Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-03-25

They were all young men, vision
aries, but practical. and quite prepared
to wrest living from the soil. They
were not going TO the Holy Land to
sit there and dream OF Its ancient glory.
or did they come, as did the old Hnluka
members for many years, to spend their
last days there, supported until death
by various charity organizations.
These were reallsts, men all under
forty. with their wives md children.
For the first time since their hasty
Exodus the Children of Israel were
coming TO the Holy Land to live, not to
die, TO found colony which would In
spire future generations 10 come to
Palestine and reclaim the land Of their
fathers. This was their only motive.
A Nightmare Voyage
The voyage was veritable night
mare. Added to the general discomfort
Of travelling In steerage, burdened with
all their household belongings, imple-
ments, food. etc. the trip from Con-
stanza to Haifa, which today Is ac-
complished in six days, took them sew
enteen. Many of the women and chill
dren were seasick and in misery. for
seventeen days and nights they tossed
on the waters.
Then. when they thought their trou-
bic were over, they realized they had
Just begun. As they we're about to land
at Haifa, government officials refused
to give them permission to land. Pal
estine was under Turkish regime. and
the officials told them they did not
want any Jews In the land who had
come there to colonize.
Facing the Turk
SO the weary voyagers sailed on TO
Jaffa. Here the same reception awaited
them. The Turks were unwilling to
have them enter the land They sailed
on to Port Said, Egypt. Again they
were refused admission. The same fate
awaited them in Beirut.
Wearied and wan from the weeks,
which had heightened into months. of
tossing over restless seas, sick at heart
over the discouragements which greeted
them In every port. the pilgrims de-
cided TO sail back to Haifa. 1t couldn't
be possible that the gates of the Holy
Land would be slammed in their faces.
All they had come for was to seek ref
uge in the land of their fathers. They
would not be forsaken.
This time they were more successful
in Haifa. BY giving "baksheesh'
ttips) to the officials, many We're per-
mitted to land in the dead of night.
Others went on to Jaffa, where they
were smugged Off the ship. They later
Joined their brethren In Haifa It was
December now. 1882, fully three
months from the time they had left
Roumania.
AT Iast"-Nothing but Rocks
Their pleasure at reaching Zam-
marin the next morning was cut short
abruptly when the pilgrims looked
about them. Nothing but an expanse of
wilderness, punctuated by rocks. Earth
and sky, grim and uncompromisins,
greeted them in every direction. True,
in the background were the softly
rounded hills Of Mt Carmel's glorious
range, Yonder cleaned gem sap
phire blue which was the Mediterra-
mean. The skies were so cloudless and
fair heaven seemed near indeed. But
the silver ball of sunlight that burst
through had rays that were cruelty
scorching.
The Tears That Bore Fruit
Little did this faithful little band
realize, as they thus looked about their
land for the first time, that it.was TO
be sown with heartaches and watered
with tears, that every stone there would