The Holy Land and Syria

by Frank G. Carpenter

Snow is almost unknown in these grass-grown vaulted streets, beneath which lie buried the ruins of the Jerusalems of the past. The streets Christ trod are twenty to eighty feet below the city of to-day

Now there are sixty-odd thousand in the Holy Land and, as I have said, Jews make up half the population of the Holy City. The Jews here are now engaging in trade, and already control a large part of the business of Jerusalem.

Forty different languages are spoken among the Jews of Palestine, and there are many who cannot understand one another. In the main there are three separate classes: First is the Ashkenazim, made up of Jews from Russia, Poland, Austria, and Germany. These people are much like the lower-class Jews of America, and their common language is Yiddish. The second class is the Sephardim. They are Spanish Jews, descendants of those who came here centuries ago. These Jews speak a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew. The third class is the Eastern Jews, made up of Israelites from Syria, Persia, Arabia, and Central Asia. They speak Arabic and look much like Moslems.

The American Jews are comparatively few, and it is seldom that you meet one born in the United States. Those who claim to be American citizens are chiefly natives who have gone to the United States to get naturalization papers, and then returned here to live. Many of them are frauds, and our consul believes that some of them bought their naturalization papers without ever leaving Palestine. American citizenship is an especially valuable badge of protection in this part of the world. Said our consul to me:

“Our citizenship has been used to carry on frauds. When I first came here I found it serving as a cloak for crime. One man who claimed to be an American was acting as receiver of stolen cattle, and selling them openly. He carried on a big business, and although the officials were aware of his criminal practices they could not arrest him. This was so because of a difference between our government and that of Turkey.

“The treaties provide that the offences of Americans against the Turks may be punished only by the American consul, and we contended that this gave us the right of trial in such cases. The Turkish Government contended that all such offenders must be tried in the Turkish courts, and as neither government would give in, it was impossible to convict and punish without bringing about international complications. As soon as I came I decided to stop it and told the man I would arrest and convict him by means of American witnesses. The result was that he did not wait for trial, but skipped out of the country.”

Most of the Jews here pride themselves on their piety. They think themselves above the Jew who has suffered long contamination by mixing with foreigners, and some of them especially despise the American. Meeting one on the street they may slap him on the stomach and sneeringly ask how much pork he ate when he was in the United States. In making this statement I refer to the fanatics who are composed more especially of the Spaniards and the members of the Ashkenazim. These people have inner circles of religious aristocracy, some of whom are supposed to have magic powers of healing. Among them are many men of education and culture, men who know the Bible from beginning to end, and who speak several languages. One can tell nothing of the culture of the Jerusalem Jew by his dress, for a dirty, ragged old man is often a great scholar.

The dress here is about the same among all classes of the Israelites. The boys and the men wear coats without belts which reach from the neck to the feet. They are full, and are slightly open at the front, showing gowns under them. Many of the Spanish Jews wear black turbans or velvet caps with a wide fringe of fur outside. Some wear broad-brimmed felt hats which come far down over the forehead, half hiding the ears. They do not shave, for a long beard is a sign of wisdom, dignity, and piety. They wear the hair long, with a curly lock on each side of the face, in front of the ears. These locks often reach down to the breast, and are allowed to grow, according to a saying in Scriptures, which reads, “Thou must not mar the corners of thy beard.”

Many of the Jews never cut the hair in front of the ears for fear of touching the beard, and I see boys with the rest of the head shaved and these two earlocks left.

These Jerusalem Jews have fine faces. Many of them have high foreheads, strong noses and mouths, and beautiful eyes. Some are fair and others have olive complexions. Their hair is of all colours from jet black to blond and fiery red, and there are many old men with beards of silver.