The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-12-03

French, Italians, Africans, Englisl
Scotch, and Americans are some OF tt
most prominent nationalities represen
ed Turkish and Arabic are the tw
most widely spoken languages, and ye
they are far from being the universe
speech, as many of the Jews never lear
these languages, but retain the tongu
OF the country in which they or thei
parents were born 1t does not seer
impossible that Hebrew may again be
come a living language, as it is the Ian
guage of the synagogue and studie'
widely in t'cir schools.
Jerusalem, Is q place where the ex
tremes CT faalticism, as well as OF ma
tionalities meet. Religiously, it is {
SETTLING caldron where Moslems, Greeks
Latins, Copts, Armenians, Protestant
and Jews are all arrayed against one an
other, jealousy contending for suprem
acy. Greeks and Latins contest every
discovery through excavations in the
old city in this search for "holy places
on which to build converts and cathe-
drals. No heather orgies are more dis
gushing than the annual ceremonies in
the Church of the Hoy Sepulchre
where the government finds 1t necessary
to station a guard of Moslem soldiers to
prevent Greek and Latin Christians
from killing each other in their fanati-
cal intolerance The scenes are repeats
cd s,, r. =,
Bethlehem, where guard is on duty
day and night to keep peace between
the various sects that worship in the
Little Chapel of the Manager, the tradi-
tional birthplace Of the One meek and
lowly spirit. Such comments on the
perversion of the spirit of Christianity
do not fail to attract the attention of
Mohammedans. nor do they hasten the
day Of the Lord.
Protestant missionary work has been
carried on in Jerusalem for over sixty
years, and there are now about five
hundred communicates. There are nu-
merous individual missionary enterprises
to the people, but the principal work
has been done by the London Mission to
the Jews and the Church Missionary
Society
The work among the Jews has been
prosecuted through hospitals, boys and
girls boarding schools, preaching and
the Industrial Home, where Jewish in
quiries may support themselves while
studying Christianity. The "Home"
has been found to be a wise provision,
for nowhere else does Jew suffer more
persecution on becoming Christian
than here He is disowned, disinherited
and boycotted on every hand, and is as
thoroughly an outcast as the Brahmin
who breaks caste.
The Jews have gathered here from
the prosecutions and intolerance of the
spirit seems to have reacted on them,
making them more intolerant than ever.
You see them struggling here under the
burden of all the six hundred or more
laws prescribed by the Talmud, living
the Pharisee in every thought and act
With the beginning of fridays sunset
their Sabbath observances begin, and
until the next sunset it is unlawful to so
much as light a candle, carry handker-
chief or wind a watch, though in his
ingenuity in evading the spirit of the
law he may ask his gentle neighbor to
perform these offices for him, or, if he
must carry a bundle, he can do so by
wearing it.
The services at the "wailing place.
seems to be the only one into which the
Jew enters with his heart. One cannot
watch unmoved this scene on Friday
when rich and poor, young
the old Jewish walls under the temple
area to pour out prayers and lamenta-
tions. Many Russian Jews are here,
and in their faces is written one long
and hard struggle, without glimpse of
hope or joy
In view of the intolerance of the Jews,
the boys and girls boarding schools are
now large, the pupils being either or
phans or coming from homes where the
necessities of poverty lessen religious
bigotry. After years of training in these
schools the pupils are pretty sure to ap-
ply for baptism either before or after
leaving. The Church Missionary Socie>
ty works on the same lines, but does not
confine it's work to the Jews. The work
is not less difficult, however, as the very
genius of Jerusalem's population is an
obstacle to Protestant Christianity. The
city is full of converts, monasteries, hos
pices and hospitals dependent on the
charity of the people, and naturally
priests, monks and patriarchs watch
with the greatest jealousy any efforts
for the enlightenment Or conversion of
their supporters.