The Sixth Zionist Congress held at Basle in 1906 accepted a scheme presented by Professor Warburg to found an agricultural experiment station in Palestine, and the Zionist Organization started collecting money for that purpose. M. Aaron Aaronsohn,[¹] the son of a pioneer colonist of Zichron Jacob, a distinguished agronomist who had been some years engaged in colonization work, and particularly in connection with the inquiries and preparations undertaken on the initiative of Professor Warburg, who was at that time busy with all the schemes concerning Palestine, was commissioned by the Professor to study the question of the hybridization of wild wheat. In 1906, M. Aaronsohn had found, after painstaking investigation, a few ears of wild wheat growing on the declivities of Mount Hermon. The scientific world was very much interested in this discovery, because of its relation to the possibilities of dry farming in arid regions. M. Aaronsohn travelled on that scientific mission as a delegate of the Zionist Organization, in Northern Africa and Southern Europe, and came to America in 1910. While there, he established relations with the United States Department of Agriculture, which took an interest in his ideas, and published a Bulletin by him entitled Agricultural and Botanical Explorations in Palestine. Through the United States Department of Agriculture, M. Aaronsohn and his work were brought to the notice of a number of prominent American Jews, who at his initiative established, February 18, 1910, the Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station, a New York corporation with Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, president; Morris Loeb, of New York, vice-president; Paul M. Warburg, of New York, treasurer; and Henrietta Szold, of New York, secretary. The objects of the corporation are “the establishment, maintenance and support of Agricultural Experiment Stations in Palestine and other countries; the development and improvement of cereals, fruit, and vegetables indigenous to Palestine and neighbouring lands, the production of new species therefrom and their distribution elsewhere; the advancement throughout the world, and the giving of instruction in new and improved methods of farming.” Funds were raised by the Corporation for the installation and the running expenses for a period of five years. The demonstration fields are situated at Atlit, at the foot of Mount Carmel, on land belonging to Baron Rothschild. Sub-stations are situated at Chedera, in the neighbourhood of Petach-Tikvah and elsewhere. The Station occupies itself since its establishment with the hybridization of wild cereals and with plantations of fruit frees, vines, mulberry trees, various sorts of fodder and ornamental plants. The Jewish colonists resort to this Station for advice and information.
[¹] He was killed in an aeroplane accident while on his way to Paris in May, 1919.
LXXXIII.
David Wolffsohn’s Autobiography
“My biography offers nothing of special interest to the general public. It may be divided into two parts: Zionist and personal. The Zionist portion is closely bound up with the history of our movement during the last ten years, and the facts concerning my modest work can hardly be distinguished from the general history of the movement. The personal portion of my career, on the other hand, contains nothing that transcends the ordinary. It is the simple story of a man of the Jewish people, of the Jewish Ghetto.
“I was born in the year 1856, in the village of Dorbiany, in the Government of Kovno, in the Province of Lithuania in Russia, close to the German frontier. My parents were poor, pious Jews. My late father, Isaac, was a talmudic scholar, and devoted his whole life to study and teaching. He earned a precarious livelihood from his lessons. My late mother, the type of a pious, good, clever Jewess, had to bear the burden of the household and the education of her children. Life in my parents’ house was thoroughly Jewish. Zionism at that time was, of course, not known under that name, but, so far as the ideal of Zionism is concerned, I can say that in our home our lives were thoroughly inspired by the Zionist ideal. Till my fourteenth year I studied, according to the old Jewish custom, in the Cheder and Beth Hamedrash of my native town. In the early seventies I went to Memel, where my oldest brother was then residing. Here I made the acquaintance of Rabbi Dr. I. J. Rülf, who had great influence on my future career and way of thinking. Shortly afterwards I went to West Prussia, where I served several years as apprentice in a pious Jewish business-house. I also spent six months in Lyck, where I frequently met in his own house David Gordon, the editor of Ha’magid, who was one of the earliest Zionist pioneers. In 1877 I returned to Memel, where I set up in business for myself, and married. After some time I removed to East Friesland, and in 1887 to my present home in Cologne.
“I can hardly give any data concerning my Zionist work. Zionism for me is hardly a thing that can be put into chronological, historical order. Zionism has been, rather, my life. Ever since I learned to think and feel I was a Zionist. I took a lively interest in the Chovevé Zion movement and was in active correspondence with all the leaders of this movement in Germany. In 1894 I delivered in Cologne my first address on Zionism and helped to found the local society for the promotion and support of Jewish agriculture in Syria and Palestine, which was established in the same year. The appearance of Herzl’s Judenstaat (in 1896) was epoch-making for me. This pamphlet made such a deep impression on me that I at once went to Vienna to introduce myself to Herzl. I placed myself entirely at his disposal. From that moment till the last days of his fruitful life, unhappily so prematurely ended, I remained in uninterrupted intercourse with our never-to-be-forgotten leader. To devote my strength to the continuance of this work I regarded as the task of my life. When, in the sad time after Herzl’s death, the Presidency was offered to me, I was surprised and embarrassed. It was only out of a sense of duty that I accepted this high dignity.”