Page 220 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

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kindergartens to the new Polytechnic Institute in which Hebrew was
the medium through which all sciences were taught.
The farming and orchard work was done by modern machinery,
the same as is used in Kansas or California. Palestine oranges have
made a name for themselves in European markets, and the vineyards
and large winery in Rishon Lezion could compete with the famous
French wineries. The Orient, known for its dirty narrow dog-ridden
streets, was astonished at the Jewish quarter in Jaffa, built on modern
principles with wide paved streets, electric lights, and running water
in every house.
Just before the great cataclysm befell Europe, the colonists were
organizing one company to build a breakwater and make Jaffa a good
harbor, and others to build dams and utilize the water resources with
which Palestine is so rich. But Palestine, like the rest of Europe,
underwent the misfortunes of war: the Turks, retreating before
Allenby’s victorious army, carried off everything portable, confiscated
all reserve gold in the Anglo-Palestine Bank, and even uprooted many
vineyards.
The British declaration and President Wilson’s affirmation of the
Allies’ agreement that Palestine shall be the Jewish homeland have
revived the great hope and given impetus to the Zionist movement.
An era of restoring the damage done during the war has begun, and
new preparations are being made in Palestine to accommodate the
great influx of immigrants, especially those persecuted Jews from
Poland, Rumania, and the Ukraine.
Our motto now is, “If not today, never.” This is the greatest
psychological moment in Jewish history. Cyrus and Balfour, Persia
and Great Britain: Persia the enlightened nation at that time, and the
Anglo-Saxon people today, have sponsored our demands. About
twenty-two hundred years ago, when the Persians called the Jews
back to Palestine, not many of the Jews who were living happily in
Babylonia responded, but the few who did return built up Palestine
so magnificently that it flourished for five hundred years, producing
great philosophers and moral teachers who still influence mankind
today.
The history of Zionism is a history of two thousand years, dating
back to the Roman conquest of Judea. The desire to re-establish a
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