Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-11

very devout. They do not approve of wear
ms any other than the Jewish dress, and
most Jews who como here adopt the dress
which I have described.
Our consul says there are $50 Jewish syn
agogues in Jerusalem, but these as a rule
are small and NOS so fue rs the other
churches Of the city. The service Is differ
ent from that which is observed in America,
and the women worship In different room
from the men. / was in Jerusalem at the
time of the celebration of the Passover and
4 was told that the feast is now celebrated
much the same as 10 was in the
OF burnt bone now takes the place OF
the lamb. At this time the Jews turned
out in holiday attire and / was surprised to
see rich gowns of velvet and silk, Of blue,
yellow and green on some Of the men whom
l had seen before In little more than rags 1
attended the synagogues aud found them all
full. Thu rabbis were gorgeously clad and |
have seldom seen moro devout congrega-
tons. The men were all reading Hebrew
out loud and in the rooms adjoining | found
women talking over the scriptures or listen
ing to the cider women among them who
were reading. The rabbis of Jerusalem are
not engaged in business. Some of them act
as judges and IN quarrels among the Jews
the suits are always settled by them. The
chief rabbi. is now more han ninety years
old and he has, | am told, lately taken q new
wife aged twenty-five. He is a very iutelli-
gent and bright old man and Is highly re-
spected in Jerusalem.
One Of the great sights of Jerusalem Is
THE JEWS MAILING PLACE
where every Friday certain sects meet on
the outside of tho walls of the Mosque Of
Omar which occupies the site OF Solomon's
temple, and with their heads against the
stones sorrow over the loss of Jerusalem
and pray God to give the lane back to his
chosen people. This custom has been OBJ
served since the days of the middle ages and
it IS one of the saddest sights. l visited it
last week. In a marrow alley surrounded by
miserable houses--on stone flags which have
been worn with the bare feet OF thousands
of Jews-against a wall of great blocks of
marble which reached for fifty or more feet
above them, a long line Of men in long gowns
and of women with shawis over their heads
stood with their heads bowed praying and
weeping. Many OF the men had white
boards and tho long curly locks which fell
down in front OF their ears were of silver.
Others were just IN their prime, and 1 could
not but wonder when l saw the forms of
these at times almost convulsed with emo
ton. Each had n well thumbed Hebrew
bible in hand, and from time to time the
prayer broke into u KIND of a chant an old
gray-headed man acting as leader and the
rest coming in on the refaain. The chant
was in q strange tongue, but as translated it
is as follows:
Leader-For the palace that lies desolate.
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader-For the walls that are destroyed
Responsive sit ID solitude and mourn.
leader--For our majesty that is departed.
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--F'or our great men who lie dead.
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our priests who have, stum-
bled.
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our kings VINO have des pised
him.
Responsive sit in solitude and mourn.
The effect of this chant can not be appre-
GATED without hearing it,. The old men, the
weeping women who kiss the stones of the
wall that separate them from what was once
the site of Solomon's temple, and which is
even now
THE HOTTEST SPOT ON EARTH TO THE JEW,
the genuine. feeling expressed by all and the
faith that they show in thus coming here
week after week and year after
year ID wonderfully impressive. 1t is
strangest of cities. A nation is mourned
for, and other chants which they utter con-
tain such expressions as the following; I'VE
pray thee have mercy on Ziona gather the
children OF Jerusalem togetiier; may the
Kingdom soon return to Zion: comfort those
who mourn over Jerusalem; may peace and
Joy abide with Zion and the branch of Jesse
spring up at Jerusalem"
The Jewish charitable institutions at Jeru-
salem are many. / have visited several,
among which are the schools which have
been established here by the Rothschlids.
These are very large and they teach the
young Jews the Industrial arts as well as
give them good educaJions in other ways. I
visited the carpenter shops and saw Paies-
tine Jews working away quite as skillfully as
our American carpenters. / saw bright-eyed
boys working in the un shops and fouudries
making models which are to go the EXPOSE
tion ut Paris, and | was taken through art
schools and drafting rooms, where these boys
were sketching and modelling figures ont of
clay into very fair pieces of sculpture. There
is also a girls school connected with the
Bothschild fund and this contains more
than one hundred girls. The establishments
are known as those of the Israelitish alliance,
and they are supported by Jewish churches
over the world as well as by the Rothsehilds.
Among the curious features Of this alliance
are a number OF Agricultural colonies in diff
ferent. parts of Palestine. There is an agri-
cultural school near Jaffa, which has more
than seven hundred pupils, anu there are
eight OF these agricultural colonies. One of
their farms near Jaffa has 5000 acres. It Is
situated
ON II PLAINS oF SHARON
where the Philistines lived, and it has tens
Of thousands of vines and olive trees. The
Turks are very much ayerse to selling land
to rhe Jews, but the latter show themselves
to be as good farmers as they are business
men and the terraced condition of the hills
about Jerusalem shows that the holy land
was far better cultivated under them than it
has been under their conquerors. A large
amount Of land just outside of the
WY "a otiS " oV oAbiiSA ~ bhS
hands of the Jews or of their charitable in
situations. MIR. Isehar, the head of the Roths-
child schools, tells me they awe just bought
the Jerusalem hotel. and will add it to them
school. Sir Moses de Montetiore, who man
aged, the fund left by a, rich New Orleans Is
~raelite, built many good houses for Jews on
the road between Bethlehem and Jerusalem,
and there are a number OF Jewish
hospitals.
Among the people who confidently believe
that tho Jews will soon again own Palestine,
Is a colony of fifteen persons who live in q
fine house built on the very walls of Jerusa-
lem, and who are known as "the Ameri-
cans" These people are not Jews at all.
They are christians who have come here
from different parts of the United States, and
more especially from Chicago, to await the
fulfillment Of the prophecy that God
viii regenerate the world beginning
at Jerusalem. phey believe that
this day is close at hand, and
they say that it has begun in the Jews COM
ing back to Palestine. They see its fulfill
ment in the improvements that are going on
in Jerusalem, aud cite the new roads that
have beer built over the country as one of
the evidences of it. They are evidently
people of means al we'll as Of refinement
aud culture. When I visited them the other
day / talked with several of them and found
them intelligent and well-edncated. / asked
one as to their belief and was told that they
took the bible as their guide and that they
had come IN .Jnrusulam tn endnaynr tn fOlloyv