“Behold, we are now awaking to a sense of the profound degradation which systematic dependence on charity must produce and to the awful demoralization which must be the necessary consequence of its precariousness. The increasing prosperity of those around us makes us the more deeply feel our own unutterable misery: while European ideas, gradually penetrating to us, are rousing us from our apathy and inspiring us more and more with the wish to wipe away from us the disgrace of sloth, with which we are but too often stigmatized. We want to work, and to work hard, in order to support ourselves by the sweat of our brows. But there is in Palestine no other source of employment capable of giving bread to a community consisting of thousands of individuals, save agriculture. You dole out to us annually thousands of pounds, just enough to keep us, year after year, on the brink of starvation. This has now been going on for centuries, with the result which we have seen. Now try whether a change for the better could not be brought about. Lay out, by way of experiment, and on a small scale, just to begin with, a portion of the funds destined for the Holy Land in productive labour. Some of us, at least, will, instead of being maintained in involuntary idleness, see what our handiwork can produce, whereby you give the mere consumer of to-day a chance of becoming the producer of to-morrow, and in time you may have the satisfaction of seeing the country dotted with self-supporting agricultural colonies of happy Jews—the very same who are now a burden to you, and whose cry of distress every now and then resounds through the countries of the West.”
Rabbi Sneersohn was on a visit to Melbourne in 1861, and addressed (in Hebrew) a “Meeting of the members of the Jewish Faith (to which persons of other denominations were also invited) for the purpose of adopting measures to assist in building houses of refuge on Mount Zion” (The Salvation of Israel, an address, etc., by Rabbi Hayim Zwi Sneersohn, Melbourne, 1862).
LXVI.
The Tragedy of a Minority, as seen by an English Jewish Publicist (1863)
“The whole Tragedy of our People is to be found in the fact that we must everywhere be in the minority: and no matter how just our cause may be, we shall always have to complain of slights and insults, of being overlooked by accident or design, of being scorned by many, and denounced by zealots or infidels, all for the sake of being a minority.... But once again blessed with a Government of our own, though only a small portion of Israelites should be found in their own land, while the many would prefer to remain in the countries where they now sojourn, and the advantages of which they might not wish to give up, the feelings of the world would necessarily undergo a great change, and the treatment meted out to us would not be what it is now. If we have our agriculturists, our statesmen, our mechanics, our public teachers, equal to the best found anywhere, who would dare to insult us by stating that he knows us only as pedlars, bankers and merchants: and class us as a whole among petty traders and men of low pursuits? No effort which we can make, situated as we are all over the world, will readily change the long habit which was forced on us to depend on commerce, large and small, in all its branches, in which the meaner necessarily predominated, owing to the exclusive laws to which we were subjected: and therefore it will be centuries before the unjust prejudices against us die out, if ever they can, in case we ever succeed in divesting ourselves of that habit. If our land be restored to us, and we to it, how nobly will our character, which is now concealed and obscure, burst forth in all ancient vigour and beauty, and we shall naturally present to the world again examples worthy of imitation, and the harp of Judah, which has so long hung mute on the willows of many a Babylon, will again resound to the master-touch of the inspired poet. He will again sing aloud the praises of the Most High. Our judges will sit on the judgment-seat of our ancient counsellors, and decide for the lofty and the lowly according to the demands of the Mosaic legislation: and the wisdom which had its chief residence on the hills of Jerusalem will evermore be diffused to enlighten a suffering world, and will prove its strength in contrast with the failures of antagonistic systems.... Will this dream be speedily realized? We cannot tell indeed: events occasionally creep slowly over the face of the world, but at other times they rush rapidly forward, and one great development follows closely on the heels of the other. The same may be the case with the now apparently distant restoration of Israelites to Palestine. The world is becoming rapidly peopled: the boundaries of nations in the meanwhile are frequently changed: jealousies of one people against another are constantly developed: the balance of power, a vain desire to preserve peace among men, is constantly vibrating to and fro. Is it then so unlikely that an effort will be made to place in Palestine and the neighbourhood an enterprising race which shall restore it?”
LXVII.
הברת ישוב ארץ ישראל ודרישת ציון בלאנדאן הבירה׃
London Hebrew Society for the Colonization of the Holy Land
Plans