The Denver Jewish news., 1925-10-01

Honalitics uf the recent World Zionist Con
grrss the Nabloncr Rchhi. Leader ~ the
Mystical Chnssidic Jews, who have taken
NJ the life of the pioneers In Palestine ON
thetr agricultural colony near Nnhnlnl
a frail and gentle little man with
low voice and eyes OF u dove, that is
the Nabloncr Rebbi. Yet when you
meet him face TO face you find yourself
In the presence Of a simple ard pow
crful pioneer spirit which only u great
people. through centuries of suffering
and striving, could have distilled. And,
too. you stand before him in rever-
cnce, even like his hundrcds-some say
thousands Of Cbassidim who acknowl-
edge him their leader and guide.
For In Palestine, ut the entrance to
the Valley of Esdraelon, about seven
kilomctcrs from the village of Nahalal,
stands new settlement called Mach
alat Naakov, planted and cultivated by
the followers of the Ynboner, and
under his inspiration and example,
dedicated TO life Of labor and worship
which surpasscs in spiritual scope and
concept even the daring and exalted
life Of the Chaluzim In the neighboring
settlements.
At the Zionist Congress in Vienna,
the slight, STOPPING figure in loose.
black caftan. with the thin youthful
beard The is only 81 years old and
black skullcap perched high on his
crown, aroused considerable interest II
for no other reason than because he, n
Chassidic rcbbi. sat with the Left, A
political freak, opincd some of the
delegates. sport" the cvolutionis
to the extreme right where. in scrried
and imposing ranks, sat the bearded
and skull-capped representatives of
Mizrachi, and said: There sits the
Of traditional and pure Juda-
ism, and nowhere else, Jealous,y they
guard It against the onslaughts OF those
beardless youngsters on the Left. God
only knows what that little Chassidic
Rchhi is doing among those wreckers."
But had the good fortune to have
long conversation with the Rebbi. so ]
also know.
The Message Of Il New Life
met the Yabloner early one morn
ing in his narrow little hotel room to
which he had invited me, and there, in
the presence Of some of his Chassidim.
and to the gentle urging of my ques.
tions. he revealed himself. And l
learned that, destined by the death OF
his father to assume Chnssidic leader
ship. he ahslicated his charge for the
reason that he found it impossible To
lend himself to the usual pretenses and
He set himself up in little business
In Warsaw, where he could not abide
for the spiritual hunger that tortured
him. Then, with few companions, he
went TO Palestine and there his mis-
siGn became revealed To him. He had
seen the burning bush. He returned to
his people in Warsaw and agreed to
become their leader on condition that
they accept the message of n new life
which he brought them from Palestine.
Fcur hundred families have already
enrolled in answer TO his call, of whom
sixty-iive are now in Nachalat Yaakov.
Thousands of others, so it is said, are
ready TO follow.
About five months ago-so the Yah
loner now tells his story-the first
twenty families arrived in Palestine and
proceeded to the land which had been
bought for them but had not yet been
prepared. Two immediate tasks stood
before them; to build barracks for
their families and TO drain the swamps.
With the assistance of engineers fur
nishcd by the Palestine Zionist EXecu-
tive. these former shopkeepcrs and
accomplished both in
short order.