. By no means adopted piecemeal by the Zionist intellectuals, nevertheless this feudal stamp has permeated the Jewish spirit and produced an inclination toward the promotion of absolute subordination of one's will.

Cultivation of highly specialized academic forms produces snobbishness. And it was this feeling of superiority that caused an estrangement between the academic and non-academic circles, thereby threatening the unity of our national movement. They further led to the setting up of an unsocial educational ideal which found the purpose of education in the training of Zionist leaders and cherished the unjustifiable belief in a special claim of German Judaism in the leadership of Zionist organizations. The average members were absorbed and remained confined within the meeting places, while the leaders were sent out here and there as organizers and speakers. As the rest remained secluded, they did not place themselves in the rank and file of the great Zionist masses, and so, while many of the intellectuals were esteemed leaders, nevertheless they were not imbued with the feeling of unity and camaraderie.

The foregoing development is as a child's disease in the affairs of student organizations, and they are on the road to recovery. Public events —war and revolution, have contributed essentially to the hastening of this recovery and the expansion of Zionism. Not a little are the Zionist intellectuals contributing toward reconstruction.

The reluctance with which the German soldiers in the East opposed the Misrach-Juden, proved that there is a universal feeling of brotherhood among the Jews, and it is this feeling that is helping so much to further reconstruction. Also, among the students themselves, there is a keen desire to remodel fraternity life, and to prepare for the colonization of Palestine. The Hechalutz movement is gaining ground. The most willing and strong are throwing away their pens and taking hold of spades, against the day when they shall be workmen in the rebuilding of Palestine. Ignorance and exclusiveness are being combated. Out of his shell the intellectual is crawling. Above all, there is a striving to establish a heart-to-heart intimacy with Eastern Jews.

Shoulder to shoulder, the students and workers must pull together for the reconstruction of a Jewish nation closely allied against class and rank distinction against feudalism and slavedom, and battle for a free society of all creative forces. Shortly the students and workers will form a strong organization, united in the idea, through the spirit of unity in labor, of the rehabilitation of Palestine.

A Glimpse at Zionism Abroad

It is with something of a nostalgic thrill that I attempt to assemble into some definite form a few of the host of impressions that were borne in upon me during my all-too-brief stay in Europe. I must ask the indulgence of those that may read these rambling notes, first for their inconclusiveness (for it is scarcely possible for me