Where are they? Rather, where are they not? Dispersed to the four corners of the earth, this nation of exiles, ever loyal to the Government under which they live, still look for a better country and fix their eyes on Palestine, their ancient home. One of their learned men, Dr. Hertzl, has lately appealed to his fellow-Jews to rise and re-people the land. But nothing can be done, he tells them, without the enthusiasm of the whole nation: "The idea must make its way into the most distant and miserable holes where the people dwell."
A CHINESE ISRAELITE.
It was just at a time when the Philistines said, "Behold the Hebrews come forth out of their holes where they had hid themselves," that Israel's captivity was turned to freedom. It may be that history will repeat itself.
THE HEBREW LAW OF THE CHINESE JEWS.
(Facsimile of a page from Deuteronomy.)
In many unexpected corners of India, China, Africa, and Persia representatives of an indestructible people have been discovered. They wear the dress of the natives and submit to their laws, but century after century they have remained, proof against absorption. Neither poverty, contempt, nor persecution shakes their belief—the faith that is the heritage of their fathers—that they are the remnant of a chosen people.
Jerusalem will see an amazing sight if it calls upon all the remotest holes and corners to deliver up its children. Jews white, black, and brown from India, dusky from Abyssinia, arrayed in the costume and sporting the pigtail of China, as well as Jews rich and poor, high and humble, from Europe and America—all will bring with them the divers ways, tongues, and customs of their adopted countries, and assemble as one nation.