92 B456s cop 1 St. John Tvnfynhfit.S 92 B456s cop I St. John Tpngue of the prophets. 4)3.95 52-23069 Keep Your Card in This Pocket Books will be issued only on presentation of proper library cards, unless labeled otherwise, books may be retained for two weeks. Borrowers finding boots marked, de faced or mutilated are expected to report same at library desk; otherwise the last borrower will be held responsible for all imperfections discovered. The card holder is responsible for all books drawn on this card. Penalty for over-due books 2o a day plus cost of notices. Lost cards and change of residence must be m ported promptly. Public Library Kansas City, Mo. TENSION ENVELOPE CORP. .one NOV 1 31999 Books by Robert St. John TONGUE OF THE PROPHETS SHALOM MEANS PEACE THE SILENT PEOPLE SPEAK IT S ALWAYS TOMORROW FROM THE LAND OF SILENT PEOPLE TONGUE OF THE PROPHETS The Life Story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda BY ROBERT ST. JOHN DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK, 1952 COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY ROBERT ST. JOHN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY UFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y. HRST EDITION LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 52-5233 70 A# memory of the two women in the career of Eliezer Ben Yehuda: DEBORAH, who gave her life for him and his dream,, and HEMDA, who lived for that dream until she saw "his" language spoken in the gathering places of the mighty and in the byways of ordinary Jews everywhere, THIS BOOK IS HUMBLY DEDICATED 52128069 Tongue of the Prophets Prologue ONLY A FEW HOURS BEFORE THE ARAB LEGION BE- gan its siege of Jerusalem in 1948, 1 went down Ben Yehuda Street to look at the still unrepaired buildings which had been wrecked by an explosion set off by British "irregulars* in the dying days of the mandate. At that time there was nothing ironical to me that dozens of in nocent Jews had been killed by this act of terrorism, for "Ben Yehuda" then was merely a name I had seen on street signs in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, and in other Israeli communities. I was unaware, then, that these streets honored a man who had written and argued for almost half a century that Britain was the Jews best friend. I knew as little about Ben Yehuda, the man, as most Americans, including most American Jews. In Israel that year I saw Jews from sixty or seventy different oriental and occidental countries creating a nation; people with different customs and costumes, different religious attitudes and levels of culture, different languages and dialects. I kept asking my self what the one thing was that they had in common. Was it re ligion? No, because many were agnostics and freethinkers. Was it that they had all been victims of vicious anti-Semitism and had a Tongue of the Prophets common experience of persecution? No, because some had come from places like Australia, Canada, and the United States, where the worst experiences they had ever had were perhaps being denied membership in a restricted country club. Neither was it a common cultural or intellectual bond, for it would be difficult to find two individuals as dissimilar as a Reform New York Jew and a Yemenite. Before I left Israel I decided that, in addition to a burning desire for a land of their own, the great coagulating agent holding together these diverse elements was their common language. As I wandered around Israel during that cataclysmic summer I saw signs everywhere: HEBREW TEACHER I heard on the streets of the cities, in trenches along the frontiers, in air-force camps, and on Israeli ships at sea men and women of all ages speaking a soft, melodious language, but I had no idea that Hebrew had been revived, after a slumber of nearly two thousand years, largely through the efforts of one man. Then I went back to New York and at a cocktail party met a slim, vivacious woman, Mrs. Max Wittmann, who told me she was the daughter of Ben Yehuda. I blinked several times. Ben Yehuda was still a street to me. Several days later the daughter took me to a hospital on upper Fifth Avenue to see her mother, Hemda Ben Yehuda, who had re cently been flown over from Jerusalem, as she put it, "to have my hip nailed together." Hemda Ben Yehuda was nearly eighty years old and the operation had been a serious one, but she was propped up in bed scribbling words on a pad of paper. "My memoirs!" she explained, her bright eyes twinkling in a coquettish manner. I made many visits to that hospital. I learned much about the man after whom the streets had been named. I read the sketchy memoirs, which were being written in English, Years ago Hemda Ben Yehuda had written, in Hebrew, a biog raphy of her husband which had been published in Jerusalem. Mrs. 10 Prologue Max Wittmann (the Shlomit or Dola of Tongue of the Prophets) translated that book into English for me, and the facts it contained are incorporated in the following pages. I also had access to Ben Yehuda s own writings, including a very short autobiography covering his early years. As the story of his life took form it seemed unique. Here was the only man in history, as far as I could discover, who almost single- handed had revived an ancient language and popularized it, in the face of intense opposition from the very people who were to benefit, many of them convinced that God would destroy this "infidel" for tampering with a holy tongue. After I had the family s version of the man I began to search for a more objective picture. I worked for nearly a year in the libraries in the United States and Europe. On two continents I talked with men who had known him, scholars who had worked with him. But although Ben Yehuda had had more enemies than friends during most of his life, it was difficult to get any "critical" viewpoint, so I employed a professional researcher, who was also a Hebrew scholar, to hunt out exclusively derogatory matter. She worked for weeks. Still I had nothing that cast doubt on his accomplishment. I talked with Jerusalem neighbors who spoke slightingly of the Ben Yehudas, but they offered no biographical material which changed the story. It was just that they did not like the hats that Hemda wore or the conduct of some of the children. Finally I got on the trail of a Jerusalem journalist who had been one of Ben Yehuda s chief latter-day critics. He agreed to send me a file of his own articles which would give me "the other side. 5 What I finally received were two eulogies which said, in effect, "I once disagreed with him, but ..." Ben Yehuda s critics are either literally dead or have been silenced by the ultimate success of his dual campaign, to help create a Jewish state in which Hebrew would be the generally accepted language. This is a story about a Jew written by a non- Jew for non-Jews as well as Jews to read; therefore it is not assumed the reader knows even the difference between a seder and a kibbutz. It might better have been written by a Hebrew scholar, but no Hebrew scholar had done it. Besides, it then would have been a book interesting only to ii Tongue of the Prophets other Hebrew scholars. The story is too pulsating with human struggle to be written exclusively for students of philology. It is the story of a man who made it possible for several million people to order groceries, drive cattle, make love, and curse out their neighbors in a language which until his day had been fit only for Talmudic argument and prayer. It is the story of a faithful fanatic who had two great love affairs, made enemies of bis best friends, went to prison for his beliefs, was always on the verge of death from tuberculosis, yet fathered eleven children, gathered the material for a sixteen-volume dictionary un like any other philological work ever conceived, authored plays, a geography, and two of the most urgent "appeals" ever addressed to his own people, and died while working on the word for "soul." The story will please few Jews, because during his lifetime Ben Yehuda made enemies in every camp. He was brutal in his criticisms. Being a fanatic, he never allowed even personal friendships to deviate him from the course he had charted. His life was one long running feud. Many times he was undoubtedly wrong in the stands he took, but I have nowhere in this book passed judgment on him or his views. The story is told as factually as possible. The conversations which sprinkle these pages are not from steno graphic recordings, but I believe they are in die spirit of the charac ters. Some few were actually written out by Ben Yehuda himself before he died. Once in a public lecture, attempting to explain the traditional spirit of Jewish freedom of thought, I said that if three Jews were in a room there would be three opinions on any subject that arose. Whereupon a Jewish heckler in the back of the hall shouted: "You are obviously a goy [non-Jew], Otherwise you would know that if there were three Jews in the room there would be four opinions on any subject I" In Hebrew there are sounds for which we have no letters or com binations of letters in the Roman alphabet. The result is that there are at least three or four ways of spelling many Hebrew words in English. In the library of the University of Geneva, in Switzerland, I found Eliesser Ben Yehuda s name spelled five different ways. 12 Prologue The rule followed in these pages is that proper names are spelled the way the owners of the names spelled them when jthey wrote them in Roman characters, even though this results in the confusion of the same name often being spelled in several different ways. (Some men named Jacob spell it that way; some spell it "Yakov.") Otherwise, all Hebrew and Arabic words are spelled as they ap pear in the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, whose editors, in trans literating, have attempted to give the phonetic spelling of words for the benefit of readers not acquainted with Semitic languages. The Hebrew pronunciation used, although Ben Yehuda himself might disagree with it, is the pronunciation with which most American Jews are acquainted. Problems also arose on the matter of dates. Most Palestinian Jews under the Turks used the Hebraic calendar. When it became neces sary, under the British, to translate dates into the Roman calendar, many were not converted correctly. Some of the Ben Yehuda chil dren, for example, are not even sure today of the exact year of their birth by the Roman calendar. Gratitude is expressed to Mrs. Dola Ben Yehuda Wittmann for her translations and the supplying of factual material, and to Dr. Alexander Safran, once Grand Rabbi of six hundred thousand Jews in Rumania and now Grand Rabbi in Geneva, Switzerland, for his help on technical problems. It is too late to thank Hemda Ben Yehuda for her hospital-bed conferences and all her memory searching. After being flown back to Jerusalem from New York, she died in the summer of 1951. She lived long enough, however, to read in final manuscript form, and to approve, this story of her husband s life. She died happy in the knowledge that a definitive account of his struggle to revive a lan guage would soon be published. With these explanations and acknowledgments I give you the story of a man who had a dream. Robert St. John Geneva, Switzerland October i, 1951 7 Thy Will Be Done ONE ICY DAY DURING THE WINTER OF 1858 A CROWD gathered around two men engaged in an argument in a narrow street in the Jewish quarter of the small town of Luzhky, Lithuania, which then was part of the Russian Empire ruled over by Czar Alexander II. A newcomer pushed his way through the throng. "And why do they argue?" he asked. "He with the fur hat says it is colder in Minsk than in St. Peters burg. The one with the green cap says it is colder nowhere else in the world than in St. Petersburg. His grandfather told him. They have been at it for thirty minutes and we are all freezing. Oih yoi yoi ! If they do not settle it soon we shall all die of how cold it is in Luzhky!" "Why don t they let Reb Perlman decide which one is right?** "Yes, yes! Reb Perlman! He knows everything!" "He can settle an argument quicker than anyone in Luzhky ! * So the crowd started for the street in which the learned man of Luzhky lived. Even before they reached the house they began shout ing his name. But when he came to the door there was a frown on his face and he held a finger to his lips. The crowd instantly grew silent. Thy Will Be Done "Feygeh, my wife, has just delivered a child. Our fourth, as you know. It is a frail child. We did not have money for a doctor. My Feygeh is ill. I beg of you, let someone else settle your arguments to day. Begone, my friends, and pray for our child." With Jewish respect for the mystery of birth, the men forgot their interest in comparative meteorology and dispersed. Leib Perlman closed the door and turned toward the bed on which his wife lay. She was tossing restlessly. He bent down on one knee to try to make out what she was saying. "Leybaleh, my husband, I hear voices !" "Yes, Feygaleh, it is the villagers in the street." "No! I hear the voice of the Evil One. You told me yourself, Leybaleh, that until the ceremony of the circumcision he will try to steal our little one from us. Promise you will stay close to us ! Guard us, Leybaleh! Pray for us! Protect our child from the Evil One !" The young husband reached down to stroke her hot forehead, then suddenly drew his hand back. He had almost forgotten the Orthodox law that for six weeks, until the woman who has borne a child goes to the temple for the purification ceremony known as the Mikueh, it is not permitted that she be touched by a man. So Leib Perlman drew back his hand and caressed her merely with his eyes and his voice. In a whisper as reassuring as the touch of his fingers on her forehead might have been he said: "Feygaleh, my dear one, while you were sleeping I cut up many small pieces of paper. On them I wrote words from the Great Book. I have hung the pieces of paper around the crib, in accordance with ancient custom. Now, my Feygaleh, close your eyes and sleep, for the Evil One will not be able to harm our child. Thus it is written !" The young mother gave a deep sigh, then smiled slightly. "I hear other voices now. I hear Rachel. Hers is a sweet voice. Rachel will protect us, won t she, Leybaleh?" It was quiet in the Perlman home now, except for the swishing sound the wind made as it blew through the bits of paper that festooned the crib suspended from the ceiling by ropes. Leib Perlman tiptoed to a chair by the window that looked out on the road. For the fourth time God had seen fit to bless him. God s will be done. Then he dozed off to sleep. 15 Tongue of the Prophets Leib Perlman was not a rabbi. He had been given the title of "Reb" by the townspeople according to a custom then prevalent among Jews in Russia of thus distinguishing a man wiser than the average. They also referred to him as Talmid Haham, "Learned Man." Those who knew him well put the diminutive ending on his name and affectionately called him Leybaleh, as did his wife. He was handsome and blond, with the soft eyes of an aesthete. Leib Perlman was one of tfi.e most impractical men the parents of Feygeh Wolfson could have picked to be her husband. It bothered Feygeh that for the first three years they had to be supported en tirely by money contributed by her family and his. But after the birth of her first child, Esther, and a son, Shalom David, she found a way to a degree of financial independence. It was a good way be cause it left Leybaleh free to pore over his books. She opened a miniature grocery store in a corner of the wooden shack which by then was housing two adults and two children. At first patronage came from townspeople who hoped that along with flour and wax candles they might also get a little free advice on ethical matters from the man of the family. But gradually they came to shop here because of the pleasing personality of Feygeh heraelf . So it was th#t gradually the womenfolk of Luzhky began to ask Feygeh for advice. If it were a deep philosophical problem the de cision must be made by Reb Perlman. But in intimate, personal matters Feygeh s word was taken. And so her small business pros pered, and her customers began adding an extra syllable to her name and she became known to everyone as Feygaleh: Little Feygeh; Feygeh the Sweet One. Existence was tolerable, although not very happy, for the average Jew in Russia in 1858, the year Eliezer was born. Resignation was part of the creed of the majority of Jews. They took the f atalikic attitude that, as long as the Exile continued, they had no right to expect anything better than a life of poverty and &jualor; a life symbolized by an absence of even the beauty which niture can bestow on those denied material riches. This attitude was common in ghettos everywhere in the Diaspora, as the Jews still call those areas of the world through which they were scattered after 16 Thy Will Be Done their forced flight from the Middle East nearly twenty centuries ago. But in 1858 a new spirit was abroad in Russia. The contagion of it found its way into many Jewish quarters. The young of Russia, especially those who had spent any time in the university, were be ginning to rebel against the tyranny of the Cossacks. Many Jewish parents became distressed over the activities of their young. They feared that their young would forget their Jewishness, neglect their religion, and become so obsessed with their fight for a free life that they would end up as victims of agnosticism or infidel- ism. When their young brought home the rebellious ideas and pro gressive thoughts they had picked up at the university or in their secret meetings, the parents would wring their hands and cry to God to save them from listening to such blasphemy. Czar Alexander II was not the only one whose sleep was troubled by what was happening in Russia in 1858, the year Eliezer Perlman was born in a small cottage on a side street in the Jewish quarter of Luzhky. 2 Czar Alexander Outwitted ALL THE ORTHODOX CUSTOMS WERE SCRUPULOUSLY observed in the Perlman home. So it was that on one Passover eve the mother called two of her sons to her side and handed them a package of herring. "Take them to the river and wash them carefully so they will be kosher for our Passover tomorrow." Hayim Maeer, being several years the senior of Eliezer and much less reticent, grabbed the package and started on the run for the river. His younger brother trailed behind. An hour later Feygeh began to worry because they had not re turned. She was pacing the roadway when Eliezer appeared. His face was pale and his right hand trembled as he pushed the hair from his eyes. "Where is Hayim Maeer and where are the herring?" Feygeh de manded. "Hayim Maeer is all right, my mother, but " "Where are the herring for Passover?" "They have gone to their homes where they belong," the boy stammered. "What nonsense do you talk!" 18 Czar Alexander Outwitted "It was all my fault. We washed them so clean you would have been pleased with us. But as we started for home the package slipped from my hands and the fish fell into the river. The current was swift and took them away. You may beat me for it, but they went so fast I am sure they are more happy than we would be eating them!" For an instant Feygeh hesitated between anger and amusement at her son s reasoning. If one of the others had done it she would not have been so lenient. But it was always difficult to be stern with Eli- ezer. She patted his head reassuringly and said: "Perhaps it is best. We shall let this be an atonement for our sins. But where is Hayim Maeer? Did he go down the river with the fish?" Eliezer pretended not to hear and rounded a corner out of sight. As Feygeh sighed and started back into the house she suddenly stopped and looked toward the river. "Something tells me it was Hayim Maeer who dropped the her ring into the water and sent Eliezer home to take the blame. And I let them get away with it! Dummkopf that I am!" The three-to-one ratio of boys to girls in the family caused Feygeh great concern. During the long hours that she was alone she brooded about it. Sometimes she would confide her fears to her more inti mate customers. "It is fine to have three such good sons/ 9 she would say, "but I can never forget what happened to Leib Beer, my brother. When he was only seven years old the Cossacks took him. It was the Czar s or der. As you know, that is the way they get soldiers for the army. So he disappeared and we never saw him again. Now I have three sons. How short a time will I have them before they, too, are taken for the army?" The intimate shop customers all agreed that the matter should be discussed with the Wise Man, her husband. So one night, after the children were asleep, Feygeh told Leybaleh of her worry. With his genius for solving problems, the husband found a solu tion. The rule in Russia in those days was that one son in each family was exempt. That meant Shalom David, the first-born, would never be conscripted. They need be concerned only about Tongue of the Prophets Hayim Maeer and Eliezer. But, Leib Perlman reminded his wife, the births of these two boys had never been duly recorded. "So," he said, "we need only find two families who are childless and who will co-operate with us. Then we give their names to our sons and register the births. So you see, Feygaleh, as with Shalom David, they, too, shall be exempt from service." Thus it was that Eliezer, although born a Perlman, acquired in his youth the surname Elyanof, while his older brother became, for purposes of evading military service, the son of the family SeydeL It was obvious from. Eliezer s interest in books that he was going to be the intellectual of the family, so Feygeh and her husband, de spite their often impecunious condition, put his education in the hands of a good secondary teacher who one day confidentially told the mother: "He has a fine mind, but it needs cultivation, just as a garden with soil that is rich but unworked needs cultivation. You must sacri fice to make a good education possible for him." The advice worried Feygeh. There was no use talking to Leybaleh about it. He had no understanding of financial matters. But one night, sitting alone while her husband was at a gathering of Luzhky s intellectuals, she thought of her brother, David Wolfson. He was the one member of the family who had prospered. Besides, he was deeply religious, which was important, because Feygeh made no se cret of her hope that Eliezer would one day be a great rabbi. Also, Uncle David s estate was not far from Luzhky. So it was that Eliezer went to live with Feygeh s brother and be gan to study rabbinical law. Feygeh was still young when Leybaleh died after an illness. He left her not four children to care for, but five, because a few months after his death another boy was born. After several years she married again. But it was a mistake. She was never able to avoid compari sons. "Leybaleh would not have done that." "Leybaleh was So much wiser!" So her second marriage ended in divorce. So did her third. From thea on she was vehement in expressing the opinion that only stupid 20 Czar Alexander Outwitted women ever tried to replace a great love with a substitute. To those who came into her shop she would say: "Everything that any of my children ever make of themselves they will owe to Leybaleh. He was a learned and a great man. May his sweet soul rest in peace!" 3 Thanks to Robinson Crusoe FOR ONE YEAR ELIEZER WAS HAPPY AND COMFORT- able, living in the great home of his uncle, enjoying food such as he had never known before, a room of his own, good clothes like those worn by gentlemen s sons, and the instruction of able teachers. "There is only one thing I demand of you," Uncle David had said; "that you have a serious attitude toward your education," The repetition of this admonition was unnecessary. Eliezer had a sincere interest in learning. His childhood was therefore devoid of frivolity both by choice and by compulsion. When he became thirteen life took a new turn. At thirteen, by Jewish custom, a boy celebrates his Bar Mitzvah, which, next to birth and death, is the most important event in his life, for on this occasion a Jewish boy becomes a man and henceforth has the duties, the privileges, and the responsibilities of manhood. Eliezer remembered his Bar Mitzvah for the rest of his life prin cipally because it was then that his uncle announced that his year of ease and comfort was over. "You go now to the Yeshiva, to the rabbinical college in the city of Polotzk. From now on all my assistance to you ends. In Polotzk you shall make your own way, just as the others do. I have ordered 22 Thanks to Robinson Crusoe it thus because truth, learning, and wisdom are never acquired in comfort. It comes only with pain. You will sometimes go hungry. You will often be cold. You may suffer. But that is as it should be, for you will grow in intellectual stature and someday, if the great God wills it, you will become the fine rabbi that your mother hopes you to be." Eliezer was tired the night he arrived in Polotzk after an entire day on the road. His small bones ached. The blood was pounding in his head. There were sharp pains in his chest. By comparison with Lushky, Polotzk was a large place and frightened him. Soon after his arrival he met David, a fellow student who changed the course of his life. They were walking to classes one day when David stopped short and looked intently at Eliezer. "Shall I tell you a secret? I am leaving the great Yeshiva!" "Why? Have you decided not to become a rabbi?" "It s not that. It s really because of Rabbi Joseph Blucker. Wait until you meet him ! When he talks I could sit and listen all day and all night without sleep ! And he has a house so beautiful ! And books ! Eliezer, you have never seen so many books ! He knows everything in them ! If I ask him to let me bring you to see him, will you promise to go?" The next Friday evening, after attending prayers at their own school, the two boys went to the home of Rabbi Blucker. A servant ushered them into the library. Eliezer stood in the doorway, gaping. It was the largest room he had ever seen. But it was not the room itself which most attracted him. It was the figure of a man. He was about thirty-five years old, tall, fair, dressed in well-tailored clothes unlike any garments Eliezer had ever seen a rabbi wearing. He was walking quietly back and forth over the thick carpets. He was so intent on the book in his hand that he was unaware of his visitors. He was humming softly the words of a Jewish hymn: "The prophet Elijah will come to us with the Messiah, the son of David." Still ignoring his guests, the rabbi then began singing the Zmeerot. Now his voice filled the book-lined room. It also filled the heart of the boy from Luzhky, who, telling about it later, said: 23 Tongue of the Prophets "Religion until then was something in books; something abstract; something without any human qualities to it. But during the half hour I stood in the doorway I felt the power of something above and beyond, as I had never felt it before. It was almost as if I were in the presence of the Almighty." Finally the private service ended and the rabbi turned toward the door. When he saw his visitors he greeted them warmly. But Eliezer was still in a trance. It was David who did the talking, explaining that he and Eliezer wanted to leave the larger school and study under him. "You must appear at ten o clock in the morning for an entrance examination/ 3 the rabbi was saying. "Now let s talk of other things. ^ Both boys passed the examination. In a short time Eliezer became one of the favorites of Rabbi Blucker, who appointed him tutor to a wealthy student. To justify this faith in him, Eliezer studied with, a burning intensity and also made a practice of attending early-morn ing services seven days a week. One Friday evening when Eliezer went to the rabbi s study, his host took from under the cushion of the chair in which he sat a strange small volume and handed it to the boy. "Tonight you and I shall read from this one. 5> It was a translation into Hebrew of the story of Robinson Crusoe. Eliezer was fascinated at the idea that the language of the Holy Books could be used to tell the tale of a shipwrecked sailor. He was excitedly reading aloud when there was a knock at the door. Quickly the rabbi grabbed Robinson Crusoe, put it back in its hiding place, thrust the Torah into the boy s hands, and only then went to the door. It was Rabbi Blucker, with his personal magnetism and his books, who was responsible for creating within this child from a small Lith uanian town an interest in culture and learning; in scholarship and general education. He did it by making the acquisition of knowledge exciting, as all great teachers do. But more important, from posterity s point of view, it was Rabbi Blucker who kindled a spark which grew into a scorching flame that only death would someday extinguish. This spark was a love of the 24 Thanks to Robinson Crusoe Hebrew language, not only as^a vehicle for preserving the words of great Jewish religious leaders and the conveyance of them from gen eration to generation, but also as a secular language. It was Rabbi Joseph Blucker and Robinson Crusoe who started the boy then known as Eliezer Elyanof on a career which was to have a profound effect on the future history of the Lost People of Israel. Eliezer had been studying under Rabbi Blucker for almost a year when his uncle one day arrived in Polotzk. "Pack your clothes. You are leaving here," the uncle summarily announced. There was no explanation until they were well along the road that led out of Polotzk. Then the uncle delivered a speech to the frail young man who sat in the carriage beside him. "I have been hearing tales about you. They cast you in the role of a young devil. There are reports you have been blaspheming the holy language, neglecting your studies, reading what they call phi losophy. It is good that I have heard these reports, for perhaps I have saved you in time from the evil ways into which you have fallen. From now on you will walk in the path of righteousness and confine your reading to the holy books." Eliezer was unhappy in the days that followed. His forced separa tion from the life and people he had grown to love in Polotzk was as painful as the sudden yanking of an arm from its socket. He now looked on his uncle as an enemy rather than as a benefactor. The only place he found serenity was in the local synagogue. There, after services, when the others had left, he would take from under his coat one of the Hebrew books he had smuggled out of Polotzk and stand in a comer reading by the light of the flickering candles. One early evening, leaning against a column in the synagogue, he was absorbed in his book when suddenly all the candles went out. In the semi-darkness he saw half a dozen figures in long white robes converging on ham. They made an unearthly noise. His knees trem bled. He dropped the book. The Angels of Destruction must have come to drag him away to their kingdom ! In panic he ran scream ing from the building. After he had left, the "Angels of Destruction * took off their white Tongue of the Prophets robes and removed the masks from their lanterns. David Wolfson turned to the others. "Thank you, my friends. You see, it was just as I told you. He comes into this holy place and profanes it. He hides here, and when he thinks he is alone he reads the evil books instead of studying the Torah." Another man turned his lantern on the base of the pillar and ex claimed: "Look ! He has left behind the evidence of his sin. There is the book he was reading!" They all bent over and peered at the volume on the floor. "Don t anyone touch it!" Wolfson commanded. "Let not a single man of us be contaminated, for it is an unclean thing!" As he spoke Wolfson took his cane and flicked the book in the di rection of the door. Finally, without touching it with his hands, he got it into the roadway. It landed in a mud puddle, open to the title page. One of the men turned his lantern on it and suddenly ex claimed: "David, you are not entirely correct. Observe ! It is written by a Bible student and defends the holiness of God!" Wolfson looked. For a moment he was silent. Finally he said: "It is still a profane book. Is it written by one of the great rabbis? Is it a book they study in the Yeshiva? No! The writer is some Dummkopf from western Europe. It is blasphemy for such a one to write of God. He defends God. God needs no defense. The book is poison, and my nephew is a victim of the devil !" That night Eliezer was sent to his room without supper. Hours later he was lying in bed reading, oblivious to how late it was, when he heard footsteps. He slipped the book under the mattress, snuffed out the candle, and pretended sleep. His unde opened the door with out knocking and turned his lantern on the boy, "So, you would like me to think I have disturbed your slumber! On top of all your other sins you lie in this manner to your uncle. But you are stupid as well as evil. You forget that by touching the tip of the candle I can feel that it is still warm. Get out of that bed I have provided for you in my kindness ! Now, where is the book you were reading?" 26 Thanks to Robinson Crusoe Eliezer cringed in a corner of the room, saying nothing, while his acle conducted a search. Finally, from underneath the mattress, he tilled a slim volume, flashed his lantern on the cover, and read the [ebrew characters which spelled out the title: ROBINSON CRUSOE The halls of the manor house echoed with Wolf son s bellows as he erated the boy from Luzhky. Finally sentence was imposed. "Get into your clothes! Not for another hour will I allow my .ouse to be polluted by an infidel. If you go home to Feygeh, tell her wish no further dealings with the Perlmans. Here! Take your eftllin. You will need them ! You will need to pray the rest of your ife for eternal forgiveness !" Eliezer left his uncle s home with no baggage except the prayer levices known collectively as tefillin, a miniature wooden box haped like a derby hat which is worn on the front of the head and L similar boxlike object which is fastened by leather thongs to the eft arm during prayer. But Eliezer did not go home to Luzhky. He was afraid of his nother s anger. That night, as he plodded in the dark down the road to the aearby city of Glubokiah, the boy felt himself the victim of a gross injustice. What evil thing had he done? Rabbi Blucker read books written in Hebrew which were not about religion. He was not a bad man. Why should a beautiful language like Hebrew not be used to tell a story like Robinson Crusoe? It was still dark when Eliezer reached Glubokiah. He was tired, cold, hungry, and very sleepy. He knew no one in Glubokiah. But he remembered that by Jewish custom no synagogue is ever locked at night. So he began to tramp the streets in search of a synagogue. The next morning those people of Glubokiah who answered the call of the shammash to morning prayer found, on the first bench inside the door, a small dark figure dressed in the long frock coat which rabbinical students were required to wear, and with a long blond curl hanging down over each travel-stained cheek. The caretaker had to shake Eliezer by the shoulder before the boy 27 Tongue of the Prophets could escape from the hold which a sleep of exhaustion had on him. Many of the people in the synagogue stared at Eliezer, but one man seemed to be looking with more than mere curiosity. He was exceedingly tall and straight, well dressed and very dignified-looking. His hair was gray, but his eyes were young. In them Eliezer thought he saw kindness. While Eliezer was taking off his tefillin, the tall fig ure approached. "Shalom and good morning, young man. You are a stranger amongst us. What brings you to Glubokiah?" Eliezer blurted out his entire story. Some instinct made him real ize he was speaking to sympathetic ears. When he finished, he looked up to see that the man was smiling. "I am Shlomoh Naftaly Hirtz Yonas and I would like to be a friend to you. I have a large family, and one more will only increase my pleasure. Will you accompany me home?" Shlomoh Yonas was the owner of a distillery situated in a large courtyard. The family home was in an adjacent garden. It might have been merely by chance that the host left his four teen-year-old guest in the library while he went to alert the rest of the family. If it were, it was a happy chance for Eliezer. This was a room such as he had never even dreamed about. There were cases and cases of books. There were pictures on the walls in frames, pots full of flowers, deep rugs, comfortable armchairs, and a sofa piled with embroidered pillows. Here there was none of the drabness of his own home in tuzhky, none of the austerity of Uncle Wolfson s manor house, and by comparison with Rabbi Blucker s study it was warm and livable, not just a room for study and prayer. The tired young man drank in the beauty with eager eyes, turning his head slowly from side to side. The palace of the Czars could not possibly be grander ! And he, Eliezer, who an hour ago had felt him self without a friend in the world, was actually a guest here. He walked over to one of the bookcases. When Shlomoh Yonas returned he found Eliezer s face clouded. "What troubles you now, my boy?" "These books, sir! The words are so strange. I cannot read them. They must be in languages I do not know. They are not in Yiddish or Hebrew either!" 28 Thanks to Robinson Crusoe Shlomoh Yonas laughed heartily. "This case, Eliezer, is full of the works of the great philosophers, Mendelssohn, Spinoza, and many others; men with great thoughts and big ideas. The books are in German, French, Russian; lan guages which you will someday read and also speak. But now you must meet someone who is going to feed your body, just as these men will someday feed your mind. This is my wife, Rivkah." Eliezer decided that Mrs. Yonas was as kind as her husband. She smiled warmly at him and put her arm around his shoulder. "The books will wait, Eliezer, but the food will not. 3 There were six children in the Yonas family, four girls, two boys. Eliezer was placed next to the oldest, Deborah, who was eighteen. Across from him sat Pola, who was a mere infant. They sat long around the table that morning as the mother served cup after cup of tea from a great brass samovar. Pola, the baby, never took her eyes from the face of the boy with the strange curb. Deborah was the one who asked him all the leading questions, en couraging him to tell of his life in Luzhky and Polotzk. "Father says you wish to learn French and German and Russian. Would you like me to be your teacher?" Eliezer blushed and nodded. "I think we should start at once, don t you? If the others wiE ex cuse us, let s go into the library now." After they had left, Shlomoh Yonas turned to his wife. "Did you hear, Rivkah, how intelligently he talks? Even little Pola was impressed!" "It was just his curls that fascinated her!" 29 4 Two Curls + Two Girls THE RUSSIAN WINTERS ARE LONG, BUT THE DAYS are short. The days that first winter were much too short for all the studying Eliezer wished to do. Deborah often lighted the oil lamps and then returned to the boy s side to help him in his struggle with his new languages. The library was their study hall. Day after day they sat at the great table in the same two chairs placed close together. Deborah would pronounce the words aloud, explaining their meaning, drill ing her pupil in their use, correcting his enunciation. It went on all winter with few interruptions except the occasional visits from Pola, which were not really interruptions because the child rarely made a sound. She often spent as much as an hour sit ting on the floor, silently looking into Eliezer s face. The only time she caused a scene was the day Eliezer, at Deborah s suggestion, cut off the two curls which had marked him as a student at the Yeshiva. That day Pola burst out crying. "Curls gone! Curls gone!" For days she treated Eliezer as a stranger* It was several weeks be fore she returned to the library. 30 Two Curls + Two Girls When spring arrived Father Yonas found an excuse to get fresh air and exercise for his protege. Several afternoons each week he took the boy on a long walk through the woods, giving him lessons in natural history. On one such walk he said: "Deborah tells me you are making considerable progress with your French and German. That is good, but I hope, Eliezer, that you will never forget your Hebrew. It is a language of beauty. The tragedy is that Hebrew is like Latin. Today it is a language only for prayer and the preservation of our old Jewish literature. But we must keep Hebrew alive, always. It has a melody of its own, like some of the deep sounds of the forest which we have been hearing on these walks. So promise me, my boy, that you will repay what I am trying to do for you by always keeping Hebrew alive in your mind and your heart." Eliezer solemnly promised. For almost two years, with few interruptions, Deborah and Eliezer worked together. Finally the pupil was almost as proficient as his teacher, and Father Yonas decided it was time for Eliezer to make plans to enter the nearest Gymnasium, at Diinaburg. They all knew when the last day came that it was going to be diffi cult. Father Yonas kept insisting to his wife that it was not the end of anything; that the ties would never be broken. But Mother Yonas started crying even before breakfast was over that last day. "It s going to be like losing one of our own, Shlomoh! He has been such a sweet boy! I hate to think how lost Deborah will be without him. Yet it s little Pola who really worries me. Lately she has even been talking in her sleep about him. It will be an empty house after today. The two of them sitting there with their books! I shall miss that picture!" Eliezer behaved as if it were just another day of lessons. As im personally as if his teacher were a rabbi in the Yeshiva, he was recit ing to Deborah the words he had practiced in bed the night before. Suddenly the young woman beside him slammed the book shut with a bang. "Eliezer, do you realize does it mean nothing to you that this is the last day?" The boy smiled. 3* Tongue of the Prophets "Thanks to you, Deborah, I can say that it is the last day in five different languages." "There are things I wish you would say in any language!" "I guess you mean I should say how grateful I am to all of you. I say it now. I shall never stop saying it !" "But, Eliezer, isn t there anything anything personal you wish to say while we are alone this last time?" Eliezer blushed and looked away toward the window. "You know I am going to miss you, Deborah." "I am glad you finally said it. But miss 3 is a very poor word in any language for the feelings which I am going to have. My life ends, in a way, when you go off down the road. I love you, Eliezer. There, I have said it! And in your own strange way I think you love me. Promise me one thing. Promise you will always remember me !" In his embarrassment the boy reverted to the language he had first learned as a child. In Yiddish he said: "Yes, I promise!" "No, Eliezer, I would like to hear you say it in Hebrew, the sacred language, for it is a sacred oath we are taking. I shall say the words with you. And someday " She was interrupted by her mother bustling in, red of face and short of breath. "Come, come! Eliezer must have food before starting, and some one must settle the matter of the valise. Father and I do not agree. He keeps taking clothes out to make room for books and papers, while I keep taking out books and papers to make room for clothes. But before I forget, promise me, Eliezer, that you will do one small favor for me?" The boy looked at the woman who for two years had treated him in as motherly a manner as if she had actually given birth to him herself. "I have made a promise to Father Yonas and just today I made a promise to Deborah, so it is only fair that I make one to you. I prom ise. ... But what is it that I must promise?" "It s your cough, Eliezer. If it gets worse you must see a doctor in Dtinaburg." 32 Two Curls + Two Girls Just then Deborah, who had left the room, came back holding something behind her. "Eliezer, you must close your eyes and count ten. Do not be so embarrassed ! It will be quite painless." While he counted she put around his neck a white wool scarf she had been secretly knitting for him. "It is to keep you from coughing, but it is also to keep you remem bering the promise you made to me just now, Eliezer !" 33 5 Growing Pains DAVID WITTINSKY WAS THE SON OF A SIMPLE JEW- ish family, yet he had a brilliant mind. Soon after he entered the Gymnasium at Diinaburg he became a convert to Christianity. He made the move coldly and deliberately. Looking around, he decided that there were too many paths along which a Jew could never travel Some of his fellow Jews might criticize him. The ultra- religious ones might even spit on him. But most non-Jews would re spect him and no paths would be blocked. So David Wittinsky re mained a Jew in name only. Eliezer met him quite by chance. He was a friend of the son of the family in Diinaburg from which Eliezer rented a room. Wittin sky took the younger boy under his wing and coached him for the entrance examinations. When Eliezer passed with high marks, Wit tinsky said: "You owe me nothing. You have already repaid me by proving that my judgment is good." When the principal sent Eliezer a note announcing that he would receive a scholarship of twenty rubles per month, Wittinsky said: "You need me no longer. You are well launched. Only I hope you will not forget me." 34 Growing Pains Eliezer made many friends in Diinaburg. The other Jewish stu dents decided that this frail newcomer would probably become one of their leaders, so they vied with each other to be gracious to him. Many who were "day students" invited him to their homes and Eli ezer accepted. It was of great economic advantage to be such a fre quent guest for dinner. Twenty rubles a month was little on which to try to exist and buy books. But Eliezer found most of the other Jewish students dull by comparison with Wittinsky. David Wittinsky was typical of his times. He was one of those young Russian intellectuals who in that period were aflame with the idea of freedom. "Our goal/ he once told Eliezer, "must be to play leading roles in the liberation of Russia from her masters." "Do you mean { we as Jews?" Eliezer asked. "Naturally not! We must forget we are Jews. What difference does religion make? We are all freethinkers here, and if you remain long you, too, will become a freethinker. 3 Another time Wittinsky said: "It is quite proper that we should no longer be hemmed in by the customs of our religion. Those things are outdated. You must re nounce your religion, Eliezer, as I have done, in order to take part in the great movement beginning to sweep Russia!" At first Eliezer was stunned by Wittinsky s talk. But the ideal of freedom was one with which he instinctively agreed and so he was able to throw up few defenses against his friend s arguments. Yet for more than a year he refused to be rushed into a decision. "Think, Eliezer, of the great men you have read about who have changed the course of history. How many were bound by the shackles of an outdated religion? We must become free, as they were, if we are to help lead the world to new heights." Day after day, month after month, Wittinsky prodded him. Eli ezer listened and was impressed. "After you make the great decision, Eliezer, you must then be willing to suffer for your convictions. Some of us may be arrested, imprisoned, sent to Siberia, or even put to death. But strong men have no fears." Eliezer was wavering when an event occurred which finally, like 35 Tongue of the Prophets a great ray of light thrown into a murky scene, illuminated the road down which he really wanted to travel. Russia went to war, among other things for the liberation of Bul garia. This gave the young Russian intellectuals a concrete focal point for their enthusiasms. Now they became ardent supporters of the czarist battle for freedom for those whom the Turks for so long a time had kept enslaved. But if the Bulgars could be liberated, why, Eliezer asked himself,, not also the Jews? Why could not Jews have their own land, their own language, their own way of life? How were Jews inferior to Bulgars? Is liberty something only for a race down in the Balkans? The Bulgars had suffered oppression for a few generations, but for nearly twenty centuries the Jews had been kept a dispersed and homeless people ! If freedom for the oppressed was so important to men like Wittinsky, why did they not show some concern for those who had been oppressed for so much longer than any others? Then Eliezer remembered his mother saying that the liberation of the Jews could come only with the arrival of the Messiah. But why? If the Bulgars could be liberated now, why must Jews wait indefinitely? All these questions were answered to Eliezer s own satisfaction by a clear strong voice which rang constantly in his ears. It drowned out the arguments of the Wittinskys. It put to rout the indecisions Eliezer himself had. He knew now which battle he wanted to fight. He would consecrate his life to the liberation of his own people and the establishment of Jews in the land of their forefathers. But he must have allies. And all his studying from now on must be directed toward a single end. He must learn about politics, about the customs of various lands through which the Jews had been dis* persed. He must fit himself for some profession by which he could earn a living. As the day of his graduation from the high school in Diinaburg drew near, the boy from Luzhky finally decided to continue his edu cation in Paris, because Paris was the center of the political and dip lomatic life of Europe. He also decided to take up the study of medi cine, a profession which would give him a certain social standing wherever he went and place him in contact with people in a position to help in the realization of his dream. 36 6 Convert Mo. 1 "Dear Deborah: "This is to inform you that I have arrived in the wonderful city of Paris. The first thing which astonished me was the discovery that everyone here can speak French better than I can. Even the coach men, the janitors, and the men who clean the streets. Somehow I had thought that, with your instruction and the work I did at Diina- burg, I was more perfect in the language than anyone except French scholars. "It is wonderful to be living in the great world center of wisdom and learning, where there is complete freedom of thought, of expres sion, of action. "My immediate object is to reach a certain niveau which will en able me to come into intimate contact with the great Jewish person alities of our time, in order to interest them in my plan for the re- establishment of the Jewish people on the soil of our ancestors. I am desirous of learning all that I am able about the history of our own people. I hope to find everything in the university called the Sorbonne. "Tell your father and mother I think often of them and please bear my greetings to all, including little Pola, "Eliezer" 37 Tongue of the Prophets "Dear Deborah: "I have received your letter in which you ask me intimate ques tions about my life here. The matter of existence does not very much bother me. I need only a small room, which I have found, and a slice of bread and some sausage each day, which is enough. "I read as many newspapers as possible. From time to time I go to the lectures of Gambetta on the political situation in the world at large. I often attend sessions of the French Parliament. "It is now my great desire to meet important men and to talk to them about my idea and ascertain how they are going to react. Will they lend me their ears, or will they ridicule me? If they advise me to dismiss the whole matter and concentrate on my medical studies, I shall be bitterly disappointed. "In the Russian reading room at the library I have met a very cultured and famous journalist, a descendant of Polish nobility, who is the Paris correspondent for a liberal Russian newspaper, the Rus~ sian World. His name is Tshashnikov. He has been as kind to me as Wittinsky in Diinaburg. But there is one queer difference. Wittin- sky was a Jew, but was unsympathetic to all that I had in my mind. Tshashnikov is not a Jew, yet he has an understanding of the prob lem and the solution. He says that his own people, the Poles, have begun to be reconciled to their loss of liberty and he had thought until now the same was even more true of the Jews, He encourages me because he says it is refreshing to find someone interested in free dom and liberty. We often meet in the Caf6 de la Source, where we discuss politics and literature over coffee. "One evening I revealed to him my idea for a revival of the He brew nation. He seemed very much impressed and said he would do anything to aid me because of his feelings for freedom. Therefore, my first convert to The Idea is this man who is a Polish aristocrat and not a Jew at all. "I shall write to you from time to time of my progress. "Dear Deborah: "Life has become exciting for me in Park Through the kind of fices of my Polish friend I have been meeting many important peo* 38 Convert No. 1 pie and have been entertained in some of the great homes of Paris which are the meeting places of a circle of artists, literary figures, and diplomatic personalities such as Gambetta, Victor Hugo, Emile de Girardin, and Sarah Bernhardt. I have also met such Jewish figures as Adolphe Cremieux and others. In these circles one hears interest ing topics of the day and some evil language 3 from and about the intellectuals. "There was a big wedding in the Pantheon at which most of the important personalities of our time were present. Victor Hugo and an actor from the Comedie Frangaise spent the time walking around and around the Pantheon while the wedding was in progress discuss ing the cafe gossip about the morals of the bride, which I am sorry to say were very shocking. I know the story is true because I was pres ent, having been taken by my friend Tshashnikov. The story may of fend you, but I tell it because it amuses me that even such great men should indulge in the evil tongue. It is good, at least, to know that they are human. "I wish, Deborah, that you could be here to enjoy the experiences which I am having. I often think how it all started in Glubokiah, thanks to your father. "I regret to say that the cough troubles me and I have begun to spit blood, which Tshashnikov says is a bad symptom. I have an ap pointment soon with Dr. Charles Netter, the founder of the Mikveh Israel colony in Palestine. I shall take his advice, whatever it is. "Shalom! "Dear Deborah: "I must inform you that I have seen Dr. Netter and his diagnosis is not good. He says I have tuberculosis, that my lungs are badly af fected, and has ordered me to stop my studies immediately. He has recommended a climate such as Algiers. "The news has very much frightened me because I have the feel ing that I have not much longer to live. If I should find the means to go to North Africa it is likely that I would never be able to return to Paris to continue my studies. What is distressing is that I am on the threshold of success in my plan. It has taken me two years in 39 Tongue of the Prophets Paris to prepare the ground. Now, just as I am ready to make the appeal to our people, the ground is to be cut from under me. I have worked hard, gaining the knowledge which I needed, but what good will it be if I die before I can put it to use? "I have the feeling of a person condemned to death and I so much wish to find a way to utter my last words. For this reason I work now without sleep to put onto paper the reasons why it is so important for the Jewish world to become inflamed with the idea of returning to the land of our forefathers and working for the freedom to which we are entitled. "I have decided that in order to have our own land and political life it is also necessary that we have a language to hold us together. That language is Hebrew, but not the Hebrew of the rabbis and scholars. We must have a Hebrew language in which we can con duct the business of life. It will not be easy to revive a language dead for so long a time. "The day is so short; the work to be done so great. "I wonder often, since receiving the report of the doctor, who is going to be the trustee of this great mission. My friend Tshashnikov has the enthusiasm and interest, but is not a Jew, which would make it impossible for him to carry on my plan. "For all these reasons I am working like a man with but a few hours to live. I cover hundreds of pieces of paper with arguments, reasons, and proofs. If I can write something which is convincing and get it into a publication where it will command attention, then possibly someone will be found to put the plan into action. "I beg you and your family to give me the benefit of your good wishes for my success at this critical time. "Dear Deborah: "I write with great excitement, for I have completed my appeal, It is not exactly as I wish it to be, but the day is so short, the work to be done so great, that I cannot delay longer. "I have sent the article to a Hebrew paper in Warsaw, Hamag- gid, which means The Teller/ Since the article has been posted I have not slept a single hour. My cough is worse, the spitting of blood 40 Convert No. 1 goes on aU the time, and the doctor insists I must go quickly to Al giers, but I cannot leave, even if I find the means, until I know that my appeal has been accepted for publication. "I shall inform you when I hear from the editor in Warsaw. "Ben Yehuda" P.S. Do not be surprised that I sign a new name to my letter. This is the name which will appear over my article. Someday I shall find the way to make it my own." 7 Cognac Celebration TSHASHNIKOV KNOCKED REPEATEDLY ON THE DOOR. There was no answer. Finally, alarmed that Eliezer might have died during one of his coughing spells, he ran down four flights of stairs to the quarters of the concierge and reported his fear. The white-haired concierge put on his coat, picked up a circle of wire strung with keys, and said: "Alors! Let us go and see. It is possible that something serious has happened, but I think not. I think it is the letter. For days noire triste jeune homme (that s what we call him) has been so nervous he neither eats nor sleeps. For days he comes to my room every few hours asking, Has a letter come? "Finally today it arrives. I climb all the stairs to deliver it to him. When he takes it, his hand shakes like a leaf on a tree in winter. "It must have been a small letter, because he reads it in one min ute, then throws it onto the floor. Then he walks back and forth. Then he picks it up and reads again. "What happened after that I do not know, because then I heard the noise of the bell on the street door, so I had to go down to let someone in. "But anyway, here is his room. I shall open the door and you can 42 Cognac Celebration go in. If there is any need for the doctor I shall send my son. May the Blessed Virgin protect notre triste jeime homme!" Eliezer was face down on his bed, the letter beside him on the floor. After Eliezer had read the letter to him Tshashnikov under stood. It was one of the briefest rejections he had ever heard of. Ex cept for the formal salutation and conventional ending, it merely said: We find the article signed Ben Yehuda not good enough for publication. Tshashnikov was perplexed. "One thing I do not understand/ 5 he said. "This letter is ad dressed to you, but it concerns an article written by some Ben Ye huda. 3 Perhaps there has been an error!" Eliezer, after several deep coughs, replied: "No, Tshashnikov, there is no mistake. Ben Yehuda is the name I signed. It is my article which is not good enough for them; the article I worked on for so many months. I must admit now that I am finished. The world is against me and God is against me. God gave me this disease and the world now gives me a negative answer to my plan. . . ." Eliezer punctuated almost every sentence with a cough. He spoke more with resignation than bitterness. When he finished Tshash nikov said quietly: "Wash your face, Eliezer. I received some unexpected money to day and I think we both need a good meal. How many times have I told you the mind cannot function unless the body is fed? We shall talk about the article later, but tell me now, where did this pen name come from? Ben Yehuda! What does it mean?" "It is a name I have always liked. My father was Leib. That s Yiddish. Translated into Hebrew, it s Yehuda. Ben is Hebrew for son. So Ben Yehuda means Son of Yehuda, which is what I am. But there is a deeper significance. Yehuda is also the Hebrew word for Judea/ so I now have a name I like. Ben Yehuda, the Son of Judea! "Someday I wish to find a way to drop the name of Perlman, my own family s name, and also Elyanof, which I acquired for non- 43 Tongue of the Prophets military purposes. Neither has any meaning to me. But Ben Yehuda is a good name. It has a good sound. How do you like it?" Tshashnikov smiled. This was Eliezer again. The color had begun to return to his face. Only after they had finished a good meal and were having coffee did the Pole allow the article to be discussed. Then he introduced the subject himself, saying: "I understand your feelings about the rejection, Eliezer, but surely there is some other Jewish weekly or monthly besides this one in Warsaw. Think now. Name me another!" "There is an important monthly in Vienna called Hashahar, which means The Dawn/ but its articles are all by famous literary people and big politicians. I am a nobody. Whoever heard of Ben Yehuda?" "Send it anyway! What have you to lose? Sometimes you surprise me, Eliezer! You have such burning convictions, such energy, such enthusiasm, yet you allow one insignificant editor to wreck your en tire dream. If Hashahar rejects it, we shall try somewhere else." The reply from Hashahar was only a postal card, but if it had been on the finest of parchment, engraved in letters of gold, it could hardly have brought more happiness to the tubercular student from Luzhky. "We are pleased to announce that we are publishing your article in an early issue. We have changed the title from C A Burning Prob lem to *A Worthy Question. You possess a talent for writing. May your pen be blessed !" That was all, but it breathed new life into the twenty-two-year-old boy now known to himself, to an editor in Vienna, and to two friends as Ben Yehuda. That night as Tshashnikov approached the table in the Caf6 de la Source for their evening rendezvous he saw the transformation immediately. "I can read in your face that the article has been accepted, yes?" They sat long that night in the caf drinking cognac. Before they separated Tshashnikov gave Eliezer two pieces of advice, "First you must obey the doctor s order and go to Algiers, Then ? when your health returns* you must use your pen to keep the issue 44 Cognac Celebration burning. You must convince others, as you have convinced me/ 5 "But how am I to get to Algiers? It costs money to travel that far!" "It shall be arranged. I have a few friends, thank God. Tomorrow I shall speak to some of them. Now, let us have one more cognac before we go." It was only a few days later that a copy of Hashahar arrived with Eliezer s new name in print for the first time. Sitting again in his favorite cafe, he spread the paper out on the table and with trem bling hands displayed it to Tshashnikov. Eliezer had read and reread the article to his friend in manuscript, but now he went through it again, translating passages he had re vised. "If, in truth, each and every nation is entitled to defend its nationality and protect itself from extinction, then logically we, the Hebrews, also must needs have that same right. Why should our lot be meaner than that of all others? "Why should we choke the hope to return and become a nation in our deserted country which is still mourning its lost children, driven away to remote lands two thousand years ago? Why should we not follow the example of all nations, big and small, and do something to protect our nationality against ex termination?" * Tshashnikov liked that passage and said : "It is compelling logic, Eliezer, and I see no possible argument against it!" Eliezer went on translating: "Why should we not lift ourselves up and look into the fu ture? Why do we sit cross-handed and do nothing which would serve as a basis upon which to build the salvation of our people? If we care at all that the name of Israel should not disappear from this earth, we must create a center for the whole of our people, like a heart from which blood would run into the arteries of the whole, and animate the whole. Only the settle ment of Eretz Israel can serve this purpose." 45 Tongue of the Prophets "You improved that passage since you last read it to me. It is a good argument, plainly stated." Then they skipped to paragraphs which read: "Today, as in ancient times, this is a blessed land in which we shall eat our bread not meanly; a fertile land upon which nature has bestowed glory and beauty; a land in which only hard-working hands are needed to make it the happiest of all countries. All tourists to that place state such facts unanimously. "And now the time has come for us, the Hebrews, to do something positive. Let us create a society for the purchase of land in Eretz Israel; for the acquisition of everything necessary for agriculture; for the division of the land among Jews already present and those desiring to emigrate there, and for the pro vision of the funds necessary for those who cannot establish themselves independently." When he put down the article, Tshashnikov looked into Eliezer s pale face and said: "Remember your promise to go to Algiers? Well, I have found the means. I talked today to Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, the great French banker, and " "Surely you did not ask him for charity for me?" "Not charity, Eliezer. The baron is a good man, and you are one of his own people because you are both Jews. He is a man of great wealth; one of the few I know who consider the acquisition and pos session of money a responsibility, not just a right, I think that some day you may be able to win him to your big idea. In the meantime I have persuaded him to finance your trip to Algiers." "What did you tell him?" "Nothing about the nature of your writings. I merely advertised you to him as a young Jew of ability." 46 8 Detective, Scholar, Magician, Midwife ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA, SELF-STYLED "SON OF Judea," stayed many months in Algiers. During the winter Tshash- nikov came to visit him. He found his friend greatly improved in health and full of enthusiasm. The first night, as they sat down to dinner, Eliezer gave the Polish journalist a long dissertation on languages. He explained that He brew began to die out as a commonly spoken language at the time of the Maccabees, almost two hundred years before the start of the Christian Era, In one period Greek was the common language of many Jews. Later, as Jews settled in various parts of the world, they began to use the tongue of the countries in which they found them selves. In Germany in the Middle Ages the Jews spoke the language of those around them, medieval German, only they wrote it in Hebraic characters. When vast numbers of them were forced to leave Ger many and settled in Poland and Russia they took medieval German with them as their language. But gradually their talk became un- 47 Tongue of the Prophets intelligible to a German, even to a German Jew, for several reasons. Back in Germany, medieval German underwent many changes, until modern German finally developed. But in their ghettos in the East the Jews were isolated from such changes. Also, they grafted many Hebrew words to their language. And then they often dis torted words on purpose, in order to be able to say things among themselves without their non- Jewish neighbors being able to under stand. Thus Yiddish was born. The same.thing happened with medieval Spanish, which came to be known as Ladino. At this point Tshashnikov laughed and interrupted. "I already know some of this, Eliezer, but I wonder if you know that the Cockney which is spoken in the East End of London devel oped because the charwomen, the costermongers, the pub keepers wanted to be able to say things that the bobbies wouldn t be able to understand." Eliezer nodded, then, even more intent, he expounded his theory that if Jews were ever to be unified they must be given a common language again. "I read somewhere that we Jews speak seventy different lan guages, yet not one of us speaks our own language ! Today the lan guages of the ghetto cling to us like leprosy. We can never aspire to be free men, Tshashnikov, as long as we use those ghetto dialects. "They argue with me that Hebrew is a bookish language, lacks vitality. I ask them, when the prophets spoke to the people, did they speak only in the temples? Wasn t Hebrew, then, a language spoken in the streets, a language of the masses? "It s just that Hebrew needs to be modernized. I agree that it is equally important to have words for tools and dishes as words for philosophical concepts. Hebrew once had those words, but they have become lost. They entered Arabic and Greek and other languages as immigrants and remained as citizens. Now we must bring them back home again. "Listen to the people around us. They are aU Sephardic Jews* Listen to the depth of tone, the beauty of the way they talk. When they pray in Hebrew they make the words sound so melodious. "Wheipi the Afihkenazim (that s what we call the people who 48 Detective, Scholar, Magician, Midwife speak Yiddish) , when they talk Hebrew they give it a distinctly Yid dish or Ashkenazim accent, but the Sephardic or Spanish Jews pro nounce the words quite differently, and with what I am sure is al most the sound that Hebrew had in ancient days." For a long time Tshashnikov listened. Finally he said: "I am no expert at languages, but I agree with you." "And don t you think, Tshashnikov, if we are going to have a common language for all the Jews of the world we should settle on one pronunciation?" "Certainly, but I imagine you will have a job getting your people from the north to give up their pronunciation. You are mapping out a big job for yourself, my frail friend. As far as I know, never before in history did any one man set out to create 3 a language. But how exciting! It will be like building a modern nineteenth-century struc ture on a solid foundation thousands of years old. Think of the words you will have to manufacture ! Think of the objects and ideas which did not exist two thousand years ago for which you will have to find expressions! For example, is there a Hebrew word for a ve hicle propelled by steam?" "We have two words in Hebrew, one for steam and one for en gine. We might combine them and call it a steam engine, just as they do in English, or like the French machine ti vapeur. "But you are right, one will have to spend years searching through Hebrew literature and in libraries all over the world for words which once were in the language and disappeared." "Yes, Eliezer, you will have to be detective, scholar, magician, and midwife all combined." By the time young Ben Yehuda returned to Paris, so many Jewish publications had reprinted his "appeal" or had commented on it that his scheme for the revival of the language and a return of Jews to the Middle East was the subject of discussion and debate wher ever Jewish intellectuals gathered. Most of the reaction, however, was negative. The opposition had many facets. There were those, like Eliezer s own mother, who wished to sit with folded hands and allow God to 49 Tongue of the Prophets have His own unhampered way, without human intervention, which they considered sacrilegious. Then there were those who thought that an attempt to establish a Jewish state would arouse- dormant anti-Semites to new excesses of violence. They argued that better days had finally arrived for most Jews in the Diaspora; that there were now relatively few pogroms; that those willing to give up their identity as Jews and become as similated would be safe from further persecutions. They even advo cated intermarriage and abandonment of religious beliefs. Some went to this extreme because they were personally prospering and wanted no Jewish movement to interfere. Others contended that the writer who signed himself "Ben Yehuda" had painted too glowing a picture of Palestine; that it was all right to call it a "blessed land" but he had distorted facts when he spoke of "a fertile land upon which nature has bestowed glory and beauty; a land in which only hard-working hands are needed to make it the happiest of all countries." These critics argued that in the course of two thousand years, through neglect and a stripping of the natural resources, Palestine had become a barren waste which would require generations of back- breaking labor to make productive. After Eliezer returned to Paris he supported himself by doing translations from French to Russian. He attended classes at the Sor- bonne, listened to visiting lecturers, spent hours each day in the Paris libraries, covered hundreds of sheets of paper with amplifications of his ideas, and wrote numerous newspaper articles which he sent to a new outlet, a small newspaper in Jerusalem called Hahabatzeleth* In one article, answering the criticism that he was being blind to reality because the Turks would never allow the Jews any rights in Palestine, he wrote: "There are times in the history of a nation when it is not the clever ones who are important, but those who have vision to see through the dark curtain of actuality." While he was in Algiers, Eliezer had been in greatly improved health, but his cough and the attendant pains returned the first week after he returned to Paris. 50 Detective, Scholar, Magician, Midwife One night, talking with Tshashnikov, he said: ~~ "I have just about come to a great personal decision. I think I shall leave France and go to Palestine to spend the rest of my life among my own people." Tshashnikov blinked several times. Finally he said: "That, indeed, would be a drastic move. What are your reasons?" "It is a combination of many. A remark I overheard the other day had something to do with it. Some Jewish friends, not knowing that I was listening, said that if I were sincere I would go to the Holy Land myself instead of just urging others to do it. They said my honesty was open to question as long as I remained here myself. This started me thinking. "After all, there exists over there a nucleus of Jews who, for one reason or another, have already gone back. I must join them and convert them to the use of Hebrew as a spoken language. "If I am in Jerusalem myself I can send my appeals from there and base them on facts. I can report the true situation. I can speak then with authority. Here in Paris I am an insignificant student. There, perhaps, I can become the leader of a movement. "Besides and I hope that this will not offend you, Tshashnikov but honestly, I am not very happy using Russian and French as my languages. I want to be somewhere where I can speak Hebrew and hear others speak it and perhaps persuade them all to speak it. "I wish to start work on the language. The time is so short; the work to be done is so great. Palestine or Israel, as I prefer to call it is the place. I think I shall go soon. That, I know, is my destiny. I must live and work among my own people." Tshashnikov had listened patiently to the long speech flow with out interruption from the young student s lips. Finally he spoke him self. "A highly commendable decision, however much I shall miss you. Besides, there are practical reasons why you should go. Perhaps the climate there will be more favorable for you. I care enough for you so that I would rather know there is a living Ben Yehuda thousands of kilometers away than a dead Ben Yehuda here in Paris." "You have been a good friend, Tshashnikov. You have never once misunderstood me." Eliezer s eyes were blurred as he said it. 5* Tongue of the Prophets Others did not understand him as well. Reports that a young Jewish student named Eliezer Ben Yehuda was leaving the intellec tual center of the world for the bare desert sands of the Middle East, where he hoped to create the heart of a movement for the Jewish resettlement of the Holy Land and a revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, only brought forth a fresh wave of criticism. Some were tolerant enough to call him an idle dreamer. Others labeled him a fool. But there were those who went so far as to say that he should be treated as an enemy of the Jewish people and promptly disowned by them. But Eliezer s mind was made up and he began packing the bat tered suitcase which Father Yonas had given him in Glubokiah years before. 9 Determined Chess ONE EVENING SHLOMOH YONAS CAME INTO HIS wife s room with a letter in his hand. He was extremely agitated. "Where are the children?" he demanded. "They are all in bed except Deborah, She is down in the library reading. Why do you ask? Has something gone wrong? What is it, Shlomoh?" The father sat down and wiped his forehead. "I had better commence at the start. Here" and as he spoke he dug into the pocket of his coat "here is a small article I read in a Hebrew journal several weeks ago. It is only a few lines at the bot tom of a column. It says that a young Jewish scholar in Paris known as Ben Yehuda has decided to go to Palestine to start a movement for the speaking of the Hebrew language and bringing Jews back to the Holy Land. When I read it I remembered that Deborah has said our young friend Eliezer had written some articles signed Ben Yehuda. So I obtained his address from Deborah and wrote to him." "Why did you not tell me about the article, Shlomoh, when you first read it?" "I did not tell anyone; not even Deborah. I wanted to handle the matter myself." 53 Tongue of the Prophets "I hope you did not write to Eliezer that- "Yes, I did ! I wrote in a very angry tone, I am afraid. I told him that Deborah has taken seriously the promise he made when he left. I told him she had been waiting for him waiting for him all these years to complete his education. I told him that she had grown re cently into a comely young lady, so fine-looking, so dainty, with culture to the tips of her fingers. I guess I did not restrain myself. I wrote as if I were describing the products of my distillery as if I were a salesman. 35 "You told all that to Eliezer in the letter?" "Yes, and I was very stern about it. I said that we only wished to know what were his intentions. Why had he not given Deborah at least a chance to say no?" The father was pacing the room. With each sentence he grew more distraught. "His reply has just arrived. I picked it up myself at the post office a few minutes ago. It is a short note, Rivkah. He writes it all in Hebrew. I can no longer be angry with him. I wish now I had never written the letter to him." "But what does he say, Shlomoh!" "He says the article in the paper was true; that he is planning to go to Palestine. In fact, he leaves from Paris next week. We shall just have time to get an answer to him." "An answer to what?" "Rivkah, my dear, it seems that the poor boy has consumption. A very bad case of it. He fears that he has only a short time to live. Besides, he is very poor. He says that he has little more than money enough to make the trip to Jerusalem. He apologizes for his treat ment of us. He says that he has never forgotten Deborah and has a deep love for her, but that he never dreamed she would be interested in sharing his life, poor and consumptive that he is, and in a land so barren and savage as Palestine. But he writes further that if Deborah would by any chance be willing to accompany him she could join him in Vienna, where he is stopping off to see Peretz Ben Moshc Smolenskin." "And who would that be?" 54 Determined Chess "That is the name, Rivkah, of the editor of the paper which pub lished his first article. Remember? He says that if Deborah would meet him in Vienna they could get married there and then continue the journey together." "But, Shlomoh, you surely are not going to allow Deborah to marry a boy in that condition ! And Palestine ! It is so far away ! We would never see our daughter again!" "You talk, Rivkah, as if you did not know Deborah. How can anyone stop that girl when she sets her mind to something? You know how she talks all the time of Eliezer and . . ." It was Deborah s last night at home. For hours the Yonas house had echoed with songs and laughter. Three tables were piled high with wedding presents left by the guests. In the dining room, after the festivities were all over, enough food remained to feed the popu lation of a small village. Deborah herself had never looked lovelier. At her mother s re quest she had worn the dress which had been made especially for the wedding in Vienna. During the evening she had paid considerably more attention to her parents than to the guests. Each time she saw out of the corner of her eye that they were alone, or that they looked as if they were about to burst into tears again, she would dash over to them, put her arms around them, and whisper words designed to make them forget the sorrow which they so ill concealed. Now the last guest had departed. The other children had gone to their rooms, all except Pola, who had recently celebrated her tenth birthday. Pola had refused to leave the party, even when she no longer could keep her eyes open. Now she was asleep on a couch in the library. Mother Yonas had said good night and had told her husband and eldest daughter not to stay up much longer. But after she had gone upstairs,, Deborah turned to her father. With a tone that begged for understanding she said: "Father, this will be my last night under your roof. Tomorrow I go away on an adventure the end of which none of us can possibly foresee. I know you do not approve, but if it is within my power to make Eliezer happy I shall do it. I shall help him to the best of my 55 Tongue of the Prophets ability in his great undertaking. Now, I wish you to do one last favor for me." Father Yonas looked puzzled. "I wish," the daughter continued, "that you would play a last game of chess with me before we go to bed." It was a close fight and lasted almost until dawn. As the father finally admitted defeat Deborah slipped from her chair, put a hand on his shoulder, and said : "And I am going to win the bigger game I am about to play, too, just you wait and see!" Because it would have been difficult, perhaps impossible, to ob tain for Deborah all the documents needed for her trip, Father Yonas persuaded his own brother to accompany the young woman as far as the Russian frontier and help smuggle her across the border. Two days later the brother returned. He carried a small paper package with him. The entire Yonas family clustered around him to ask whether Deborah had been shot trying to sneak across the fron tier; was she still alive; what dire events had occurred; had there been any "incidents"? The brother tried to smile. Nothing had happened. She got across all right. They had outwitted the frontier guards. She sent her love. "But what," asked Father Yonas, "do you carry in the small package?" The brother opened it. Mother Yonas burst out crying when she saw the small silk cushion she had given Deborah to use on the train when she wanted to sleep. "As the girl sneaked across the frontier," the uncle explained, "she dropped it. If I had run after her we might both have been caught. So I picked it up and brought it back." Mother Yonas clutched the pillow to her breast, sobbing with no attempt at self-restraint: "My Deborah ! This is all that I have left of my oldest daughter !" 10 Two Is Company THE RIDE FROM PARIS TO VIENNA IN THOSE DAYS was a long and tedious one. But the young Jewish scholar had plenty of thoughts to occupy his mind as he traveled across the French countryside and on into Germany, He would have only several more days to get reconciled to the idea of a partnership, instead of a solitary adventure. In these past few years he had had little feminine companionship. In fact, Debo rah was the only girl he had ever really known. Years ago he had occasionally dreamed of the two of them sharing a life together, but since the doctors had warned him about the seriousness of his physi cal condition, even that thought had grown dim, Of course he had the natural and normal feelings of any young man contemplating his own impending marriage, but in addition he had to fit Deborah into the plan of his crusade. They would have children, of course, and Deborah would become the first Hebrew mother in nearly two thousand years! She would talk only Hebrew by then, and their children would be the first children in almost two thousand years to know no other language. This would be an exam ple for other Jews. It would be as important in propagating the idea as all the articles and all the books he himself might write. Deborah Ben Yehuda, the first Hebrew mother ! <*"" 57 Tongue of the Prophets How much had she changed in all these years? Would she be will ing to sacrifice for the ideals he believed in? Life would be rugged in Palestine, and the Jews there might not receive them with open arms. They might be suspicious or even hostile. There might be in numerable complications. But the die was now cast. Deborah at this very moment was probably on the way toward their rendezvous in Vienna. Peretz Ben Moshe Smolenskin, the Viennese editor, greeted Eliezer with an announcement which brought color into the young man s pale face and made his eyes dance with excitement. They were sitting in the editor s office, after exchanging formal greetings, when Smolenskin smiled and said : "By the way, I have printed your article entitled Letter from Ben Yehuda and also the third one you sent. 35 When he saw how pleased Eliezer seemed, he added : "You will not be so happy, however, when you see that I have printed my own answers to the arguments in your first two articles. I tore them to pieces !" Eliezer looked crestfallen. Timidly he said : "Perhaps if I read what you wrote I would be able to reply." "That is not necessary. Such work has been done by someone else." The editor paused a moment, apparently enjoying his guest s con fusion. Then he continued : "I did it myself. I have myself written against my own arguments in my own paper. "I had always thought that Jews could live happily in the coun tries of their dispersion if they merely announced to the world their intention to be good citizens of the various places where they found themselves. "But before the ink was dry on my own words, terrible things be gan to happen in Russia which destroyed all my arguments. "I have just come back from a long trip through Russia, I have seen myself how wrong I was. "I saw ugly sights, Ben Yehuda. The pogroms have begun again in certain quarters. Our people are being persecuted, even killed. 58 Two Is Company I saw how essential it is that we build a sanctuary in Palestine for Jews who wish to escape from the cruelties so often inflicted upon us. "Of course we shall have opposition among our own people. The battle will be hard. But you are on the right road, young man, and you shall have the full support of Hashahar, which now has as its motto, The Rebirth of the People of Israel on the Soil of Israel. " Elated, Eliezer hurried back to his hotel to see if a telegram had come yet from Deborah. But there was no telegram from her. Per haps she had changed her mind. Perhaps her parents had argued her out of coming. Perhaps . . . While he was sitting on the edge of the bed, full of black thoughts, there was a rap at the door. Before he could answer it, the door opened gently. Eliezer looked and blinked several times. Who was this apparition standing there with a half -smile on her face? Not . . . They shouted each other s names and then greeted each other as lovers should. Several times Eliezer backed away from Deborah and looked her over. Her father had been right. For an hour they chattered in a mixture of French and Russian, the two languages Deborah had taught him. How was her trip? [Why had she not sent him a telegram announcing the time of her arrival? "But I did, Eliezer. It should have come hours ago. I sent it . . * M While she was still explaining, the telegram arrived. That same day they discovered the impossibility of being married in Vienna. Birth certificates and other documents were required, which they neither had nor could easily obtain. They were advised that there would be no such difficulties in Turkey, so they decided to wait until they reached Constantinople. The two young lovers were together almost constantly during the week they remained in the Austrian capital. They wandered the, streets hand in hand, visited museums, and even saw an opera. For some reason which he never explained to Deborah, Eliezer told neither the editor nor several other friends he had in Vienna about his fiancee. Their last day in Vienna, Eliezer received a letter with French stamps on the envelope. When he finished reading it he turned to Deborah with excitement and said: 59 Tongue of the Prophets "This is wonderful news ! Tshashnikov is going with us !" "And who is Tshashnikov?" Deborah asked rather icily. "Oh, you ll like him very much, Deborah. He s the best friend I have in the world ! He s the Polish journalist I knew in Paris. I wrote to you all about him. Surely you remember! 35 Deborah obviously was trying to control her feelings, but her voice was severe as she said : "What do you mean, he is going with us? Not to Palestine ! Not on our, honeymoon !" Eliezer did not seem to understand. "He writes that he will meet us in Constantinople; that we must wait there for him. It will be wonderful having him. . . ." "You say he writes that he is going to meet us. Does he know about me? 53 Eliezer stammered as he replied : "As a matter of fact, Deborah, I believe I forgot to tell him about you. But you will like each other very much." The girl from Glubokiah let the matter drop, but that night she cried herself to sleep. August of 1 88 1 was a pleasant month. The days were soft and warm, the sky cloudless, the landscape, as the Danube grew wider and wider, extremely picturesque. , The few other passengers on the small river steamer, sensing that the two who spent so much time standing close together on the deck looking out at the scenery were lovers, left them alone. The first evening Deborah and Eliezer ignored the dinner bell and stood looking into the twilight at the shore line* Suddenly Eiiezer turned and said in Hebrew : "How beautiful it is !" Deborah, although not sure of the words, sensed what they meant by the way Eliezer said them, so she repeated them back to him : "Yes, Eliezer, how beautiful it is!" That was the first conversation they ever held in the language which they were both going to give their lives to propagate. A few minutes later Eliezer pointed toward the southeast and said, again in Hebrew: 60 Two Is Company "Off there, Deborah, in the land of our forefathers, on the banks of the River Jordan, you shall someday soon become the first Hebrew mother of our times." When he translated the words into French, Deborah laughed and said: "How many times must I remind you, Eliezer, that we are not yet even married!" In Constantinople there were again difficulties about papers. They were told it would be easier in Cairo. Deborah wanted to go at once, but Eliezer reminded her that they must wait for his Polish friend. While they waited they explored the Turkish capital, took a boat trip on the Bosporus, wandered through the bazaars, and behaved like two honeymooners, despite the fact that the honeymoon had not yet technically begun. Finally Tshashnikov arrived. He threw his arms around his frail young friend in greeting. Eliezer watched his face as he presented Deborah, saying: "I should have told you before. We are going to be married." Tshashnikov obviously was impressed by her loveliness. His eyes showed that. But as Eliezer said "married," Tshashnikov s face clouded. He recovered himself quickly, however, and took them both by the arm as they headed for their hotel. Late that evening, after the men had retired to the room they were sharing, Eliezer, with childlike eagerness, asked: "Tell me quickly, how do you like her?" "An exceptionally charming girl; very talented, obviously. I like her immensely, except " "Except what, Tshashnikov?" "I do not wish to hurt you, Eliezer, but I think it is a great mis take. I wish you had told me sooner. She is pretty and intelligent, but she is a woman, and you know so little about women ! She is frail and delicate. Will she be able to stand the physical hardships? Obvi ously she has come from a good home, accustomed to a soft life. For her it will be like going from civilization to barbarism." Eliezer finally managed to say: 61 Tongue of the Prophets "But we are very much in love. Do you understand?" "That I find difficult to believe. You have not seen her for years. I know a thing or two about love. You could not have been in love with her all these years and ignored her as you have done. This is madness. You should come to your senses before it is too late." "But, Tshashnikov, she is going to be a very valuable assistant to me in my work. We took an oath on the boat that we would both devote our lives to the ideal." "That is another point against your marriage, Eliezer. I doubt whether she will be of any help. I myself, who am not a Jew, know more Hebrew than she does. How much will she be willing to sacri fice for your ideal? Now if you had decided to take as a wife one of those Jewish girls we met down in Algiers, it would be different. At least from one of them you could have learned something. I mean something about that pronunciation you like so well. We must talk more about it later, but now I am tired. Let s go to sleep." Deborah was in a lonely position. She wanted desperately to talk to someone other than Eliezer about his Polish friend. It was years later before she finally was able to confide in members of her own family, but by then the problem was over. She resented Tshashnikov s presence. He was a discordant note in what had started out as a lovely symphony. Being romantic and having lived so many years for this reunion with the man she loved, she felt that Tshashnikov should have the good grace to leave them alone. But they were seldom alone. Wherever they went it was al ways a threesome. Tshashnikov was handsome and intelligent and deeply interested in EKezer s project, but he made her feel as if she were the outsider. There was another aspect of the problem which she hardly dared think about. Whenever there was an opportunity, whenever Eliezer was busy, Tshashnikov sought her out and on such occasions was exceedingly charming. She tried to put the thought from her mind. Then one day when Eliezer had gone off on a minor shopping trip Tshashnikov said he wanted to have a long talk with her. They walked together along the hill overlooking the Bosporus, For a few 62 Two Is Company minutes they watched the small boats down in the harbor, their movements and the colors of their sails making them look like gaily costumed ballet dancers, Deborah thought. Then suddenly the Pole turned to her and said : "How much do you love Eliezer?" It was a stupid question, but Deborah had decided it was time to speak bluntly. "I love him with great intensity. You should know that. I also admire him and wish to help him. What more could any man ask from any woman? Now tell me why you try to embarrass me?" Tshashnikov launched into a long monologue. Doubt after doubt he tried to sow in her mind. But the remark for which she never quite forgave him came at the end. "I do not presume to advise you, but if you should decide to change your mind and return to your home in Lithuania, I stand ready to volunteer my services. I should be most happy to accom pany you. We could have a pleasant trip back north together. Think seriously before you reject all I have said." Deborah did a great deal of serious thinking in the days that fol lowed. At night as she tossed on her bed, unable to drive away the doubts, she was unaware that in a room a short distance down the hall Eliezer was also tossing; also tormented by doubts planted in his mind by his good friend. Whenever Deborah saw the two men talking together she sus pected that Tshashnikov was making more propaganda against the marriage. All three of them were nervous and irritable. The prema ture honeymoon no longer had any of the aspects of a honeymoon. When they arrived in Cairo the tension grew greater. "The first thing we must do," Eliezer announced, "is to look up a rabbi whose wife I know. There is a reason why I must see him at once." Tshashnikov gave no sign that he knew what Eliezer meant, but Deborah s feminine instinct told her, so sjtie whispered that she must see Eliezer alone. The conference took place in the hotel lobby. Deborah put her hand lightly on his arm and said: "Haveevee, let s be honest with each other." Eliezer smiled. 63 Tongue of the Prophets "You have never called me that before. Haveevee e my dear one. How did you learn that Hebrew word?" Deborah smiled a little sadly. "First you must answer some questions. Are you sure of me, Eliezer? Are you sure you really want to marry me? We have had our honeymoon, but we have not yet been joined as man and wife. It is still not too late to "change our minds." Eliezer tried to look startled, then said : "Before I answer, you must tell me whether Tshashnikov has been talking to you, or are these doubts of your own creation?" Deborah hung her head a moment, debating. Finally she replied: "I have never had any doubts of my own, Eliezer. Not for years and years. I think I can be a good wife and help in your work. But your friend thinks otherwise. Perhaps he is right. It is really up to you to decide. Only decide quickly, because " Eliezer took her right hand tightly in his. "I shall give you my answer within an hour. And now . . ." He looked at his watch. "Now we must hurry, because I have an appointment and we must pick up Tshashnikov on the way." At the rabbi s house they were greeted warmly by the rabbi s wife, who had known Eliezer in Diinaburg. When the rabbi appeared, Tshashnikov was introduced, and Deborah. Then Eliezer, with a smile to the rabbi, took Deborah s hand and, looking straight into her eyes, said: "Harei at mekudeshet lee." There was an exclamation from the rabbi s wife. Deborah also understood the significance of the words. Only Tshashnikov was puzzled. "This is unfair," he said. "What do the words mean?** It was the rabbi who explained. "Translated literally, they mean, You are herewith betrothed to me, and according to Jewish tradition, this alone is sufficient to unite two young people in marriage if spoken in the presence of two witnesses. We have two witnesses, and so . * /* Then he turned, beaming, to Eliezer. Two Is Company "An3 so, congratulations, my son, and now if my good wife will get the wine and sweet cakes we shall have a celebration. How won derful all this is! I had no idea we would have a wedding party today!" Deborah, still holding Eliezer s hand, turned to Tshashnikov and said: "We are both waiting. Are you not going to congratulate us and wish us well?" 11 One Gold Louis AS THE SHIP BEARING THE BEN YEHUDAS TO JAFFA steamed along the Mediterranean coast it made many stops. At each port tall, brawny young Arabs in colorful costumes came aboard. They fascinated Deborah, but their gaiety depressed Eliezer. Finally he said to his young bride: "They also are on their way to Palestine, but for them it is home. These Arabs are the citizens; we are the foreigners." The last night before they reached Jaffa, Eliezer was unaHe to sleep. He walked the deck for hours. He felt alone on the ship, for there was no other sign of life. Then the stars disappeared and the east began to be tinged with pink and golden shades. Deborah and Tshashnikov came up on deck in time to see a, black streak appear on the eastern horizon, gradually increasing in size until they all knew that this was Jaffa, Small houses cropped up out of nowhere. The decks of the ship began to swarm with passengers. Eliezer stood at the rail, staring at the shore line. Here was the Holy Land about which he had dreamed so much. Here were the deserts, the hills, the valleys about which he had read so much. How many times* down through the ages, had Jews tried to come back home, only to be driven away again! 66 One Gold Louis Now he, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, Son of Judea, was approaching this place himself, on a mission. Would he, too, someday be driven away, or would his arrival be the forerunner of a great return of his own people? Deborah came and stood close beside him. There was much she wanted to say, but knowing her husband, she remained silent, merely holding his hand. The ship anchored half a mile from shore. The passengers were helped into small boats. That half-mile trip was one which neither Deborah nor Eliezer ever forgot. The dark-skinned Arabs who man aged the boats seemed as strong as young giants. They were bare to the waist. Their muscles stood out on their arms. They manipulated their small craft with consummate skill through the rocks which dotted the port. As they rowed they raised their voices in a chant, singing prayers from the Koran for a safe landing. The waves were high and angry. Because Deborah was frightened, Eliezer began to talk softly to her. "This is a place, my dear, famous in our Jewish history. It was originally awarded to the tribe of Dan, but as we shall soon see, it is now an Arab place." Finally they set foot on "our land," as Eliezer called it. Their diz ziness from the buffeting was now heightened by the heat, the smells, the noises around them. Deborah clung to Eliezer s arm. Tshashnikov, the well-traveled man, tried to reassure them. "This is the edge of the Orient, my friends. A different world! How picturesque! Look at the rounded domes of the mosques!" "Must picturesque things always be so dirty and evil-smelling?" Deborah asked, wanting an answer. They stopped at a small hotel to inquire about transportation to Jerusalem. The manager greeted them with several words of He brew. When Eliezer replied in Hebrew the man looked as surprised as if he had heard a voice from the dead. He asked Eliezer his name and destination. When he heard the words "Ben Yehuda" his face broke into a broad smile. "I have read your articles in the Jerusalem paper!" He told them they should not start before sundown, when the evening dew would begin to temper the heat of the scorching sun. Tongue of the Prophets Meanwhile, he said, he would send a telegram to Editor Frumkin to meet them. The carriage they finally took, drawn by three emaciated horses, was little better than a large wooden box on wheels. There were no regular seats, only wooden benches without backs. They had to put their luggage under their feet. "They say that this is luxury traveling," Tshashnikov reported. "I would hate to see what third class is like!" "When do we get there?" Deborah asked. "About the time the sun comes up," Eliezer replied as he formed his right shoulder into the semblance of a pillow on which Deborah could rest her head. Eliezer, while Deborah dozed, had conversation with the coach man, at first in French, which the man said he had learned at the Mikveh Israel school founded by the doctor Eliezer had consulted in Paris. During the night it developed that the coachman also knew a little Hebrew. Before the night was over Eliezer had made his first real friend in Palestine. Hayim Jacob, the coachman, said he must never travel between Jaffa and Jerusalem with anyone else. He would be Mr. Ben Yehuda s "official chauffeur." (Half a lifetime later, when the Jewish Coachmen s Association held a celebration honoring Hayim Jacob, its oldest member, Eliezer was one of the guests of honor.) About midnight they reached Bab el Wad (Gate of the Valley) , At this point the road began to climb, so the journey was interrupted to change horses for the final, steep twenty-four kilometers. Most of the other passengers, including Tshashnikov, got out to stretch their legs or have a cup of thick Turkish coffee. This gave Eliezer a chance to spread several coats on one of the vacated benches so Deborah could rest horizontally for a few moments. As she lay there she looked up at her young husband and said : "Haveevee, I am trying to be kind to the Pole because he is your friend, but ever since we got off the ship he has been looking at me as if to say, *I told you so F "He actually seemed glad that Jaffa was so dirty and smelly. He seems glad that this journey is so long and difficult He seems so 68 One Gold Louis sure I am going to give up and leave you. But I swear, Eliezer, I am not. As long as my body holds out I shall remain at your side." The young man who arrived at Jerusalem on the twenty-second day of Tishri, which is the first month in the Hebrew calendar, in the year called by Christians 1881, was of medium height, blond, with deep-sunk brown eyes, frail, and very aesthetic-looking. He wore European clothes, topped by a blue beret. He was twenty-three years old, but his battle with consumption made him look consider ably the senior of his twenty-seven-year-old wife. She was slightly taller than he was. Although she also had the face of an aesthete, her figure was well rounded, and except for the strains of travel she was a picture of good health. The carriage left them outside the gates of the city, which was just as well, for from this short distance they could get a view in perspective. The domes and towers of Jerusalem at this moment were painted with the morning s pinks and reds. "How picturesque!" Deborah exclaimed, to which Tshashnikov maliciously replied : "But do not forget what goes with picturesqueness !" Deborah ignored him. Eliezer had not even heard; he was stand ing with his slim hands clasped behind his back, a strange, almost fanatical expression in his eyes. "The City of David!" He said the words with religious awe. Slowly the three approached one of the great gates. It was closed and locked, for the night was not yet officially over; not until the sun actually showed itself above the horizon. The only entrance for humans was by a small gate cut in the large gate and known as the Needle s Eye. In order to enter this small gate it was necessary to stoop very low. Tshashnikov and Deborah had started to crouch down to go in when Eliezer suddenly shouted : "No ! I shall not enter the Holy City like an animal. I shall not enter with bent back!" As he finished speaking the large gates suddenly began to creak on their hinges and swing open. "A miracle !" Eliezer exclaimed, still in somewhat of a trance. Tshashnikov laughed. "I would call it, instead, merely good 69 Tongue of the Prophets timing. We have arrived, as you will notice, just with the sun; just when the gates are normally opened." Silently the two men and the girl made their way through the almost deserted streets, but before they had gone far Arab peasants began to clutter the way. The smells were the same as in Jaffa. The filth was just as deep. Deborah put a handkerchief to her nose. Now an occasional fellah (Arab peasant) came along, leading a small donkey loaded down with coal, pieces of wood, or sacks of lime. Now an occasional fellahah (Arab peasant woman) scuffled by in bare feet on her way to the market place with a basket of vegetables or fruit balanced nonchalantly on her head. These native peoples looked suspiciously at the European strangers. A few greeted them with the Arabic words for good morning, which meant nothing to Ben Yehuda, who answered in Hebrew, a language which meant nothing to the Arab peasants. Now the streets commenced to swarm with life. Arabs began pour ing in from all sides. The men were dark and mysterious-looking in their long oriental garments. The women, Deborah observed, had a strange, passive dignity. They undulated as they walked. They seemed completely unconscious of the baskets balanced so pre cariously on their heads. Tshashnikov said he wished to make a call at the Russian con sulate; he would see them later. Now they were alone. Deborah held tightly to Eliezer s arm. A mutual fear flowed back and forth between them, although they spoke to each other only in monosyllables. So this was Jerusalem the Golden, with milk and honey blessed? Where were their own people? Red-fezzed Arabs seemed to domi nate the place. Where was the spirit of holiness they had expected? They walked bewildered through the narrow, crooked, ill-paved streets, as if wandering through a nightmare. Was this the city which had seen so many centuries of conflict, siege, plunder, massacre, and misery? The streets were lined with dingy huts, dilapidated wooden struc tures or shops which had dirty cloths hung over holes in the wall in place of doors. "Squalor" and "wretchedness" were the two words that came to 70 One Gold Louis Eliezer s mind. The people all seemed poor and diseased. They were all dressed in rags. Was this the city which men from all corners of the globe had fought over? What interest could Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, and Christian crusaders have had in this squalid beehive of depressed humanity? A cobbler sat in an open doorway stitching a shoe which was so worn out that it looked like a piece of old cheese full of wormholes. Peasant women lined the edges of the roads, haggling over the price of their herbs and vegetables with women shoppers. Was this the city in which the prophets had preached and from which great religious truths had spread around the world? Was this the city which had been destroyed and reconstructed eighteen times and had suffered two long periods of desolation and had passed from one religion to another six different times? It was difficult to imagine Abraham here, yet Abraham had walked this very way. Eliezer saw none of the ancient mysticism and beauty he had ex pected to find. To him, on this pink-and-red early morning, Jeru salem seemed just another smelly Arab city. Deborah later admitted that if a thought could have transported her back to where they had come from she would have vanished that morning from Jerusalem and landed quickly in Vienna. In an especially narrow street they were suddenly accosted by two men who looked unlike the others. In Yiddish they addressed Eliezer, saying: "Are you Mr. Ben Yehuda? If so, we are to take you to the home of Mr. Israel Dov Frumkin." Deborah s grip on Eliezer s arm relaxed. "Is he the man you told me about?" "Yes, my dear, he is the editor of that weekly pamphlet called Hahabatzeleth. The name means either a crocus, a lily, a rose, or a lily of the valley. I shall have to do some research someday and find out exactly which flower it is. No one seems to be sure. Anyway, I wrote many articles for the paper from Paris." As the two strangers led the way, Deborah said in French to her husband: Tongue of the Prophets "Did you notice that they did not even look at me? Why was that?" Eliezer smiled and patted her hand. "We shall have to get accustomed to many things, my dear. It is only that they are extremely pious Jews who have a belief that it is wrong for a man to look at a woman in public." The Ben Yehudas were received politely by the Frumkin family, but as soon as the editor and Eliezer went to his office to talk of serious matters, Mrs. Frumkin,, with four children tugging at her skirts, reproved Deborah for not having her head covered by a shawl in the Orthodox manner. Meanwhile Eliezer and Editor Frumkin, a little annoyed that the young man insisted they converse in Hebrew, were discussing the articles he had written. Finally the editor asked if Eliezer had any money. Where did he propose to live? "I have," said young Ben Yehuda, "one solitary coin. One gold louis. I am very much in need of employment which will supply us with bed and board." Frumkin invited them to be his house guests for a few days and said he would propose a more permanent arrangement later. The few days passed happily. The Ben Yehudas got over their first horror of Jerusalem and began to fed at home in the twisting little streets. Then the editor made Ben Yehuda a proposition. The young man would become associate editor of the weekly pamphlet. His wife would assist Madame Frumkin in her household duties. For re muneration they would receive their room and meals. Ben Yehuda quickly accepted, but Deborah that night, after blowing out the light, said : "Eliezer, I have a suspicion that Editor Frumkin is not at all in agreement with us. We must be very careful to win him over, in stead of his winning us over. We must not sell our souls for a few loaves of bread !" Tshashnikov had found quarters with an old acquaintance, but the day after their arrival he took Eliezer around to the Russian 72 One Gold Louis consulate and introduced him to the consul general. After they left the building he said : "Our paths are going to separate now. You have a long hard road which you have chosen for yourself. Apparently Deborah is going to share it with you. "Before your marriage I tried to argue you out of it. Deborah is a lovely girl and . . ." As he hesitated, with the sentence unfinished, Eliezer felt there was something more his friend wanted to say. But Eliezer, afraid to hear it, did not encourage him. The Polish journalist quickly passed his hand over his face and began a new sentence. "I shall disappear from your life now and you can forget that I ever existed. I hope you will be very happy and very successful. I shall always follow from a distance your campaign. In case I do not see either of you again, you will say all these things to Deborah, also, forme." "But, Tshashnikov, you came down here to help me get started on my project. Surely you are not going to leave already!" "I did not say that I am leaving. On the other hand, I did not say I am staying. My plans are unimportant." Having said "Shalom," the Hebrew word for "peace," which Jews use instead of "hello" and "good-by," he turned on his heel and walked off. As Eliezer watched his tall form disappear down the crooked street he wondered about many things. (After that day he never mentioned Tshashnikov by name again, not even in his writings. Years later, in a small book of memoirs, he referred to him only as "our Polish acquaintance.") It was only a few days before Deborah s phophecy about Frumkin turned out to have been well founded. The editor and Eliezer were in disagreement almost from the start. They were diametrically op posed not only on the ideological plane, but also temperamentally. Their arguments in the newspaper office spread to the house and began to involve Deborah and Mrs. Frumkin. The air was tense, and it soon became clear that the cohabitation scheme would have to be abandoned. The solution finally arrived at was that Eliezer would continue to 73 Tongue of the Prophets hold the job, he and his wife would find quarters of their own, and he would receive a salary of one napoleon per month, about five dollars. As they packed Deborah said : "Haveevee, we are like Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden. I am afraid we are going to miss this place very much." "Yes, and I have not told you the worst. Frumkin insists that he will not pay me my salary in advance. I shall have to wait a whole month for my first compensation !" "But, Eliezer, how are we going to live? People who rent rooms are not like Frumkin. They believe in c pay in advance !" Eliezer answered by holding out his right hand and displaying the gold louis left over from the trip. "Let s go now," he said, "and see how much of a living it will buy for us." That afternoon the two discouraged young Europeans found, finally, a future home. In return for the gold coin an old Sephardic woman rented them two rooms in an abandoned tenement. To reach the building it was necessary to cross through seven dirty courtyards ankle-deep in debris. To reach the rooms it was necessary to climb a rope ladder. The floors were of bare stone. The walls had been plastered once but now were thick with grime. The ceilings were concave, like those of mosques. There was no furniture in the rooms, not even a chair or abed. The two windows looked out onto the Wailing Wall, which for centuries had provoked the lachrymose lamentations of millions of Jews. The sobs and moans seemed to come through the cracks in the walls even when the windows were closed. Deborah left her husband for a few moments and returned smiling, in each palm a shining gold louis* She explained that she had gone to a pawnbroker s shop and had sold a jewel which her mother had hung around her neck on a velvet ribbon as she left home. The next morning Eliezer went to visit a man he had met in a hospital in Paris, Abraham Moses Lunz. He had left school at the age of sixteen in rebellion against an Orthodox education. For the 74 One Gold Louis past two years he had been completely blind and yet, although he was only four years Eliezer s senior, he was already well on the road to a career which would bring him fame in the fields of archaeology, history, geography, anthropology, literature, and sociology. He al ready knew Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French, English, and several other languages and was working on two or three books at the same time. While Eliezer was gone Deborah called on a neighbor to get some advice about household problems. One of the first questions she asked was where to buy bread. "Buy bread? Buy bread? One does not buy bread, child! One bakes bread. Surely you know that much !" "But I do not know how to bake bread. Could you teach me?" The old woman agreed, then quickly took back her promise. "No ! I could not help you, and no one else will help you, until you act like a Jewish woman. Good Jewish women never go around with their hair exposed, even in their own homes. Keep your head covered and I shall teach you to bake bread." Later Eliezer explained that the Orthodox custom of not exposing the hair was based on an ancient theory that the sight of hair has an erotic effect on men and therefore no respectable woman would thus arouse the baser passions of strange men she might encounter on the streets. At different times, in different countries, among the more or the less Orthodox, the custom had varied. Some shaved the head bare and covered it with a cloth. Others merely hid the hair. Still others, even at this time in Jerusalem, shaved the head and then wore a wig called a sheitel, which in turn was covered, as a sign of chastity, by a cloth. When Eliezer returned from his visit he found his wife s luxuriant crop of reddish-blond hair covered by a scarf, and she was kneading bread. "Do not be angry, Haveevee. I know how you hate the idea of all those people wailing outside our windows at the wall, and you will like even less some of their other customs. But if we are to win their approval of your ideas we first must win their approval of us as Jews. I must become one of them and so must you !" 75 Tongue of the Prophets Eliezer laughed. "It is strange, but I was thinking the same thing. It came to me with undeniable potency that we must change many things about our way of life. I was afraid you might not understand, but now that you have led the way, I shall follow." So they made several more trips to the pawnshop and sold several more articles which Deborah had cherished. Then one morning Eliezer appeared in the streets of Jerusalem so changed that hardly anyone recognized him. He had become, over night, an Oriental. His robe was long, olive green in color, and trimmed with the fur of a red fox. A broad girdle encircled his waist. On his head he wore a tarboosh, or red fez. He had started to let his blond beard grow. This was the Sephardic costume of the day. Eliezer preferred it to the dress of the Ashkenazic Jews, just as he preferred the Sephardic pronunciation. It was more flamboyant, less ugly, he thought. About his beard, Deborah said, cocking her head on one side and looking at him as an artist might at a model : "What a strange world this is! I must hide my hair and you must grow more hair! Yet as I look at you, Eliezer, I realize how hand some a beard is going to make you look. Already, with such a short growth, you begin to look more than ever like a Man of God ! It sets off your eyes, which have a new fire in them these days." But they went further than that. They kept a kosher household, using food only in the Orthodox manner. They observed Shabbatk, the weekly holy day. Each Shabbath they went to the synagogue, Eliezer wearing the tallith, or prayer shawl, over his shoulders and the tefillin fastened to his arm and head. These were great concessions for them to make, considering their own personal convictions. Deborah had been brought up by her freethinking father in an atmosphere of books. She had great spirit uality, as she was to demonstrate in her life with Eliezer, but she had few conventional religious beliefs. She had studied the philosophies and religions of many lands, and her own ideas were a synthesis of al of them. She hated narrowness and bigotry. Eliezer had been reared in an Orthodox home and had attended a rabbinical school, but Rabbi Blucker, then Deborah s father, then 76 One Gold Louis Wittinsky, then Tshashnikov, then all the teachers and lecturers under whom he had studied in Paris had made him as un-Orthodox as Deborah herself. Yet here they were, after a few weeks in Jerusalem, looking and behaving as conventional Jews had looked and behaved for hundreds of years. It was Eliezer s habit, when he went through the streets on his way to the synagogue with the prayer shawl thrown over his shoulders as if it were a Roman toga, to greet other Jews he en countered with the salutation, "Shalom/* but those whom he met looked strangely at him and seldom replied. Small children would gather in crowds and taunt him, following him down the street and shouting at him, in mimicry and not in greeting, the word "shalom." Inside the synagogue he would follow the service carefully, but while the others prayed he would concentrate .on the Hebrew words being uttered. Thus began his philological search for words in the ancient tongue which might be incorporated into a modern, speak ing language. On the first Sabbath, as the service ended, a pious-looking old Ashkenazic Jew wearing long earlocks approached Eliezer and in vited him to accompany him home for the light repast which tradi tionally follows the Sabbath service. Eliezer accepted. When the old man s wife left the living room to get wine and cakes, the host surreptitiously drew from his pocket a cigarette case, opened it, and indicated that Eliezer should take one. To throw him off his guard, the host took one himself. Eliezer knew how rigid a rule it was that no one smoke on the Sabbath or on any other holy day. He realized he was being put to a test, so he bowed politely and with a smile said: "Many thanks, but I do not smoke at all." The old man s face lighted up as he put the cigarette case back into his pocket. He was satisfied, obviously, that this young man was one who really respected the Law. TJefore long Eliezer had new difficulties with Editor Fruinkin, whose Orthodox beliefs were outraged by some of the Ben Yehuda articles, yet he apparently did not want to lose the services of his in expensive young assistant. Finally a compromise was worked out. 77 Tongue of the Prophets Eliezer would start, under Frumkin s supervision, a monthly paper of his own. It would be called Mebasseret Zion (The Zion News), would be a supplement to Frumkin s own paper, and Eliezer would be listed as the "responsible editor." This was just the chance Ben Yehuda wanted. Now he would be able to argue, propagandize, exhort, and proselytize as he pleased, without having to convince anyone but his readers that his ideas were good. He ran through the seven filthy courtyards to tell Deborah the good news. 72 Like Spinoza AFTER TITUS LAID WASTE JERUSALEM, THE ROMANS gave him a home-coming celebration which set many new records. One of the "attractions" was that the captured Hebrew commanders were led in chains behind Titus chariot. Later they were put to death in the Coliseum dungeons. But some Jews survived this worst of all pogroms and before long they began to drift back to Jerusalem, determined to die in the ruins of their holy city. Jews who remained abroad believed that there were certain long-range benefits to be derived from having prayers said for them on the spot where the Temple had stood, as long as they were not there to pray on the spot themselves, so they sent financial contributions to the handful of rabbis and pious Jews in Jerusalem in return for such prayers. After two thousand years this system still prevailed. Down through the ages the Jewish population of Jerusalem had continued to consist principally of a few thousand men and women engaged in what one Jewish historian has called "the business of dying." ^rJo one knew exactly how many Jews there were in Palestine when the Ben Yehudas arrived in the country. Some estimates said twenty- 79 Tongue of the Prophets four thousand. Others placed the total as high as thirty thousand. Only about five hundred of them were "on the land." The majority of the rest lived in Jerusalem in varying degrees of poverty. Most of them spent their days in study and prayer, neither toiling nor spinning. They expected money for their sustenance to come from Jews abroad. Some were sincerely interested in things of the mind and the spirit. Others were merely idle and shiftless. But all were destitute. Money originally intended for the support of a few learned men and those engaged in religious studies gradually came to be used to support in comparative idleness a growing population of parasitical people. When sufficient funds from abroad were not forthcoming, "col lectors" were sent to Europe, often learned and generally clever men, who received one third of what they raised. Half of what was left went by custom to the rabbis, the pious scholars, and to the religious colleges; the other half (starting in about the thirteenth century) went to the poor. The distribution was made semi-annually. The entire system was called Halukkah, the Hebrew word for "dis tribution." It was a general practice for a Jewish immigrant not to take out Turkish citizenship but to retain the passport issued to him by the country in which he had been born, in order to have the protection of that country s diplomatic representatives in Jerusalem in case of trouble, and to have certain privileges accorded to foreigners over Turkish subjects, When the Ben Yehudas arrived in the Holy Land, the Sephardic Jews were the only ones, as a group, who were at all ambitious. Many of them actually saw nothing wrong with working for a living, even on the soil. They were also less pious, or less the victims of superstition, depending on the point of view. But the Sephardim were greatly outnumbered by the Ashkenazim, whose leaders were vehemently opposed to agriculture, referring to the tilling of the soil as a "vulgarity," Some of the more ambitious Ashkenazim augmented the chari table doles they received twice a year by carving small religious ob jects from wood and sending than to individuals abroad with a 80 Like Spinoza letter signed by the woman of the household, saying that she was a devout Jew, a widow with seven dying children, and please would the recipient, as a good Jew himself, remit as substantial a sum as his means permitted in return for the "object." The Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews had no common language, and there was little social or intellectual intercourse between them. The Sephardim considered the Ashkenazim their inferiors, while the Ashkenazim looked on the Sephardim as lacking in piety. But there were even divisions among the Ashkenazim, for they had banded together in this time according to the countries from which they had come. There were bitter rivalries among German Jews, Russian Jews, and Jews from France and England. Many in these groups spoke, in addition to Yiddish, the languages of the countries of their origin, which made for further disunity. Out in the Diaspora there were similar rivalries. Jews in various European countries had separate organizations which raised the money that was sent to Jerusalem for distribution exclusively among those who had gone to Palestine from that country. The administrators of these funds in the Holy Land were often accused of living too well themselves on the money from abroad. The Jews of Jerusalem were, by and large, either antipathetic or openly hostile to these "foreigners." They resisted their efforts to raise the intellectual level and lower the mortality rate, accepting with grace only the alms they received. A few years before the Ben Yehudas arrival in Jerusalem three German Jews, visiting the country and seeing Jewish orphans grow ing up in the streets with no one showing any interest in them, de cided to found an orphan asylum. It took them ten years to collect the necessary money, overcome violent opposition, and get the in stitution opened. Stories like this depressed Eliezer. The situation obviously was much worse than he had ever dreamed it might be. Yet knowing all these things made him admire for the rest of his life the courage of a man who paid him a formal call not many vyreeks after his arrival. The visitor introduced himself as Nissim Behar and said he was in charge of the educational activities of the Alliance Israelite Universelle. 81 Tongue of the Prophets He had been empowered to open a new school for boys and would Mr. Ben Yehuda accept a position on the teaching staff? "I could do so only on one condition, which I am sure you will not accept. I must be free to teach in Hebrew." "That is exactly why I have come to you. I wish you to teach Hebrew." When Eliezer told Deborah about the offer and that he would re ceive fifty gold francs per month (about eight dollars) for teaching six hours a day, six days a week, she said shyly: "Fate is being very kind to us, Eliezer. This has happened just at the right time, because . . ." As she hesitated Eliezer looked into her eyes just as so many sensi tive young husbands before him had looked into the eyes of their wives and learned, before any words were spoken, that the miracle of creation was occurring again. They sat up late that night talking. Eliezer insisted that with the increased income they might now find a better place for the child to be born. "Deborah, you are going to be the first Hebrew mother in nearly two thousand years," he said, and in his eyes there was a faraway mystical look. "Our child will be the first infant in all these centuries who will come into the world hearing nothing but the beauty of our own ancient language. You must take a solemn pledge right now, Deborah, that you will make this dream of mine come true. Never must the child hear any words but Hebrew ! "Our home must be a Hebrew sanctuary where no one speaks anything else. Whoever crosses our threshold must agree to do so with Hebrew words on his lips. Until our crusade finds popular favor, we must isolate our young one from the contamination of the languages and dialects of the Diaspora. This is even more important than all the writing and teaching I shall be doing, for by this ex ample we may be able to inflame the Jewish world with our idea." His speech depressed Deborah. This was what she often called his "holy stubbornness." She had been studying Hebrew diligently, but there were few people, even here in Jerusalem, with whom she could speak the language except her own husband, and he was away from home most of the time. 82 Like Spinoza Still, knowing how much it meant to him, she took the oath he demanded of her. As the Hebrew classes got under way in the Alliance school, the hostility of the Jewish population increased. Eliezer was often stoned on his way to the classroom. From all sides he heard the argument that it was sacrilege for anyone even to dream of using the holy language for everyday speech. They had gotten along all right all these centuries with their various dialects; why change now? Often, while he tried to conduct classes, groups of teen-age boys would stand outside the windows, either looking in with profound curiosity, or reflecting their parents 5 hostility by catcalling and jeer- Jttg- Sometimes Eliezer would go out and try to make friends with these boys. He succeeded with one of them, Abraham Shalom Yahuda, who developed into an exceptional student. Years later he took his teacher s advice and went to Europe to continue his education, be came a celebrated Orientalist and Hebrew scholar, helped with the financing of the Ben Yehuda dictionary, and in 1915 received an appointment to the chair of Semitic languages in a government university in Spain, thus becoming the first Jew since the wholesale expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 to receive a government ap pointment. It was a long time after Eliezer began teaching in the Alliance school that he heard something which made him admire Nissim Behar even more. The Alliance Israelite in Paris had made no pro vision in its budget for a Hebrew teacher. Behar had "found 39 the necessary fifty francs per month to pay Eliezer by cutting twenty-five francs off the salary of each of two instructors in religion. Yet one of the first articles Ben Yehuda wrote for his own monthly paper was an attack on Alliance Israelite Universelle for opposing the immigration of Russian and Rumanian Jews to Palestine. This was the organization which was paying his salary, yet that did not influence him. For the next forty years he would be rebelling, on ideological grounds, against even those to whom he had to look for financial support. One of the first friends Eliezer made in Jerusalem was Jehiel 83 Tongue of the Prophets Michael Pines, who represented the Montefiore Memorial Founda tion and was therefore the spokesman for British Jewry. He invited the Ben Yehudas to be his guests over the holidays known as the Feast of the Tabernacles. Pines knew some Hebrew, and Eliezer impressed him so much that he agreed to a pact; at least with their intimate friends and family they would henceforth speak only Hebrew. The Ben Yehudas were elated over this accomplishment, for they had been told that Pines was one of the most influential Jews in Palestine, but the pact was soon broken. Somehow the gossips of Jerusalem heard about it and subjected Pines to such ridicule that he reverted to the use of Yiddish except when talking to the Ben Yehudas. It was during these same holidays that Frumkin took Eliezer to pay a call on the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Despite Eliezer s own un-Orthodox ideas, he was so impressed by the religious leader that he later wrote this glowing description of him: "He was a beautiful oriental figure. He looked like one of our ancient ancestors, as we like to imagine that they looked. He was tall, erect, and handsome, with noble features and a long beard. He was beautifully dressed in embroidered robes with a silver necklace and a silk hat decorated with a piece of cloth embroidered in silver." About this time the Ben Yehudas moved from the tenement near the Wailing Wall to a still modest but more comfortable dwelling close to the Mosque of Omar. There Deborah spent every minute of her spare time studying the only language which, by her husband s order, she was going to be allowed to speak to her child. One day when Deborah and Eliezer were walking down one of Jerusalem s narrow streets, talking in Hebrew, a man stopped them* Tugging at the young journalist s sleeve, he asked i0 Yiddish: "Excuse me, sir. That language you two talk. What is it?" "Hebrew," Eliezer replied. "Hebrew ! But people don t speak Hebrew. It s a dead language !" "You are wrong, my friend," Eliezer replied with fervor. "I am alive. My wife is alive. We speak Hebrew. Therefore, Hebrew is alive." 84 Like Spinoza Thus in many small ways he was beginning to mix the mortar of his dream with the solid stones of reality. Meanwhile Deborah grew happy as she felt the child she was carrying commence to stir within her. But Eliezer s condition raised doubts in her mind that there would ever be another. His schedule of teaching and writing left him little time for sleep. His face was white most of the time. He coughed incessantly. A doctor whom she had insisted he see flatly ordered him to cut out at least half of his activities. But Eliezer was stubborn. Deborah knew it, even if the doctor did not. Eliezer argued that his own health was unimportant. He must work at top speed now, partly because the two salaries he received were essential if the "first Hebrew child" were to be brought into the world in decent style. f Also, he could now begin to see his own influence growing. The enrollment in his Hebrew classes increased week by week. Stones were still thrown at him, and the extremists swore they would never give up their fight against his "wild ideas," but he was sure he had one foot planted on the rough road he had chosen. 13 Twice Born ONE COLD EVENING IN THE LATE WINTER, ABOUT SIX months after the Ben Yehudas had arrived in Jerusalem, Eliezer was sitting at a desk in the bare room which Deborah euphemistically called his "study," working on a new appeal to the Jews of the world. Suddenly his wife burst into the room. "Eliezer, come quickly. There are many people outside the house. They are shouting your name and calling for you in Hebrew. But I am not sure that you should go. They may mean harm to you 1" Eliezer put down his pen and started for the door. "If they speak in Hebrew they must be friends/* As Ben Yehuda opened the door there was a cheer from several dozen young men and women who clustered around Mm. They were a ragged-looking lot. All wore European clothes. Ben ^ Yehuda was perplexed until one, acting as spokesman, began an informal speech. "Master, we have followed you. We have come from far places to be your disciples. We have journeyed for weeks from southern Rus sia, Poland, Rumania, Galicia, yes, even from your native Lithuania* "We are most of us university students. We read your appeal in the Viennese paper Hashahar, and it struck a spark in us* We have 86 Twice Born left everything behind to come and settle in Palestine and be the first to help in the rebirth of the Jewish state. "So here we are, volunteers in your army. We now await your commands !" Eliezer clutched at Deborah s arm for support. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them slowly to look again and be sure he was not having a hallucination. What were these words he had heard? "Master . . . volunteers . . . your army!" Their spokesman added: "We have just walked the forty miles from Jaffa to Jerusalem and we are very tired. It has taken us weeks to get here. Some have been on the way for more than a month. Could we " It was Deborah who finally motioned them to come in. After Ben Yehuda had regained his composure he asked them questions, and their story came tumbling out. They were all young idealists whose decisions had been strength ened by a fresh wave of pogroms sweeping eastern and central Europe. Most of them were young, the oldest being the age of Ben Yehuda himself. Many were able to carry on a conversation in Hebrew. Those who did not know the language remained silent as a token of respect. They had taken a name for themselves. The Biluyim. Eliezer asked them to repeat the word. Then, half to himself, he said: "But that is not Hebrew, unless " Their leader laughed. "It is a word we have created, just as you shall have to create a great many words to make Hebrew a living, useful language. Our full name is Sons of Jacob, Come, Let Us Go! 3 We took the first letter of each of the Hebrew words b, i, /, u and made Bilu, and the plural, of course, is Biluyim." After half an hour of excited talk Ben Yehuda said to them : "We keep an Orthodox home here, for reasons which shall be ex plained to you in due course. This is Passover eve, as all of you know. Tonight, according to ancient Jewish custom, our table is already laid for the feast of Seder and also, according to the law, we shall bid welcome to all Jews who have no place else to go." Then Eliezer smiled. Tongue of the Prophets "Of course we did not expect an army ! Yet my good Deborah will find a way to provide enough food and you shall all be our guests. Meanwhile, we have another problem. A few of you can re main the night with us, but our home is not like a hotel. We live modestly and and there is not much extra room. However, I have a few friends who will be very excited about your arrival. They will help out with the housing problem." That night one of the most impressive Seder ceremonies that Jerusalem had known in her entire long history took place in that modest house close by the Mosque of Omar. The three girls and several dozen young men who had come from such far places took their seats at the table in the semi-reclining position required by the Seder ritual, while the young schoolteacher-editor led them in the hour-long Passover ceremony which Jews everywhere have observed for so many hundreds of years. The completion of the service was a signal for a great babble of voices. Each of the guests was eager to tell the story of his own private exodus. Deborah said at one point that they reminded her of some geysers she had once seen which bubbled incessantly, never stopping. Ben Yehuda listened and was troubled. One fact emerged clearly from their recitals. The older Jews of Europe were going to fight a stubborn battle to prevent their young from migrating. There was not one in the room who had not had a fight to leave. All had had reproaches heaped on their heads. All had h^d to exert stubborn will power to get away> Only the very strong had been able to break the bonds which tied them to the past; in many cases to the ghettos of the Diaspora. Ben Yehuda knew that they were tenacious bonds and not easily severed. All the arguments which he had heard so often had been used against these young idealists. Even the new wave of persecutions had not opened the eyes of the older generation. Most of them were determined to die, if fate and the anti-Semites willed it, in surroundings which were familiar. They rationalized their *timidity about embarking on bold adven tures. Yet this handful of pilgrims was proof that there were a few who dared. Ben Yehuda looked 1 around at those who had succeeded in 88 Twice Born breaking away and was encouraged. They had intelligent faces, and the fire of their enthusiasm lighted their eyes, It was a small army with which to commence a great battle, but they would make good shock troops if he himself only retained the strength to lead them. But every time he coughed, which now was frequently, he wondered how much longer he would be able to carry on. So they talked and talked. Those who were to stay in the Ben Yehuda home, tired though they were, talked until the gray light of morning began to filter through the windows. It was Deborah who finally forced them to stop, saying: "We shall have an army of invalids, led by a corpse, if you and my husband do not get some rest." The next day Ben Yehuda took his followers on a tour of the Holy City. He showed the eager young people all the points of interest, starting with the Wailing Wall, an eternal witness of ancient Hebrew glory; the valley known as Gehenna, or Gehinnom, where children in the dim past were brought as sacrifices to the heathen fire-god called Moloch; the golden gate through which Jews are taught that the Messiah will pass on his triumphal arrival; the well in which the cohen gadol, the high priest, drowned himself after throwing the key to the Holy Temple up to heaven during one of the sieges of Jeru salem; the tomb of Absalom, King David s favorite but rebellious son; Jeremiah s cave, the Mount of Olives, and the Temple area. But the holiday spirit of Passover Week soon ended. Now they had to face cold reality and practical problems. Few of them had any money, and, as Ben Yehuda sadly pointed out to them, idealism does not fill empty stomachs. A meeting was therefore held, attended not only by the new ar rivals but also by some of Ben Yehuda s close friends. The problem of each individual was taken up separately. Some had special talents which could immediately be., put to use to enable them to earn a livelihood. For example, one of the young men, David Idelovitch, who had come from Rumania and would become an outstanding Hebrew teacher, was given employment at once in a workshop where knife blades were made. Jacob Shertok was put to work in a carpentry shop. 89 Tongue of the Prophets "I have a friend," Ben Yehuda announced, "who will give a job to one of you as a clerk in his grocery store. However, my friend is a great believer in reviving Hebrew as a spoken language and so there is one stipulation besides honesty. The clerk must agree that he will speak nothing but Hebrew to the customers. It is my friend s way of helping along my campaign*" That job was quickly accepted by one of the Hebrew-speaking youths, Judah Grazovski, who would later become famous under the name of Gur. The big problem, just as it was to be a problem more than half a century later, was in figuring out what to do with those whose ex perience had been in commercial fields. They had to be considered without professions, because there was already in Jerusalem a sur plus of merchants and shopkeepers. But a solution was found that day; the same one which would be arrived at several generations later. It was Ben Yehuda, then, who suggested the solution. "Some of you must learn to be farmers, an occupation few Jews in the world have been allowed to practice of late. If we are to make the land blossom again we must return to the soil. There is a group of German agriculturists located near Jaffa who will be glad to teach some of you. The life will be hard, but it will have its satisfac tions, for you will be helping to fulfill a great prophecy!" The meeting was concluded in a spirit of celebration. All of them gathered in a circle and sang the only Hebrew secular song then in existence, so far as any of them knew, the Hebrew poet Gordon s translation of one of Heine s poems set to music by Schubert, fhe second wave of mass immigration or diyah (the Hebrew word for "ascent") arrived several months later. But this one was different. Instead of penniless students, these were entire families; husbands, wives, and children of all ages. None was rich, but many came with substantial savings, Some of the men had owned their own businesses in various Russian cities. They landed at Jaffa and decided to remain there until they could purchase land on which they could learn to become farmers. It was Jaffa which almost defeated them. They rented quarters in primitive oriental homes (there were few Twice Born homes of any other kind those days in Jaffa) and tried to adapt themselves to a standard of living difficult for any European to endure. As Eliezer and Deborah well knew from just one day in the sea port city, Jaffa was enough to discourage the hardiest soul. Even though some Arabs may have had immaculate homes, they were little interested in the cleanliness of their exterior surroundings. Accordingly the streets of Jaffa were always deep in filth. There were no sewers. The streets were unpaved. Rain water and slops stood stagnant in the thoroughfares, with the heat of the sun making the stench almost unbearable. Flies and mosquitoes thrived in this situation; there were clouds of them everywhere. Stray cats and dogs poked their noses into the refuse which littered the city. Malaria, typhus, and typhoid were as common as the common cold. The mortality rate was so high that only the rabbit-like breeding of the Arabs kept the population from being wiped out. Predatory tra choma caused crossed eyes and blindness. There were few inhabit* ants at any given time not suffering from mild or serious skin diseases, all of them infectious. This was the city in which the second wave of immigrants tem porarily settled. There were no schools for the children. There was neither rest nor peace for the women. Each day the men went off on expeditions into the countryside to look for land for the settlement they wished to establish. They would come home each night and report that as yet they had had no suc cess in their search, but when their wives started pleading, they would paint rosy pictures of the paradise they were someday going to create somewhere out there on the brown desert sands. The women grew tired of the promise, but most of them tried to bear their difficulties with courage and patience. So they stayed, most of them, and some of the children died of disease, and some of the women went almost insane. Ben Yehuda heard about the group and sent words of encourage ment. These people, also, were recruits in his army. His great regret was that he was powerless to help them. About this time, in the attic of a house on the outskirts of Jeru salem^ Eliezer presided over a meeting of a small group of the intel- 91 Tongue of the Prophets lectuals of Jerusalem. The purpose was to discuss ways and means of reviving Hebrew. That night those present organized themselves into what they called "The Army of the Defenders of the Language" and signed a pact which read: "The members residing in the Land of Israel will speak to each other in Hebrew, in society, in meeting places, and in the streets and market places, and shall not be ashamed. They will make it a point to teach their sons and daughters and the rest of their household this language. "The members will watch in the streets and the market places over the Hebrew speech, and when they hear adults speaking Rus sian, French, Yiddish, English, Spanish, Arabic, or any other language, they will not spare a remark even to the eldest amongst them, saying: " Aren t you ashamed of yourselves ! " It was almost a lifetime later, however, before it did finally be come "shameful" to speak a foreign language in a public place in Israel. That this finally did happen was due principally to the efforts of the group of young intellectuals who met that night in that attic on the edge of Jerusalem in secret conclave. Soon after that meeting Eliezer had a more personal problem to deal with. Deborah s time was approaching. He knew she was lonely; that she both needed and wanted her mother. That being impossible, Eliezer tried to be husband and mother too. One request Deborah made which Eliezer was not able to satisfy was for a spring bed on which her baby might be born. She com plained that the rope bed, which was all they had been able to afford, was impossibly uncomfortable. Eliezer tried to borrow a better bed or to get one on credit. Both attempts were unsuccessful. Then early one morning 5n the month of Ab> in, the year 1882, it happened. The child was a boy. True to her promise, the first word the mother spoke to her infant after it had been placed in her arms was a Hebrew word : "YaUK [My child] !" Thus Deborah Yonas Ben Yehuda, daughter of a distiller in 92 Twice Born Glubokiah, became, as her husband always expressed it, "the first Hebrew mother in nearly two thousand years" ; the first woman in so long a time to address her child in the biblical language. But the agreement which Deborah had made with her husband raised immediate complications which had not occurred to them in advance. At the bedside when the child was born was Mrs. Pines, wife of the leader of the British Jewish colony, who would have remained constantly at the young mother s side except that she did not speak Hebrew, and while she and the baby were in the same room Eliezer insisted that she not utter a word. There were many things a bedside companion, such as Mrs. Pines was trying to be, needed to ask and to say at such a time which were difficult to express in sign language. The situation was saved, however, when the wife of Rabbi Hayim Hirschenson appeared. She did speak Hebrew and so took immediate charge. For weeks after the birth she neglected her own family to run the Ben Yehuda menage. The young mother had three other intimate friends : Hannah, a tea vendor; Sheynah Malkah, a strange little woman who spent her entire time looking for some way to accomplish her day s mitzvah, or good deed, and a Sephardic Jewess named Simha, a childless widow. All three came on the run to offer their congratulations, but Ben Yehuda stood at the door and before he would allow any of them to enter put them through a questionnaire about their linguistic abili ties. It turned out that Sheynah Malkah spoke only Yiddish. Ben Yehuda admitted her with the positive understanding that while in the birth chamber she was not to utter a sound. The other two women contended that they knew "a little" Hebrew. The husband passed them. When Simha, the childless widow, learned that the baby was a boy she literally went into a dance of joy by the side of Deborah s bed, for Sephardic Jews, along with most oriental peoples, have little respect for female infants. When her dance was concluded she took the baby from his mother s arms, put him into the bosom of her loose-fitting oriental gown, and finally pulled him out through one of the wide sleeves. As 93 Tongue of the Prophets she performed this odd ritual, to the delight of all present except the father and mother, she shouted in Hebrew : "Now I am not childless anymore! Now I have a son!" Her actions were based on an old Spanish- Jewish belief that if a childless woman performs this rite with a newborn baby she is automatically childless no longer but shares in the maternity of the actual mother. The disappearance-into-the-bosom-discovery-in-the-sleeve per formance so intrigued the tea vendor, Hannah, that she insisted on doing it also. At the conclusion of her manipulations she kissed the child and affectionately whispered the word "Yaldi," adding in Hebrew, "Ancl now it is partly my child too !" By frantic signs Sheynah Malkah indicated that she also wanted to share in the maternity. Deborah nodded but put a finger to her lips as a warning that the woman must not give in to a temptation to try to talk to the child, even though by her inability to say the magic words she might be cheated out of synthetic motherhood. Always after that day Sheynah Malkah was known in the Ben Yehuda household as the "dumb godmother." Before many hours had passed word spread through Jerusalem that the strange young schoolteacher-editor and his wife had had a baby and that the father had imposed some sort of weird language prohibition. As a result, people came from all parts of the city to verify the report themselves. One of Ben Yehuda s acquaintances remarked to him: "If the child is to know nothing but Hebrew, it is to be hoped that he will not grow up speaking stupid things !" Others made comments which were neither so subtle nor so re strained. There was excitement all day long in the small house near the Mosque of Omar. By custom Ben Yehuda provided wine for his guests, which had something to do with how loudly they sang and how long they stayed. Oriental Jewish musicians sat on the floor playing primitive guitars and tambourines. There was excitement enough without the additional news which a messenger brought late in the afternoon. It was a telegram for Ben Yehuda from Jaffa. 94 Twice Born His friends who had come in the second small wave of immigra tion wished him to be one of the first to know that they finally had found a piece of land. It was located one and a half hours by horse back ride to the south of Jaffa. They already had tents pitched and had moved their families and possessions out of the filth of Jaffa. This would be the first real agricultural settlement of the New Israel ! True, there was the colony of Petach Tikvah ( Gate of Hope) which had been founded in 1878 and would someday be known as "the mother of all Jewish colonies/ 3 but it was made up of Jewish businessmen from Jerusalem and others who were not halutzim, the term used for pioneers who came from far places expressly to settle on the land. There was also Mikveh Israel, which had been founded by the doctor Eliezer had consulted in Paris, but that, also, was not a really pioneering place. The telegram said they were planning a formal opening and dedi cation. If Ben Yehuda left Jerusalem at sundown he could get there in time. He must come, because (as the telegram expressed it) this was his "baby," his first-born agricultural child. They were his fol lowers and they intended to help him, not only with resettlement of the land, but also with his Hebrew campaign. This would be a Hebrew, not a Yiddish colony. They had suffered greatly in Jaffa. This was the hour of their redemption. Ben Yehuda must come and help them celebrate. The young father s head was in a whirl. The father of two new born children the same day! As he pushed his way into his own home he found a violent argument under way. They were discussing the name of his son. He and Deborah had decided long before this day that if the child were a boy he would be called Ittamar. It was a good Hebrew word meaning "island of palms." They liked its sound. But the friends and neighbors who had gathered were not in agreement. Ittamar? Unthinkable! Did not Ben Yehuda know the old rule, the old custom? The first-born, if a boy, must always be called Ben Zion, Son of Zion. Eliezer listened for a few moments to the loud voices and then decided to turn the conversation by reading the telegram. But there 95 Tongue of the Prophets was one sentence in the message which caused trouble for Eliezer and Deborah. It said the name of the new colony, chosen by the settlers, was Rishon Le Zion, "First in Zion." That revived the controversy about a name for the infant which now lay sleeping in its mother s arms. "Surely/ 3 said one of the guests, "you can see now that your son cannot possibly be called by that other name. The colony is to be known as Rishon Le Zion, and your child must naturally be, also, the Son of Zion. If you wish to win favor among our people in Jerusalem, Ben Yehuda, you will not defy custom at a time like this!" Ben Yehuda s strong feeling of independence was in conflict with his desire to win followers. It might seem to others a petty matter. Yet to him it was a major issue. The decision was finally made by the young woman lying on the bed, who so passionately hated conflict and yet was to witness and take part in so much conflict before her death. With a smile that was tinged with both sadness and understand ing she took Eliezer s hand and affectionately said: "Haveevee, I think it is wise that our child be known as Ben Zion Ben Yehuda. I also think it will be well for you to take the evening carriage to Jaffa, to be present at the birth of your other child." Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep. 14 One Tree BEN YEHUDA AND SEVERAL MEN WHO ACCOMPANIED him from Jerusalem were met at Jaffa by some of the settlers. To gether they covered the last fifteen miles, riding on the backs of horses and small donkeys. The terrain over which they traveled was nothing to excite a farmer of any nationality. The ground undulated and was bare. The only vegetation was cactus and desert shrubs. It was cause for com ment if anyone saw a tree. Several times they passed Arab villages which did little to relieve the drabness of the landscape. Suddenly one of the guides reined in his horse, pointed excitedly toward the horizon, and exclaimed: Behold ! There is our settlement ! This is our land, from here on ! Welcome to Rishon Le Zion !" As they approached they saw a line of small tents such as those in which Bedouin tribesmen live. There was nothing else to break the dreary monotony of brown sand except a single tree on a small hill- Ben Yehuda was hot and tired. It had been a difficult journey for a man in his physical condition. Besides, he had had no sleep last night in the carriage from Jerusalem and little the night before be- 97 Tongue of the Prophets cause of the birth of his son. As soon as they had tethered their ani mals he asked if someone could get him a glass of water. This request brought a response first of embarrassment and then of laughter. "You forget, sir, that you are in Rishon Le Zidn and not back in Jerusalem ! We have only just pitched our tents. We have not yet had time to dig for water. But we can offer you wine. It is better that we have wine, for you must drink a toast with us to our success!" From one of the tents someone produced a flagon and glasses. During the simple dedication ceremony many toasts were drunk; to Ben Yehuda, to the New Israel, to Rishon Le Zion and its founders, and to the other twin, Ben Zion Ben Yehuda. Ben Yehuda was perplexed that the only immigrants he saw were men. But it developed that he had misunderstood the telegram. The women and children were still in Jaffa and would remain there un til several cisterns had been dug, until the men had gathered a mountain of dead cactus branches for firewood, and until they had built ovens of stone and tin for communal baking. As proof to Ben Yehuda that they meant to keep the promise they had made to him, practically all the conversation that day was car ried on in Hebrew, except when someone stumbled for a word which did not exist in the ancient language and had to use its Yiddish or Russian equivalent. Each time they raised their glasses they used the Hebrew expres sion "Lehayim!" meaning "Here s to life!" the traditional Hebrew toast. Just before the men from Jerusalem left on their long homeward journey Ben Yehuda said: "Your names will all be written in history; in the new history of an old people. **I know you will have your heartaches and your troubles. Weak men among you will wish to give up. Even the strong will get dis couraged. It is not an easy fight any of us is facing. We have many enemies, but nature is not among them. Always remember that na ture is not to be defeated or conquered. She is only to be understood and tamed and put to use. This sandy soU, if you treat it in a right manager, will blossom for you as it once did for our ancestors. 98 One Tree "And the hills of Judea before long will be echoing with the deep, rich sounds of the Hebrew tongue again. "And the hills of Judea will begin to welcome back more and more returning sons. "And someday there will be peace throughout the Promised Land and a good life for all of our people who hunger and thirst for sha- lom. "And so I leave you with my blessing and great good wishes. "To the first settlers, to the people of Rishon Le Zion, lehayim!" One day Eliezer Ben Yehuda presented himself at the Russian consulate in Jerusalem and announced to the doorman that he wished to see one of the officials on an important matter. The doorman ushered him into an office at the end of a long cor ridor. Behind a large desk sat a man with a finely chiseled face and with a beard much bushier and more handsome than the one his visitor wore. "And what may I do for you, sir?" he inquired pleasantly in well- polished, precise Russian. "I have come to renounce my Russian citizenship and turn in a passport for which I no longer have any use," Eliezer announced in a determined tone as he placed the passport bearing the Czar s coat of arms on the desk. "This is a rather unusual procedure, Mr. Mr. " "The name is Ben Yehuda. Eliezer Ben Yehuda." "You say your name is Ben Yehuda? That is not the name in this passport. This belongs to a Mr. Elyanof ." The official looked up sus piciously at his visitor. "This is all rather mysterious." "Not at all," Eliezer replied. "Elyanof was my name before I left Russia. I have changed it now. That is one reason I wish to get rid of this passport. When I get one here it will be in the name Ben Ye huda." The official looked startled. Then Eliezer continued: "From now on I shall consider myself a citizen of the Land of Israel." "Palestine, you mean." "I said the Land of Israel." 99 Tongue of the Prophets "I think you speak of a country which does not exist. You will have difficulty getting a passport issued by a state called Israel!" "That is beside the point. I no longer consider myself a Russian subject and am announcing it to you officially at this time." At that point Eliezer turned on his heel and started from the room, but before he reached the door the man behind the desk stopped him, saying: "You might be interested to know that we have been holding a letter here for you." As he spoke the official walked forward with a long white en velope in his outstretched hand. Eliezer took it, glanced at the address, and then handed it back. "This letter is addressed to Eliezer Elyanof. As that is no longer my name, I could not possibly accept a letter that does not belong to me." A smile spread across the official s face. "I assume, then, that you wish me to have the letter returned to the expediter, who, in case you did not notice, is a man named Leib Perlman, who lives in the country of the Czar at a place called Luzhky. Do you know who this Leib Perlman is?" "I think he is my youngest brother." The official took no trouble to hide his astonishment. "You think? What do you mean, you think? Is your family so large that you do not even know the names of all your brothers?" "Yes, my family is very large," Eliezer said gravely. "My family is now the whole of the people of Israel, and all of its sons are my brothers." "That is a very fine speech, Mr. Elyanof pardon Mr, Ben, Ye huda. But if it does not annoy you, may I ask if by any chance you know my sister? I had a sister once who lived many years ago in this same village from which you apparently came." Eliezer unbent a little and replied: "I lived there only as a boy. I am afraid I would not know your sister," "That is too bad, because you are the first one I have ever met who came from Luzhky. I have often wondered about my sister; 100 One Tree whether she is still alive; whether she has ever married. She had a lovely name. They called her Feygaleh." In the split second it took the official to say the name, eight years suddenly dropped away for Eliezer. His mind now was back in Luzhky the last time he had seen his mother, when he was on his way to high school in Diinaburg. Eliezer held onto the desk for support. "Feygaleh is my mother. She had a brother. I even remember his name. It was Leib Beer. She often told us about him. When he was only seven he was kidnaped by the Cossacks and taken away for the army. She never heard from him again. Would that What is your name, sir?" Without replying the older man suddenly threw his arms around his slim young visitor and embraced him as a father might a son he had not seen in years. There were tears in his eyes when he finally backed away and looked Eliezer over from head to foot. "So ! So you are my nephew then. You are dear Feygaleh s boy and I am your uncle. How strange a world in which we live ! And to think that we meet in this far-off place, Jerusalem !" For the next quarter hour they sat on opposite sides of a table while the uncle- gave the nephew a brief resume of his life. It was true that at the age of seven, as Feygaleh had told her children and anyone else who would listen, he had been kidnaped. His captors took him to Siberia and when he was old enough to carry a rifle put him in the Czar s army. His teachers converted him to Christianity, and he took the name of Davidson, having forgotten what his own family name was, but remembering that his father s first name had been David. Before the session was over the uncle picked up the envelope again. With a smile he slit it and pulled out a sheet of paper and a smaller envelope. The sheet of paper was addressed to Eliezer. It had been dictated by his mother, who still did not know how to read or write, to her youngest son, Leib. In it, besides several personal messages to Eliezer, she said: "I am enclosing an envelope addressed to Leib Beer. You may re member, Eliezer, that I often spoke about him. He was my favorite brother who was kidnaped by the Cossacks when he was only seven. 101 Tongue of the Prophets But just recently I have been talking with a woman who passed through Luzhky, and she said she had reason to believe that your uncle is still alive and is employed by the Russian consulate in Jeru salem, where you now are. Would you try to find him and give him the enclosed letter? 5 102 75 Miracle of the Rain ELIEZER AND EDITOR FRUMKIN FINALLY CAME TO the point of dissociation. It had been inevitable to Deborah from the start. The younger man was far too radical for the older. On Eli- ezer s side, he desperately wanted independence. His dream was to edit a sizable daily paper of his own, "as attractive in appearance as Le Figaro, the Paris daily." He took his first step in this direction by resigning as the "respon sible editor" of the monthly supplement. His next problem was to get a license from the Turkish government to start a paper of his own. But he found that it took knowing the right people in govern ment circles, knowing which ones to bribe, and then much waiting. Ben Yehuda was not a patient waiter. A solution was suggested by Rabbi Hayim Hirschenson, whose daughter a generation later would become well known as the wife of Dr. David de Sola Pool, Chief Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation of America. Rabbi Hirschenson possessed such a license as Eliezer needed. It permitted the bearer to put out a weekly paper called Hatzebi (The Deer) . If Eliezer wished, the rabbi would be glad to rent him the permit. That night Eliezer discussed it excitedly with Deborah. 103 Tongue of the Prophets "Just think, my deary in a few weeks I may be a free and inde pendent editor, able to express what I please, how I please, and when I please !" "But, Haveevee, how do you feel about the name, the Deer? It seems rather an odd name for a paper of yours! 3 "In a way it is a ridiculous name, except that in the Book of Dan iel there is a reference to Eretz Hatzebi, which has been translated figuratively to mean Israel, Glorious Land/ But Hatzebi does not explain in any way what the paper will stand for. There is nothing about a deer which is even symbolic of what my paper will be !" "That is not quite correct, Haveevee. A deer is beautiful and your paper will be beautiful, I know. Remember what you have always said about wanting a paper that looks like Le Figaro?" "Well, we might as well get reconciled to it, because the Deer it is going to* be. Anyway, I now have a more pressing problem. I need money, desperately this time." "I wish, Haveevee, I could find something else to take to the pawnbroker, but I do not have a single piece of jewelry left, and most of the clothes I brought with me have found their way to the same place. Do you have any ideas where " "Yes, I am going to talk tomorrow to Hayim Calmi, the French teacher at the Alliance school." The next day Mr. Calmi seemed as startled as if someone had asked him for a million sovereigns when Eliezer said quietly to him: "I am trying to start a newspaper, Calmi, and I need one gold piece to finance it. Could you possibly loan me a single gold piece for a short time?" "Start a newspaper on such a sum as that? Are you mad, man? You know a great deal, I am sure, from bitter experience, about making money stretch a long way. Anyone who teaches school for a living knows that. But how can you start a newspaper with sucK small capital?" Ben Yehuda did not convince Calmi that day that it could be done, but he got the gold coin, half a napoleon, worth in American money about $2.50. He also got this parting word from the teacher: "There is, as you may know, an old Jewish superstition which 104 Miracle of the Rain says that if you dress a child in borrowed clothes when it is very young, the child will thus be protected from the evil eye. And so, good luck to your third child, the Deer! 33 Rabbi Hirschenson came to the rescue a second time by introduc ing Eliezer to the owner of a small print shop located in the cellar of his home in the old quarter of the city. There were no typesetting machines in Jerusalem at that time; it was necessary to add one letter of type to the next, painfully, slowly, by hand. The printers were not Hebrew scholars. They made so many mistakes that finally Eliezer, in addition to writing all the arti cles, actually set them into type himself. It was a tedious job for one so inexperienced. The cellar was lit by a single kerosene lamp. The young editor s eyes burned with the strain on them. Because of his ambition to make the Deer attractive to look at, as much like Le Figaro as possible, Eliezer also arranged the type in the steel forms; "made up the paper," as the printers put it. In addition he helped with the proofreading, anxious that there should be no errors. Mean while he tried to teach the printers a few essentials of Hebrew so that eventually he would not have to do so much of the work himself. The Deer was to be dated Friday, in order that the readers would be able to enjoy it over the Saturday holiday. There was only one mail a day out of Jerusalem. It left early in the morning. If the pa pers missed that mail they would lie over in the post office until after the week end. The first issue, just a few hundred copies, finished rolling off the press at midnight Thursday. As soon as the ink had sufficiently dried Eliezer took the bundle under his arm and ran the mile and a half from the shop through the dark streets to his home, lighting his way with a lantern containing a candle. There Deborah was waiting for him. "How does it look, Haveevee? I can hardly wait to see!" "You must wait, my dear. We shall look at it later. First help me quickly to fold them, get them ready for the mail, put on the stamps. We do not have a minute to lose if we are going to catch the morn ing post." So all night long they folded, wrote addresses, and licked stamps. When they came to the last operation Eliezer announced: 105 Tongue of the Prophets "Because you are the careful member of the family, my dear, starting tonight you are responsible for this part of the work. It is most important because I am told that under Turkish law there is a fine of half a Turkish pound for each piece of mail which is posted without a stamp. And you know what a fine like that would do to us!" The first issue of the Deer came out on the fifth day of the month of Heshvan in 1884. It consisted of a single piece of paper folded to make four pages, five by nine inches, smaller than the ordinary busi ness letterhead. Although the editors of Le Figaro, had they seen it, might not have noticed much resemblance to their own paper, when Eliezer came home from the post office and sank exhausted on a couch, Deborah said: "You have a right to be very proud, Haveevee. I have been read ing every word of it several times. Just wait until the letters start pouring in !" Eliezer s answer was to cough deeply several times and rub his hands over his burning eyes. The reaction of the Jews of Palestine to this first real European- type Hebrew newspaper was at least not apathetic. Everyone ad mitted there was a great deal of news packed into its four pages. But they objected to the way this Ben Yehuda wrote. Instead of the pom pous style of the scholars, who often copied whole sentences out of the Talmud, this man wrote simply, in conversational style. Many complained that he did not write "the language of the angels and the prophets/ 5 They were also violently antagonized by what he said. Who was this young upstart who defied all conventions? He was worse than a gay (a non-Jew), for he had been brought up in the faith and should know better. What did he mean by arguing for the use of He brew? Hebrew was to pray in. God would be greatly displeased by this heretic who claimed that his own son, although almost two years old, had yet to hear a single word of any other language. But at least the Deer was talked about, and as a result before long it had three hundred paid-up subscribers, which meant that each Thursday night as Eliezer trudged through the dark streets his load was heavier than the Thursday before. Sometimes the wind almost 1 06 Miracle of the Rain blew him off his feet. Sometimes the rain soaked him to the skin and almost ruined the bundle he carried so affectionately close to him, as if it were Ben Zion, his own child. Sometimes his cough would be so bad that he would have to set down his small lantern while he went through one of his "spells." Several times he fell flat on the unpaved street because he had failed to step over a hole. Deborah called this weekly trip "Haveevee s Night Watch." She tried to persuade him to "put his paper to bed" a few hours earlier so there would not be such a mad Thursday-night rush. He refused because, he said, he must get into the paper news that happened right up to the last minute. Deborah knew him better than to argue. This, she told herself, was his Via Dolorosa along which he felt he had to go in order to achieve his goal. So she tried to help him with love, with patience, with understanding. Before long Eliezer s friends had nicknamed him the "Deer/ 9 and Deborah became known as the "Deer s Wife/ 3 One week, annoyed with the compulsory use of this meaningless word, Eliezer put the paper out under the name Haor (The Light) . But the next day the Turkish government ordered him to revert at once to the name which he and Rabbi Hirschenson had been licensed to use. In these days there often was not enough money in the Ben Ye huda purse to buy flour for bread. Any money which came in went first to pay the expenses of the paper. Sometimes there was not even enough money to purchase the newsprint for the next edition. At such times Eliezer would borrow the small sum needed from a sta tionery dealer with whom he had become friendly, a pious character and a lover of the Hebrew language who looked on the young ma& with the short beard almost as if he were a living prophet. Often Eliezer would say to Deborah: "We have enough now to buy food or pay back my friend. I think we had better let the food wait. I must not allow anything to happen to my friend s faith in me !" No one, not even Eliezer, was aware in these days of what Debo rah was going through. First she had a child to take care of and al ways had to be on her guard lest a "foreign" word be spoken in the infant s presence. On this point Eliezer was now more fanatical than 107 Tongue of the Prophets he had been at the time the child was born. Then there was the problem of running the household with so little money that Deborah sometimes wondered herself how she did it. Yet not a day went by but that Eliezer had at least one glass of milk and one slice of meat for his evening meal. Deborah would put the food before him and start to walk away. Eliezer would then quickly say: "But, my child, I do not like to eat alone. You know that!" And then Deborah would reply: "You should know by now, Eliezer, that I have a baby to care for and I cannot wait until you get home for my food. You sometimes come home, Haveevee, so late !" Then Eliezer would apologize and go back to the book or paper he had started to read. Deborah never told him the truth. She never told him that she ate alone so he would not see that all she ever had for her evening meal was a slice of bread and radishes. Such sacrifices did not bother the young wife. This was the sort of life she had always expected to have with Eliezer. What did bother her was her inability to make Eliezer take some regard for his own health. Before long the schoolteacher-editor was being called by some by a new name, Ha-Apikoros, a word derived from the Greek for "the heretic." The Deer had begun to print criticism of the institutions in Jeru salem supported by funds raised abroad. One article said it was ridiculous for all this money to be used to house Jewish students in ramshackle buildings in Jerusalem. Why was not the money used to buy land on which the students could live and work while they did their studying? In this way they could help bring Israel back to fruit- fulness, and when they died they would leave something construc tively accomplished behind them. This radical suggestion horrified even those who agreed. It horri fied them because of their fear that Jews abroad would be offended and would stop sending charitable contributions to Palestine. But the Deer grew in size and in strength as the months went by. It grew to six and then to eight pages. It brought its readers news of 1 08 Miracle of the Rain the outside world, news of inventions and discoveries, news of gen eral interest. It brought light into places of darkness, and sunshine into the lives of some who up to now had been almost afraid of sun shine. Slowly Ben Yehuda introduced new Hebrew words to his readers which were needed if one were to use Hebrew for other than reli gious purposes. Eliezer Ben Yehuda might have been called a fanatic, and indeed he was by many. During this period he worked as if the entire future of the Jews of the world rested on his own weak shoulders. He was being constantly warned by Deborah, by his doctor, and by friends that he would soon burn himself out if he did not slow down. They gave him all the arguments of caution which wives, doctors, and friends have given men with a touch of fanaticism down through history: he must husband his strength; he must realize that if he worked himself into an early grave his whole campaign would col lapse and his small accomplishments would quickly be wiped out by his enemies. But Deborah, the doctor, and the friends quickly learned that such advice was wasted on a man like Ben Yehuda. If such men were able to slow down, the advice would never be needed. Over and over again Eliezer would press his right hand to his tired forehead and say to Deborah: "The day, my dear, is so short, the work to be done so great." He taught school seven hours a day. He wrote and edited all the articles for his paper, set them in type, proofread them, carried the papers home, folded and addressed them, then delivered them to the post office. Because there was a great need for textbooks in Hebrew, he worked with teachers and instructors, helping them to compose such textbooks in their individual fields. Then he got the idea that if there could be plays in Hebrew which children could perform it would help popularize the language, so he enlisted the help of Hayim Calmi in writing such plays. He began working himself on a play with David Yellin, a young instructor whose grandfather had settled in Palestine and whose father had 109 Tongue of the Prophets bedh active in the development of the country. Yellin had been brought back to Palestine from London by Nissim Behar and had married the daughter of Jehiel Michael Pines. He and his father so antagonized the reactionaries of the day that both, about this time, were excommunicated, but Yellin went on to found an association of Hebrew teachers, translated many books, including the Arabian Nights, into Hebrew, and was one of Ben Yehuda s most ardent He brew-revival colleagues. Eliezer never stopped his intellectual labors before midnight, and every morning he was up in time to greet the dawn. When Deborah would argue that he should have more sleep, he would reply: "I get the strength I need to carry me through the day by watch ing the miracle of the sunrise each morning. Please do not deny me that ! Next to your help and advice, Deborah, it is the greatest in spiration I have!" There were thus nineteen hours in each of Eliezer s days, and he had undertaken already enough work to fill every one of those hours. But now he had a new idea. "Our crying need is for an up-to-date dictionary. Just think! Here we are trying to teach people to speak a language and there is no dictionary of that language. There is not even a Hebrew word that signifies dictionary. We must invent a word for dictionary and then we must make the dictionary itself." "But, Haveevee, that is not a task for a single man, is it? Surely it would take a great many scholars a whole lifetime to make a diction ary, would it not?" "I shall not deny, Deborah, that it would be a colossal job, but there is no group of scholars likely to undertake it. I must do it my self. Somehow, I must find the time !" So Eliezer Ben Yehuda added the creation of a dictionary to his list of activities, not realizing that he had set for himself a half-cen tury task which would become his great lif ework and would someday completely consume him, as the candle destroys the moth. As the size of Ben Yehuda s newspaper grew, so also did the size of his family. A second son was born. This time Eliezer chose the name he wished for the child and made it dear that there would be no <Aanging it, The boy was to be known as Avi Hayil (Leader of no Miracle of the Rain the Army) . It was an odd name for a scholar to pick for a son, but even in those days Eliezer Ben Yehuda was dreaming of the time when Israel might become a nation and, like other nations, have an army of its own. He had the wild hope that this second son might become the founder of such an army, or at least its commander. The birth of Avi Hayil was not the great event that the birth of the first child had been. There was no ceremony or celebration, principally because the Ben Yehuda family was now in the very na dir of its poverty. There was not money enough to buy a single bottle of wine with which to toast the arrival of the child. There was not even money to buy bread. Deborah had worried during her pregnancy about the economics of the situation, but Eliezer s mind had been too occupied with intel lectual matters even to think of such considerations. It was only when Deborah took to her bed that Eliezer was forced to give some concern to what practical men would call "practical problems." The Leader of the Army had been born, but there was no bread, so Eliezer, knowing of no other way to raise money, took his own gold watch, which had been Deborah s wedding gift to him and which he had faithfully promised he would never sell, and offered it to Dr. Wilhelm Herzberg, who had been sent to Jerusalem by the Jews of Germany to administer the funds raised by them for Pales tinian charities. He asked for a loan of half a napoleon, with the watch as security. It was an embarrassing step for Eliezer to take, because these leaders of nationality groups had been and still were violent in their opposition to him. Each group wished to preserve its own language and resented Eliezer s attempt to get Jews from Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Russia, and the Spanish-speaking countries to come together on a common linguistic basis. Dr. Herzberg smiled and said : "If you are in financial trouble you must have the money. Pay me back whenever you can, but please do not insult me by offering me security." The half a napoleon bought bread, but it was not enough to pay the back rent which Eliezer owed. At this time the Ben Yehudas were living in very modest quarters in an Ashkenazic section outside in Tongue of the Prophets the Old City. The landlord was a Jew named Shalom Blesher. He had been very tolerant about the rent bill until one day when there appeared in the Deer an article entitled "The Cruel Landlords." It was typical of the sort of editorials Eliezer was writing these days. It had nothing to do with the Hebrew language or the establishment of a Jewish state. The editorial pointed out that a number of Jerusalem landlords who owned large cisterns were profiteering in water and were hoping that the drought would continue so they could keep raising the price they charged for each bucketful of the precious liquid. It so hap pened and Eliezer must have known it that Shalom Blesher owned one of the largest cisterns in Jerusalem and was making a neat profit on water. What the young editor did was therefore little different from a modern newspaper exposing one of its advertisers for fraud. Shalom Blesher was indignant. "He can t pay his bills and he prays for rain and preaches morals to us!" So one arid day Eliezer, Deborah, and their two children, the youngest a baby in arms, were dispossessed. Their meager belongings were literally put into the street. Shalom Blesher personally engineered the eviction. "You want rain, do you? Well, you troublemaker, now you can stand in the street and pray for rain !" A crowd gathered. Even those who had been critical of the Here tic were moved to sympathy. Deborah sat on a suitcase with Avi Hayil in her arms, trying to hold back the tears. Eliezer, who was in capable of any violent emotions, stood beside her, trying to comfort her. Suddenly the sky grew dark. The crowd scattered. Shalom Blesher also disappeared, frightened by what he apparently decided was an omen from heaven. Within a few minutes the rains came. For a full hour the deluge continued. This was the rain which the Deer had said would put an end to the profiteering of the "cruel landlords." All Jerusalem wel comed it, even the young man and woman who sat on their baggage trying to shield their two offspring from the downpour. 112 Miracle of the Rain As soon as the storm had passed, men, women, and children poured out of their homes and gathered around the Ben Yehudas. Some even got down on their knees in the mud to offer the young man with the beard their thanks and congratulations. They gave him and God full credit for what had happened. For a brief moment Eliezer Ben Yehuda was a local hero. To the crowd the villain in the piece was, of course, Shalom Blesher, so they flocked to his house and shouted his name, threaten ing him with all manner of punishment unless he allowed the Ben Yehudas to return to their quarters. Blesher did not dare appear, but he sent out word that the evicted tenants could have back their rooms. There are two old sayings which Eliezer thought of several weeks later: "Glory dies quickly; misery has a long life. 5 "Poverty always follows the poor." When news of the Ben Yehudas 5 difficulties with the landlord spread through the quarter, shopkeepers to whom Eliezer also owed money decided to close in on him. Almost every day there was a pa rade of creditors banging at the door with bills in their hands. To make matters worse, about this time Eliezer had to give up his schoolteaching. His cough had grown so much worse that the Alli ance directors decided it would be better for all concerned if he had a vacation without pay. It was Deborah who suggested, as a solution, that he take a trip to Moscow, where her own family, the Yonases, now lived. "If you can borrow money for the trip, Haveevee, it will be a good investment. I know that my family will help if you just explain the situation to them. Besides, you yourself have said that you have worked up a good following among the Jews of Russia. Surely, in this emergency, tihey will come forward with some financial support for both the paper and the dictionary you wish to write, if you can only meet them and explain everything." "But it will take weeks to make such a trip," Eliezer pointed out. "How can I leave you with two small children for such a time?" Tongue of the Prophets Deborah forced him to forget this consideration. Then Eliezer brought up another problem. "I know you think I go too far in not wanting our children even to hear any other language except Hebrew. But I wonder if you, by yourself, are strong enough to prevent it?" Suddenly Deborah burst into tears. "I have had much trouble already which I have kept from you. Your friend, Mr. Pines, the last time I saw him, tried to fill my mind with many doubts. He begged me to have pity on our children be fore it is too late. He said I owe it to them not to try to teach them Hebrew, in order to prevent them from becoming idiots !" Eliezer waved his hand to stop her. Then in his calm, soft voice he said: "Deborah, my child, do you remember when Ben Zion was two years old? On his second birthday he had still not said a word. Do you remember how Pines and all the others told us that this was proof it could not be done? They tried to tell us that Ben Zion was going to grow up to be an idiot. They try to frighten us with this word. "But you also remember that it was only a short time later that the boy began to talk. And now ! Now he is five and speaks beautiful Hebrew ! And nothing except Hebrew ! Not a word of any other lan guage has ever passed his lips. "Deborah, this is our great experiment. Nothing in the world is going to stop me from trying to make it succeed. "However, I promise that if we find it impossible to bring up our children speaking only Hebrew, then I will admit publicly that I have failed. I shall publish it in my newspaper and say to the world that I was wrong; that it is impossible to revive a dead language. "Meanwhile, we must not weaken. What Pines talks is nonsense ! You and I must show him how wrong he is !" So in the summer of 1887 Eliezer Ben Yehuda took leave of Jeru salem and headed for Moscow. Before going he entrusted his news paper to the only man willing to take on the responsibility, Jehiel Michael Pines, representative of the British Jews in Palestine, the same Mr. Pines who was so sure the Ben Yehudas were raising a lankily of idiots. 114 16 Time for Deborah SOON AFTER ELIEZER LEFT FOR, MOSCOW, DEBORAH moved from Shalom Blesher s house to a less expensive place in a large courtyard where only Sephardic Jews lived, hoping that they would be more tolerant of her than the Ashkenazic Jews had been. The Sephardic women, she had discovered, never tried to force her to adopt their other religious customs and superstitions so long as she conformed in the single matter of covering her head with a kerchief and wore a piece of black velvet on her forehead. Eliezer had left her with money enough to last little more than a \veek. There was an immediate necessity of earning more. Her good Sephardic neighbors came to the rescue. They taught her how to do embroidery work and to knit. She learned quickly and spent innu merable hours at it every day, her fingers flying. Then the neighbors helped her market her handiwork. They also taught her many tricks of living on a minimum of money. Her main food, all the time Eliezer was gone, was dark bread dipped in olive oil, which she purchased a liter at a time from men who went by the door with day pots and bottles strapped to the backs of their small donkeys. Once in the middle of her knitting Deborah jumped up, ran to a Tongue of the Prophets mirror, and studied her face. She was now thirty-three, yet she ap peared a worn-out, middle-aged woman. She remembered how Eli- ezer used to tell her how lovely she looked. It had been years since he had made such a comment. So that day Deborah swore that be fore he returned she would do something to try to regain what she had lost. She remembered that the book of ancient Jewish law said that women as well as men must beautify themselves; that "women be come ugly unless they use cosmetics." So the next day Deborah spoke to one of her Sephardic neighbors who had learned from the Arabs about roots whose juice kept the hair from turning gray; about a liquid which, when dropped into the eyes, made the pupils bright and exciting; about painting the fingernails; about how to accentuate the eyes with antimony, an cestor of modern eye cosmetics. By the discreet use of these ancient tricks Deborah hoped she would be able to improve her appearance so much that when Eliezer returned he would find her almost as fresh and charming as when they had met in Vienna six years ago. Also while her husband was in Moscow, Deborah devoted hours each day to reading his books, studying geography, brushing up her knowledge of the sciences, and digging deeply into the history of the Jews and of other peoples. She even decided, as a surprise, to pre pare herself to teach Hebrew the same way Eliezer did. He called it "teaching Hebrew in Hebrew." It was a method which generations later would be used by one of the most successful language schools in the world. In Eliezer 3 s classrooms no word was ever spoken of any language except the language being studied, Hebrew. All this time the young wife kept writing encouraging letters to Eliezer in Moscow. She was happy and comfortably situated. Neither of his sons had yet heard a single word of any foreign language. They played happily by themselves. They would all rejoice when he returned, but he must stay there until his mission had been fully ac complished. Pola, the baby of the Yonas family, was about eighteen years younger than Deborah and nearly fourteen years younger than 116 Time for Deborah Eliezer. Yet the first love of her life was the frightened boy her father had found in the synagogue of Glubokiah and had brought home for breakfast one cold morning in 1872. She had cried when he cut off his curls, and years later, before she was even ten years old, she had wrangled with her older sister, whenever his name was men tioned, over whose sweetheart he was. Now, in the summer of 1887, Eliezer was her brother-in-law and she was no longer a child. Yet as she stood in the family reception line to greet him on his visit to Moscow she realized that her child hood feelings for him were still little changed. He was almost twice her age, yet to her, despite the worry lines on his face and the emaci ation caused by his repeated illnesses, he was still a romantic crea ture. He had come from that far-off place where he and Deborah lived and where they had been fighting a battle the purpose of which she did not yet really understand. Father Yonas still considered Eliezer his own protege, as well as his son-in-law, and greeted him with both love and admiration. As the young man sank exhausted into the cushions of a sofa in the li brary, where his education had really started, he told them of his long trip, commencing with the difficulties he had had obtaining a Russian visa because he had given up his Russian passport. "And what nationality of man am I now entertaining?" "I am a Turk." "And why did you ever become a Turk, of all things?" "Because I feel it is a person s duty to take the citizenship of the country in which he makes his home and to share in the obligations as well as the advantages of that place. I have no other reason for becoming a Turk except that the Turks now rule our Holy Land, and as long as they do, I must be a Turk. Also, by changing my na tionality I was able to change my name! 3 From the moment Eliezer entered the house the conversation was all in Hebrew, for Deborah had warned her father about her hus band s fanaticism. The result was that the children understood little of what was said, which especially irritated Pola, who had to be con tent with just staring discreetly from under her long eyelashes at the man she had "always loved/ 117 Tongue of the Prophets Mother Yonas understood a word here and there. She understood what Eliezer meant when, in Hebrew, he asked her if it would be possible to have his food prepared in the Orthodox manner while he remained with them. She understood the words but was perplexed by the idea. "You know we do not follow Orthodox rules, Eliezer, and you never did either!" "You are correct, but when Deborah and I settled in Jerusalem we decided to abide by all the customs of the majority so we would be accepted. We try to live as they live." "But," interjected Father Yonas, "you are not in Palestine now, so why keep up the subterfuge?" "I would feel myself a hypocrite if I did things differently behind their backs, and so I hope it is possible for me to observe the dietary laws and dress in the Palestinian fashion while I am living with you." When he later appeared in his long coat trimmed with red-fox fur and his oriental fez there was amusement on the part of the Yo nas children. All except Pola. She whispered to one of her sisters : "Doesn t he look romantic! Just like an ancient holy man, with his beard and those strange clothes! Just like in a picture book." The next morning Eliezer had a frank talk with his father-in-law about the Ben Yehuda financial problem. The older man at first was indignant. "Why did my daughter not tell me you were suffering from lack of money? "I know you do not want charity. What you need and deserve is support from Jews here and elsewhere. Let us commence at once to make a list of people you should see." Several days later a delegation called at the Yonas home to see the man from Palestine. Among them were many destined to play lead ing roles in Palestine and in latter-day Jewish history, but now they were all young university students. One was Menahem Ben Mosche Ussishkin, engineering student, who eventually was to become one of Ben Yehuda s greatest enemies. Two others introduced themselves as> Jehiel Tschlenow, medical student, and Reuben Brainin, a young Hebrew writer. 118 Time for Deborah The student group arranged a number of meetings at which Ben Yehuda made appeals for subscriptions to his paper and to the dic tionary on which he told them he was working. In his speeches Ben Yehuda stressed the necessity for quick action in Palestine, warning that this small piece of land was a prize on which many nations had their eyes. Most of those who flocked to the meetings were young. Many vowed they would soon be at Ben Yehuda s side on the fighting line in Palestine. Their contributions were small but numerous. Before going home Eliezer made a quick side trip to Paris. Many important French Jews received him with respect. Six years ago they had called him a dreamy idealist, a wild-eyed visionary. Now, although many did not agree with him, they listened. When he brought up the matter of financial support, the Jewish leaders of France promised to consider helping him if he did nothing to raise the older generation against him in Palestine. "Be content to work on your dictionary and encourage people to emigrate to Palestine, 3 they told him. "Above all, do not stir up our French representatives in Jerusalem against you. Follow this advice and you probably shall receive our help/ Eliezer Ben Yehuda returned to Jerusalem, after an absence of several months, full of energy and hope. Deborah s double transformation heightened his happiness. In be tween sentences of his report on all he had seen and done, he compli mented her on her appearance. "It is just as if we were back in Vienna again!" Nothing he could have said would have flattered her more. It took a few days for him to discover her mental transformation. When he did he was even more pleased. Several days after his return Deborah said to him : "While you were gone someone passing through Jerusalem told me that your old friend Tshashnikov has settled in one of the Scan dinavian countries; that he has never married; that he has been fol lowing your activities with great interest. I wonder, Eliezer, why he has never written to you." Her husband shrugged his shoulders and changed the subject. Tongue of the Prophets The happiness reflected in Eliezer s face quickly disappeared, however, when he discovered what Mr. Pines had done in his ab sence. The acting editor had thrown the full support of the paper behind the forthcoming observance of Shemittah, an ancient Ortho dox custom under which land is given a rest one year out of every seven. For twelve months no field is plowed, no planting is done, no crops are harvested, trees are neither sprayed nor pruned, nature is allowed to run rampant. Eliezer knew that behind the old custom, as with all Orthodox practices, there was a sound, practical consideration. He knew enough about farming to be aware that the earth occasionally needs a rest; that originally Shemittah was in the nature of a crop-rotation scheme. But he also knew, as with so many Orthodox practices, that Shem ittah was taken too literally; that it was used as an excuse for lazi ness; that young trees would die of neglect, and that years of hard work in trying to bring patches of the desert back to fertility would be undone. So he summarily dismissed Mr. Pines and then wrote a series of diatribes against the observance of the sabbatical year. Never before or afterward did he write with such an acid pen. The next issue of the Deer caused a sensation. Groups of men gathered on street corners and talked excitedly about the articles. Families were divided. Neighbors took sides against each other. Jeru salem was in an uproar. The elders of the Holy City felt they finally had a chance to put a noose around the neck of the young heretic. They appealed to the rabbis to declare a ban on the Deer. They were joined by the Haluk- kah leaders who managed the charitable funds ancl saw an oppor tunity to get even with Ben Yehuda for his articles calling them "parasites." The ban was imposed, with all the old Orthodox formalities. Black candles were burned in the synagogues. A "town crier" went through the streets blowing the wind instrument made from a ram s horn and called a shofar. "The Deer is banned! The Deer is banned! It is officially forbid den for any good Jew to buy, possess, or read this paper !" 120 Time for Deborah On Sabbath eve great posters appeared on the walls of Jerusalem, not only repeating the wording of the ban, but also denouncing the paper and its editor in scathing language. One section, in the form of an open letter to Ben Yehuda, said: "You thought you could deceive Jerusalem by appearing before us in your long robe and your fez. You are mistaken. We are not de ceived. We declare you a heretic, an unbeliever, and in addition you are a hypocrite. We shall know in the future how to guard ourselves from your lies and shall not fall into your trap." Rushing home from reading one of the posters, Eliezer burst into Deborah s room. He forgot that she was expecting the birth of their third child. He forgot his customary restraint. He forgot everything but that he had been held up to public scorn. "It is impossible to meet these people halfway! It is impossible to fight their misguided leaders in a subtle fashion. Perhaps your father, after all, was right. I should have listened to him ! But now I shall really start to fight! I hope they remember that they began this!" Deborah looked up and in a frightened little voice asked: "Haveevee, what are you doing?" Eliezer had taken off his long coat trimmed with the red fur of the fox and was trampling it under his feet. Now he threw his ori ental red fez to the floor. "Haveevee, this is so sad. You liked that coat so much ! Surely you remember once saying you would like to see such coats worn by all Jews as a national costume instead of as a religious requirement." "I did, Deborah, but not any more. I shall never wear it again. Also, I am going to remove one more sign of my attempt at con formity. I am going to shave off my beard !" Deborah let out a small cry of pain. "No ! Not that, Haveevee ! I shall never recognize you without it. You look so well with a beard, Eliezer!" "All right, I shall compromise with you," he promised after a short argument. "I shall trim it down so that I look like a French man with a short Vandyke. It will still indicate that I am no longer following the Orthodox custom of letting the beard grow." When Editor Eliezer Ben Yehuda next appeared in the streets more people stared at him than ever before. He looked, except for 121 Tongue of the Prophets the lines on his face, just as he had the day he arrived, nearly seven years ago, dressed like a gentleman from Paris. The next issue of the Deer came out with its front page in a wide black frame as a symbol of mourning. In that issue appeared an arti cle which was due to become one of the most celebrated pieces of writing to come from the Ben Yehuda pen. It was entitled : THE CRIME Instead of going on the defensive, the young editor did what any good military leader does when the enemy strikes hard at him. He made a counterattack. The article lit into the Halukkah. It accused the leaders of "social crimes. 5 It blamed them for holding back the progress of Israel. It called them "reactionaries" in the worst sense, men with their eyes on the road behind, afraid to look forward toward the bright future. The answer of his opponents was another ban, announced with all the excoriation of the first. The building in which the Deer was printed and the Ben Yehuda home were now placed under a boy cott. No religious Jew must enter either place, under pain of severe punishment. In the midst of all this tension Deborah s third child was born, a girl whom they called Yemeemah, an old biblical name. Deborah needed friends now, yet many who had been intimate deserted her, afraid to defy the elders of Jerusalem. Nissim Behar, the Alliance-school director, publicly came to Ben Yehuda s defense. He also told him he would try to get from the "Great Benefactor," as Baron Rothschild was called, the financial support which the French Jews had promised. As reactions to the Halukkah fight came in from around Palestine it was evident that the rest of the country did not reflect Jerusalem s attitude. There was by now a large Jewish population in Jaffa, and it was almost wholeheartedly behind the Deer s stand. A number of new settlements had been established. The pioneers working on the land were unanimously on Ben Yehuda s side. The big gun he fired in the next issue was a demand that the di- 122 Time for Deborah rectors of the Halukkah publish an exact accounting of the moneys they had received in the past year from abroad and an explanation of how they had spent all of it. He demanded that they give the name of each recipient. He im plied that the officials would refuse because they would never reveal how large their own salaries were, nor allow the public to discover that after the payment of organizational expenses there was so little left for the poor. He also demanded that the religious schools draw up and an nounce a tangible, orderly, scientific program which would lead to improvement in the curriculum and a degree of efficiency. This new double-barreled attack increased the intensity of feeling on both sides. As soon as Deborah was well enough she obtained a position teach ing Hebrew in the Evelina de Rothschild school for girls, which had been established by English Jews, with Behar s sister as principal. This permitted Eliezer to spend all his time on his paper and his new project, the dictionary, although he did sandwich in the writing and publishing of a modern Palestinian geography book. His enemies were unable to silence him. 123 77 Thrice Death DEBORAH BEN YEHUDA DIED ON THE TWENTY-SEC- ond day of EM, in the late summer of 1891. She died of the disease which she had contracted from her husband, It was irony that doctors had been telling Eliezer since his youth that he had only a few years to live and that he had hesitated about marrying Deborah because she might so soon become a widow. Yet it was Deborah who died of tuberculosis. She was thirty-seven. Eliezer was thirty-three. It was also ironical that Deborah, after fighting with so little com plaint at her husband s side through the grimmest part of his life, should be taken away just when, finally, there was a chance for a modicum of comfort and security, a taste of success. The Ben Yehudas had moved into a larger house surrounded by a garden. Deborah had a Sephardic woman as a maid. Two more children had arrived, both girls. One had been named Attarah, from the Hebrew word for "tiara," and the other Shlomit, derived from the Hebrew word for "peace." Ben Zion now was nine years old, and Avi Hayil was six. Both, thanks to Deborah s consideration of her husband s fanaticism, spoke beautiful Hebrew and not a word of any other tongue. The first 124 Thrice Death daughter, Yemeemah, was now three and already had begun to talk her father s language. The two babies had thus far been sheltered from the "contaminating languages." The Ben Yehuda house and garden echoed all day with the laugh ter of the children and the babble of Hebrew words, many of which the father had dug out of old books or had actually created. Hebrew was the language of their games. It was the language in which they studied, for now in Nissim Behar s school it was possible for pupils to learn geography, history, and even mathematics in Hebrew. When Yemeemah had begun to talk Eliezer had had a new ex citement, that of hearing his favorite language spoken in the mellif luent, euphonious tones of a small girl. The Ben Yehuda home by now was furnished in European style, which was a novelty in this part of the world. In the dining room there was a round European-type table, six chairs, and a mirror in a large ornamental gilded frame. Life had begun to take on a more pleasant hue, and Deborah had started to enjoy her role as "the first Hebrew mother in nearly two thousand years." But then she commenced to cough. She had a terror from the start that it was the White Plague. She refused for a long time to allow Eliezer to send for a doctor, fearing to be told what she knew she would be told. But a doctor finally came and confirmed her fear. Eliezer wrote to the Yonas family, and in return Deborah received an immediate invitation to come to Moscow, alone or, if she wished, with all five children. But by the time the invitation arrived her con dition had deteriorated so much that the doctor said such a trip was out of the question. Eliezer then wrote to his own mother, with whom he had had little correspondence in all these years. She agreed to come at once, but then a difficulty arose. The Turkish government had begun to , get suspicious of the nationalistic activities of Palestinian Jews and had issued a ban against any more Jewish immigation, just as an other nation was to do half a century later, with more tragic results. Eliezer suffered mentally as well as physically in these days. He knew that his disease was going to take Deborah. Every day she grew 125 Tongue of the Prophets weaker and there was less of a sparkle in her eyes. Yet she wanted so desperately to live! Eliezer had many problems. First, the children. It was not easy to prepare five small boys and girls for the imminent death of their mother. It was not easy for a man as impractical in a household way as he was to edit a newspaper, work on a dictionary, run a home, play nurse to a dying wife, and take care of five children, the young est a baby in arms. In desperation Eliezer went to the Turkish pasha of Jerusalem and appealed to him. to make an exception in the case of Mrs. Perl- man of Luzhky, his mother. He explained that she was almost seventy; that she was harmless to the Turks or to anyone else, for she was too old to bear arms, or children either. Besides, Eliezer pointed out, she would be here for just a short time; just until the death of his wife. The pasha s answer was a cold, stern "No. 5 So Eliezer arranged to have his seventy-year-old mother smug gled into the port of Jaffa disguised as a sack of potatoes ! Thus Feygaleh came to the shores of the Promised Land, in a burlap sack loaded in a small boat with other pieces of cargo. She arrived, finally, at the Ben Yehuda home more dead than alive. She arrived to find Deborah melting away like a rapidly burning candle. There was fever in her eyes and the terror of approaching death. Mother Perlman knew the Hebrew words of the Bible, but she had never really understood what the words meant. Spoken Hebrew was a complete mystery to her. So Eliezer made his first concession. He permitted his own mother to speak to Deborah and the older children in Russian, on the un derstanding that she would never converse before them in Yiddish. Mrs. Perlman was a perfect nurse. She and the invalid quickly acquired a mutual love for each other. But Deborah wanted her own mother at her side during what time was left. So she dictated a let ter, which Eliezer wrote for her, imploring her mother to come at once. Mother Yonas was also smuggled in. By the time she arrived Deborah had been taken to a hospital. 126 Thrice Death One month later she died in her sleep. She was too weak in those last days even to say good-by. She died with her mother,, her mother-in-law, her husband, and! her children clustered around her. The first Hebrew mother in nearly two thousand years had gone to her ancestors, leaving behind five small hostages to fortune. Deborah s death provided the enemies of Eliezer Ben Yehuda with a new opportunity for revenge. They thought that this time, because he was so weighed down with grief, they could break him completely. The Ashkenazic undertakers who had charge of the body said they were sorry but they had just been officially informed that Mrs. Ben Yehuda, being the wife of a man against whom a religious ban had been issued, had been declared terefah, or unclean, an ugly little word in any language; an especially ugly word to be used about so sweet a character so soon after her death. Instead of being crushed by the announcement, Eliezer reacted like an infuriated wild animal. "And what does this all mean?" he demanded. "It means/ 3 the undertakers replied, "that we are digging a grave for your wife outside the walk of the cemetery. It is not allowed that an unclean body be placed anywhere near the others, for fear of their contamination." Eliezer shouted his defiance. "This is an insult I shall not tolerate I You need not dig any grave at all. I shall make other arrangements. 3 Whereupon he went to the leaders of the Sephardic congregation and asked them if they would take charge of the burial. They agreed, and Sephardic undertakers went to get the body from the Ashke nazic undertakers. This caused the Ashkenazic leaders to hold a quick consultation. Perhaps they had gone too far. It would not do to let Ben Yehuda outwit them this way. Eliezer eventually won the battle. He argued with them until they agreed that Deborah would berried within the walls of the Ash- 127 Tongue of the Prophets kenazic cemetery in the place of highest honor, on the summit of the Mount of Olives. Readers of the Deer waited impatiently for the next issue. But they were disappointed. After the conventional seven days of mourn ing called Shivah the paper appeared with no reference to the death or the controversy, except a short quotation from the Book of Jere miah, surrounded by a thin black border: I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. After several weeks Mother Yonas returned to Moscow, leaving Eliezer s mother to manage the household. One bright spot was the reunion of Mrs. Perlman with her brother who had been kidnaped as a child by the Cossacks. But this minor joy was quickly overshadowed by fresh tragedy. Within two months after Deborah s death, Avi Hayil, who in Eliezer s dream was to become leader of an Israeli army, became ill and died. In the same month death also took the two younger Ben Yehuda daughters. All three children were buried on the top of the Mount of Olives beside the body of their mother. It was a sad household after they left: Eliezer, his firct-born son, one daughter, and the aged grandmother who, although she rarely said it aloud, saw in all this tragedy the hand of God meting out punishment to her son for his un-Orthodox behavior. Mrs. Perlman s continued ignorance of Hebrew and Eliezer s con tinued insistence that she not talk Yiddish to the children made life difficult in the Ben Yehuda home, especially when little Yemee- mah would burst into tears and demand to know when her mother, her two sisters, and Avi Hayil were coming back. The grandmother finally solved the problem by learning the He brew word for "someday, 3 which she not only used to answer the question the child kept asking, but even made into a song which she sang to put Yemeemah to sleep. Eliezer s grief was both increased and ameliorated by another tragedy which occurred at this time. The young wife of Nissim 128 Thrice Death Behar died just after Deborah, leaving the director of the Alliance school with two small children. Friends already, the two men now became brothers in misfor tune. Each morning for months Behar would call at the Ben Yehuda home for Eliezer, and together they would take a long walk into the outskirts of Jerusalem. This exercise and the invigorating air of the Judean hills did much to help them regain the courage and strength they needed to carry on. 129 18 Intrigue and Bribery ALTHOUGH THE BARREN SANDS OF PALESTINE WERE gradually being populated by Jews, with nearly a dozen agricultural colonies already established, the Turkish government went to great lengths to enforce the law against Jewish immigation. But the Jews, just as they were to do half a century later when the British would try to close the doors of Palestine, organized an underground and smuggled in a considerable number of immigrants. The more conservative Jews not only tacitly approved the re strictions imposed by the Turkish government but imposed some of their own. Settlements which had ignored the pronouncement of a sabbatical year by working their fields were placed under the stigma of a re ligious curse. Schools were banned if they encouraged the study of Hebrew. Hebrew teachers were castigated. Pupils who insisted on studying Hebrew were placed on a black list which was even en larged to include their relatives. Eliezer Ben Yehuda was the archangel of evil. But his enemies were sure God would take care of him; that he would quickly follow his wife and children to the grave. There were even those who were happy if they received a report that his cough was worse. 130 Intrigue and Bribery In their fanaticism they persecuted even those who had never been very enthusiastic supporters of the Ben Yehuda program. One of their victims was the same Mr. Pines who had managed the Deer while Ben Yehuda was in Moscow. Pines was placed under a ban and even made the butt of cheap jokes. One day a paper list ing all the complaints against him was tied to the tail of a mangy dog, which was chased through the streets until it had advertised the Pines case in every corner of Jerusalem. Pines, unable to stand such attacks, moved to Jaffa, where he established a "Society for the Support of Fanners and Artisans." About this time Ben Yehuda and Behar concocted a piece of po litical intrigue. Although the Jews were second-class citizens here, the Ottoman Empire gave them a small voice through an officially recognized representative, called Hacham Bashi, to the Turkish government. The man who was the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic community was automatically Hacham Bashi. It was a position of great power, yet in the past it had generally been held by an extremely antiquated Jew with few progressive leanings. "Why," asked Ben Yehuda, "should we not try to find some young, well-educated, cultured, and forceful person, pleasing in ap pearance, who can win the respect of governments and fight for us in the diplomatic field, and at the same time raise the status of the Sephardim in the eyes of the world?" Behar and Ben Yehuda chose as their candidate a young rabbi named Jacob Meir, who had many but not all the qualifications. His greatest asset was that he did not have what Ben Yehuda always called "the ghetto mentality." However, he knew not a word of French, the language most widely used in social and government circles in the Middle East. Behar and Ben Yehuda had many talks with Rabbi Meir, who was just two years older than Eliezer himself. Rabbi Meir was a little overawed at the idea of aspiring for such high office, but they finally convinced him that there was a chance of success if he would agree to work diligently preparing himself. Then when the time for action came Ben Yehuda would throw the support of the Deer behind his candidacy, and Behar would use his influence with the Tongue of the Prophets Chief Rabbi of France and with Baron Rothschild if necessary. They told him he must learn to speak fluent French as quickly as possible. But he must do his studying in secret, for if the conserva tives even suspected, they would organize violent opposition. Accordingly, for hours each day, Rabbi Meir studied in a locked room. His servants had orders to admit no one but Ben Yehuda or Behar. But in spite of such precautions the secret leaked out and an up roar ensued. The flames of the controversy spread to Jaffa and the settlements. Again, as in each other dispute which Ben Yehuda had generated, neighbors fought with neighbors; parents argued with their children. Finally, as a compromise, Ben Yehuda and Behar agreed that they would not try to force the young rabbi s appointment. Instead they offered to throw their support behind the selection of the elderly and conservative head of the Elyashar family, in return for which their young protege would be made his assistant and upon his death might succeed him. Controversies like this one kept the Jews of Palestine in a state of high tension and also had an effect abroad. Many saw in them proof that Jews could never live together in peace, even if they had their own state and their own language. But Ben Yehuda was not discouraged by such talk. He answered such critics by saying: "This is life. Wine must ferment. Bread must rise. Brothers must quarrel. Thus it is written." Those who came to Palestine on a visit were favorably impressed by the progress that had been made on the land. There were Jewish agricultural settlements now in all parts of the country, Hebrew was being taught in many schools, by many teachers, in the Ben Yehuda manner, without recourse to the use of any other language. Young mothers were even singing Hebrew lullabies to their children. Ben Yehuda had also succeeded in having Hebrew introduced into the curriculum of several of the old theological schools, al though such schools were citadels of reaction. Only Ben Yehuda s most intimate friends knew how it had been accomplished. It was 132 Intrigue and Bribery simple bribery. Each week he paid each teacher who gave lessons in spoken Hebrew a secret and unofficial "salary." Also, each week each pupil who submitted to Hebrew instruction was likewise paid a bribe for his willingness to defy convention. The fact that teachers and pupils were always on the verge of poverty made them very amenable to such an arrangement. (A book of accounts in Ben Yehuda s own handwriting listing such payments is still preserved.) Ben Yehuda s major activity was still the Deer, although he spent hours each day doing research for his dictionary. The paper contin ued to grow in size and circulation. Even his enemies were forced to subscribe so they could attack the ideas he advanced. He often worked all night translating British, French, and Ger man literature into Hebrew for serialization in the Deer. Because the Turkish government was violently opposed to foreign culture and prohibited the publication of any foreign literature, Ben Yehuda was compelled to withhold the names of foreign authors and even change titles. He published Victor Hugo s Notre Dame de Paris under the title, The Stolen One, author anonymous. When he printed Moliere s Le Tartuffe and his UAvare his critics wrote that he was giving circulation to anti-Semitic writings. Pales tine s wealthiest Jew was sure that he personally was being lam pooned. When the Deer carried articles about new inventions and scientific discoveries the opposition said such items undermined religion. When Ben Yehuda tried to encourage the start of an endemic Palestinian literature they argued that Jews should keep their minds on the study of biblical law. But Ben Yehuda, undisturbed by their clamor, continued to help every young poet, novelist, or journalist who came to him. There was hardly a field in which the young editor did not try to raise the cultural and artistic level. But most important, each issue of the Deer contained at least one new Hebrew word which had been discovered or created by Ben Yehuda. Thus each week Hebrew was becoming more and more a language in which women could do their marketing, children could play games and call each other names, and men could discuss scientific and political developments. 133 Tongue of the Prophets On the first day of each month, which in Hebrew is called Rosh Hodesh, Eliezer Ben Yehuda would put on his best suit, pack a grip with books and papers, and go to Jaffa. These monthly trips were partly business, partly pleasure. After Deborah s death Eliezer looked forward to them with relish. From early morning until late at night a Jewish money-changer named Baruchin sat in a stall close by the Jaffa Gate. Often Eliezer would not have the necessary capital for the trip, in which case Baruchin the Money-Changer would advance him however much he needed, knowing that forty-eight hours later, when Eliezer re turned, he would have money enough from selling subscriptions to the Deer to repay the loan. Baruchin also grew accustomed to another piece of routine. Twice each year Eliezer would come to him with a worried frown and say: "Baruchin, my friend, I have just received word that Baron Rothschild s representative will be in Jaffa next week. As you know, I receive a small subsidy from the baron, and so it is necessary for me to make a good impression on his administrator. For that rea son . . ." So each six months Baruchin would advance the money for a new suit, which Eliezer always found some way to pay back. Baruchin, out of his regard for Ben Yehuda, never charged him interest. What Eliezer liked best about Jaffa was that here one could get away, temporarily at least, from the bickerings and petty squabbles of Jerusalem. Here a fresh breeze blew in from the sea, and the moral atmosphere was invigorating too. Jaffa was a modern, thriv ing city. There was conviviality here, and intellectual awareness. This was part of a new world. f Each visit, for Eliezer Ben Yehuda, had its financial rewards. He not only collected new subscriptions to the Deer but also sold He brew textbooks which had been written and published in Jerusalem. He sat in on conferences at which the establishment of new colo nies and the purchase of additional land were discussed. The most productive of has meetings was one which resulted in the establishment of the first school anywhere in the world, in nearly two thousand years, in which no other language but Hebrew would be spoken. The founder was Israel Belkind, who started the school 134 Intrigue and Bribery without a bit of financial support from anyone, although Ben Ye huda gave him generous assistance in less material ways. The conferences in Jaffa sometimes ended in arguments and disa greements. In the matter of acquiring new land Ben Yehuda took the minority position that two considerations should always be kept in mind; whether the tract to be purchased was defensible in case of Arab attack, and whether the tract had any historical significance for Jews. The majority always argued in favor of buying land merely on the basis of its fertility. On one trip Eliezer took exciting news to his Jaffa friends. He had just received a letter from Deborah s youngest sister, Pola. In Moscow, she wrote, she had met a fine-looking, cultured Russian Jew named Halperin who, although only twenty-six years old, had built up a small fortune in Smolensk. For nearly a year he had been trying to convince his wife that they should take their money, their three small children, and all their worldly possessions and emigrate to Palestine. His wife had heard so many discouraging tales about the barrenness of the land and the prevalence of serious diseases that she refused even to listen. According to Pola s letter, the husband in exasperation had di vided his fortune into two equal parts. One part he turned over to his wife and children; with tie other half he had started for Pales tine. The next time Eliezer went to Jaffa he learned that Halperin had arrived and had spent most of his money buying a large tract of land in Judea, which he presented to a group of settlers who were establishing a community called Nes Ziona. The philanthropist Halperin would become a common laborer on the land with the rest of them. About this same time a group of Jewish immigrants from Warsaw acquired a large tract not far from Jaffa and established a colony named Rehovoth (Expansion). Although the Rehovoth pioneers were men of great faith and ambition, they could hardly have dreamed that within fifty years their settlement would grow into one of the greatest beauty spots in the new Israel, its hills covered with orange groves, eucalyptus forests, and vineyards, its streets lined 135 Tongue of the Prophets with some of the most sumptuous homes in the country, and that tourists would someday come from distant places between Purim and Passover to see the display of almond blossoms covering the ground like deep snow. These were not the only new settlements. An entire network of Jewish villages had now been formed, each a spot of green against a dull brown background. It was still dangerous, however, for Jews to travel on roads at night between villages. Arab highwaymen would waylay them, take their money, strip them of their clothes, and even force them to re move and hand over the shoes they wore. If the victims protested too loudly they often were murdered. Arabs made surprise raids on Jewish shepherds at sunset and stole their flocks. At night, as the harvest season approached, they would raid Jewish fields. When the patience of the Jewish settlers finally wore thin, they appealed to the Turkish government for protection, but the Turkish government was extremely uninterested in their problem. Then young Jewish men procured rifles and organized guard units. One of the leaders of this defense movement was a youth named Branitzky, who was to go down in history as a fabled charac ter. He was from Rishon Le Zion, a towering, robust settler who owned one of the finest horses in all Palestine. Ben Yehuda heard many stories illustrating his fearlessness. Eventually, while Branitzky was traveling alone down a deserted road, he was waylaid and killed. His memory, however, still lives in legend. Another founder of the Jewish guards was Israel Feinberg, who was nicknamed by the Arabs Shaitan Lulu (Devil Lulu) . He spoke perfect Arabic, and something about him struck terror into the heart of every brigand. If the silhouette of the Devil Lulu on horseback appeared on the horizon, all Arabs in sight fled. Feinberg did more than all his followers together to bring some degree of security to the Jewish settlements. He died, not at the hands of Arabs, but in his own bed, on his own small piece of land. Eliezer heard many stories about the Jewish guards. But what pleased him most was the discovery that Jews really were beginning to take to the soil. Many of them were living more happily under 136 Intrigue and Bribery their fig trees now in the Promised Land, despite all their troubles and difficulties, than they had ever lived out in the Diaspora. They were beginning to learn how to get along agriculturally. Now when they bought goats from the Arabs they did not make the error of accepting male goats and trying to milk them. No longer did they sow wheat on worthless soil. No longer did they plant orange groves and expect them to bear fruit at once without irrigation. No longer did they clean out their stables, throw away the refuse, and then have to buy manure from the Arabs to fertilize their fields. Slowly progress was being made. David Idelovitch, who had come to Jerusalem in the first small wave of immigration, was now a recognized teacher of Hebrew. Judah Grazovski, for whom Ben Yehuda had obtained a job in a grocery store, was now the author of several Hebrew schoolbooks. He was later to take the name of Gur. Saplings which had been planted ten years ago were already grow ing into healthy trees. 137 19 Industrial Childbirth ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA KNEW THAT NO NATION CAN rise without a thriving industry of its own and so, although economic matters were far out of his field, he took a keen interest in any sign he saw of the industrialization of Palestine. Those who had settled on the land had had their greatest success growing grapes. That led Baron Rothschild to send a Russian who had once been an orchestra conductor in Kiev to Bordeaux, France, to learn all he could about wine making, and then to Palestine to take charge of the new industry. The Palestinian wine was praised by everyone who drank it. Soon it was being marketed abroad and received prizes at exhibitions and fairs. The baron was so pleased that he embarked on a second experi ment. The profit of the winegrowers was slight because of the neces sity of importing shiploads of bottles. Palestine also needed chimneys for kerosene lamps and other glass products. So the baron paid the expenses of Meier Dizengoff (who later became the mayor of Tel Aviv) to go to Belgium and learn the glassblower s art. In less than a year Dizengoff returned and helped establish a factory at Tantura. Not long after the factory was opened Dizengoff arrived excitedly one day in Jerusalem and called on Ben Yehuda, His hands trembled 138 Industrial Childbirth as he unwrapped a package and spread the contents on the editor s desk, "Look! Made in Israel! The first products of our first real fac tory!" The gifts he had brought were glass and porcelain jars, bearing on their sides the Hebrew words: "From the Land of Milk and Honey." Then he explained. "We do not have milk, but we do have jam and honey. The more our orange groves and vineyards flourish, the more bees and the more honey. Our factory will turn out thousands of jars like these which will be shipped all over the world to advertise the land of the Jews!" Ben Yehuda complimented him but added : "I hear that the real need is for wine bottles. I was told today that the wine vats at Rishon Le Zion are already overflowing. Being re ligious people, they take the Bible literally and are ignorant about the aging of wine, thinking it should be bottled and consumed when it is new. Have you started making wine bottles yet?" Dizengoff assured Ben Yehuda that the factory would soon be turning out wine bottles as good as any made in Europe. But the day after an initial shipment of wine bottles was made to Rishon Le Zion, a report came back of an industrial tragedy. Hundreds of the bottles had been filled and corked. But within an hour every bottle had broken at the neck. The floor of the winery ran ankle-deep in wine. A second tragedy quickly followed the first. An epidemic of yel low fever and malaria swept through the factory. Dizengoff and his wife were among the victims. Many of the workers and their families died. Those who did not fled from the seacoast town, cursing the place. The factory windows were boarded up. Experts came and examined the sand on Tantura s beach and reported it highly unsuitable for the making of glass. That ended Industrial Experiment No. 2. Baron Rothschild at this time was young, still in his forties, and he was adventuresome as well as wealthy. He refused to be discour aged. Far from Tantura, at Rosh Pinah in Upper Galilee, he estab- 139 Tongue of the Prophets lished a third industry, a silk factory, knowing that for hundreds of years in two neighboring countries, Syria and Lebanon, a thriving silk business had been carried on. Mulberry trees were planted and huts were built in which the children of Rosh Pinah and nearby Safed were to care for the silk worms. But the experiment was abandoned when it was discovered that there was no one who knew anything about silk weaving. Project No. 4 was perfume. The baron sent chemists from France to manage the distilling of perfume from flowers at Yessod Ha maala. Farmers in the neighborhood began growing geraniums and roses on every spare foot of land. But the perfume was not good. When it was shipped abroad it found no favor. Despite the failure of many of the baron s experiments, there was a degree of prosperity in the colonies which he had helped establish. Jewish families which had known nothing but persecution and pri vation in the ghettos were enjoying, here in Palestine, a relatively secure and peaceful existence. Through the philanthropy of the in ternational banker they had been enabled to buy land, build houses, educate their children, have decent medical care, and produce a "pay crop" of oranges and grapes each year. But now a nationwide grumble of discontent began to be heard. Many of the Jewish settlers resented the paternalism of the plan. They complained that they were little better than slaves. They fig ured out that they would never be able to repay Baron Rothschild for the purchase of land and the construction of homes. Most of all, they resented the attitude of the administrators sent to Palestine by the baron to manage his affairs. They complained that these men often acted like slave owners. Jealousies and antagonisms deepened. What little social inter course there had been between administrators and their families and farmers and their families gradually disappeared. Finally the farmers appointed representatives to go to Paris and present their complaints verbally. The men came back with a black report. The baron had listened but then had practically thrown them out of his office, saying that although there might be some slight jus tification for their complaints, if the Palestinian Jews were not ap preciative of his help, and if they continued to grumble about petty 140 Industrial Childbirth matters, he would immediately cut off all further financial aid to them. When this report reached Ben Yehuda he was worried. Baron Rothschild had no consuming interest in a rebirth of a Jewish state, If the Jews of Palestine angered him he would almost certainly deviate funds being sent here to other areas where Jews were in need. That would cause hardship and suffering among the very people who were now complaining. For these reasons Ben Yehuda threw his paper into the fight on the baron s side. In one article he called on the farmers to stop their "nonsense." He likened them to soldiers in an army who must obey the orders of a superior, even when thinking such orders foolish. He never argued that the administrators were without blame; he merely implored the farmers to forget their small grievances. But the colonists were in no mood to listen to reason. Many who had admired Ben Yehuda now turned against him, accusing him of being a traitor to everything he had previously believed. They charged that he was now on the side of slavery instead of freedom; that he was trying to "sell them out" to the Paris banker. But the accusation which really hurt was that Ben Yehuda was receiving financial support from the baron for his newspaper and his dictionary project (which was true) and that he was merely trying to protect his own financial position. Mass meetings were held at which paper and editor were de nounced. Ben Yehuda s closest friends advised him that it would not be wise for him to travel into any of the colonies because of the intensity of feeling against him. This upsurge of anti-Ben Yehuda sentiment was not merely a financial blow. For years his greatest support had been from a small intellectual group in Jerusalem and from the inhabitants of the new colonies. Frequently he had made tours of the country, getting not only new subscribers but also an emotional uplift from seeing the development that was taking place. Now such contacts were denied him. Also, the Jerusalem intellectual circle was split on the issue. A few devoted friends such as David Idelovitch, Judah Grazov- ski, and Israel Belkind remained his allies, but all were young and had not yet the prestige that they later would acquire. 141 20 Love by Mail WHEN POLA VONAS WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD SHE had a formal photograph taken in a Russian embroidered dress, with her hair hanging in long dark braids over her shoulders. When Mother Yonas went to Palestine to be with her eldest daughter during her dying days she took a -copy of that photograph with her. After seeing it, Deborah one day from her hospital bed wrote to her younger sister: "Today Mother showed me your picture. You are as beautiful as Aphrodite. I had a dream about you the other night, Pola. I saw you standing before me and I said to you: " Sister, if you wish to become a princess . . .* " The letter ended there. Apparently Deborah had not had the strength to finish it. When Mother Yonas returned to Moscow one of the first questions Pola asked her was: "What did Deborah mean that I should do if I wanted to become a princess?" The mother hesitated, and from her hesitation Pola guessed the answer. 142 Love by Mail Pola was only nineteen when Deborah died. She was a student at the women s branch of the University of Moscow, specializing in the natural sciences. But she was not happy because there were few opportunities for a girl in Russia in those days to go far along scien tific or intellectual roads. Frustrated in her dream of a scientific career, Pola began to have another vision. The thin, aesthetic face of Eliezer kept coming be fore her eyes. She remembered her parents telling her how, when she was only an infant, she had cried because the young guest in their home in Glubokiah had cut off his curls; how he had carried her around the house in his arms; how she had hero-worshiped him even then. She had seen him again when she was six and he was almost twenty. A dashing young man, she thought him then. She had even had fights with her sister Deborah over whose suitor he really was, because once, to make her stop crying, he had laughingly said some thing about taking her off to Paris with him. But she best remembered the visit he had made to their home in Moscow five years ago. She considered herself a "grown-up young lady 3 then, although she was only fifteen. By then Eliezer was a member of the Yonas family by marriage, for Deborah was his wife. Eliezer and Pola had spent a great deal of time together that sum mer in Moscow, and they had had some violent arguments. Eliezer had told her she was "too Russian," with no real feeling for anything Jewish. But despite such scoldings, Eliezer Ben Yehuda had always re mained a romantic figure in Pola s young eyes. She had envied the experience her older sister had had, going off to an exciting country like Palestine to share an adventurous life with a man who defied convention and had the courage of his own deep convictions. So Pola one day wrote a letter to Eliezer. She told him that she was considering changing her first name from Pola to something more Hebraic and would Eliezer please send her some suggestions. Back from Jerusalem came a quick reply, Eliezer was delighted to hear from her and was happy over her interest in Hebrew. He was enclosing a list of twenty names, with a translation of each one. Pola should pick the one she most fancied. Tongue of the Prophets Pola wrote back that she had chosen "Hemda." She had not yet informed her family, but from now on Eliezer could address her as Hemda. What she did not write was that it was not the Hebrew letters of the name that appealed to her, nor even the sound of the word, but the meaning of it. Eliezer had written that Hemda meant "My Cherished One." When Eliezer finally wrote and proposed that Hemda also change her last name and become Mrs. Ben Yehuda, Pola wasted no time in debate with herself. She knew that this was the career she wanted most and had always wanted. When she broke the news to her father, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said: "I suppose you two will be happy, because, after all, you are both a little crazy!" Mother Yonas did not take the announcement so well. She was terrified, she said, that Pola would meet the same fate that Deborah had. But the greatest opposition came from the brothers, sisters, and other relatives. They bluntly pointed out the difference in ages. They argued that Pola ought to finish her university studies first. They warned her how different it was in Jerusalem than in Moscow; that she was going to have to renounce civilization when she went off to that barbaric part of the world. But nothing anyone said had the slightest effect on the head strong young woman. She had already quietly begun to sever the ties which bound her to family, to friends, and to Moscow. Fellow students gave a farewell party for her. The Yonas family decided that it would not do to allow so young a girl to go off on so long a trip alone. She would be accompanied not only by her father and mother, but also by her youngest brother and youngest sister. All preparations for the journey had been made, when the letter arrived. Eliezer Ben Yehuda s neighbors began to get suspicious when he had his house painted inside and out. They became more suspicious when he had a gardener trim the rosebushes and prune the vines. They began whispering to each other when they saw him planting 144 Love by Mail with his own hands two young eucalyptus saplings at the entrance to the house. But what made them certain that the rumor being circulated around Jerusalem must be true was the sparkle in the young editor s eyes. Also, his friends and neighbors noticed that his shoulders sud denly were no longer as stooped as they had been since Deborah s death. They pointed out that he even greeted the mailman who brought the "not wanted" newspapers back to him with something less than bitterness. No one was ever certain exactly who it was who confirmed the rumors. It might have been Ben Yehuda s own mother, for she was overjoyed when her son told her that Deborah s young sister had agreed to become the second Mrs. Ben Yehuda. When the story of Ben Yehuda s impending marriage to Pola Yonas was definitely confirmed, the tongues began to wag in earnest. Even Eliezer s best friends were against him on this issue. Some used the difference in ages as their talking point. Others, infected by his own fanatical interest in the language, argued that this was the sec ond time he had chosen a girl who knew no Hebrew. When the news reached Dr. Schwartz, chief of the Rothschild Hospital, he sent for Nissim Behar. "Is it true our friend is about to take another wife; a child nearly fourteen years younger than he is?" The Alliance-school director said the rumor was correct. "He has no right to marry this this girl!" said the doctor, look ing the schoolmaster in the eye. "You know he has tuberculosis. You know Deborah contracted her fatal illness from him. Ben Yehuda himself has little longer to remain in this world. It is a crime for him to kill another life, especially one so young!" Nissim Behar nodded sadly and said: "You should know, Doctor, for he is your patient and you at tended his first wife. But what is there to do?" "One of us must talk coldly to him, and you are the one to do it because you are his best friend." Ben Yehuda and Behar were accustomed to go on long walks each morning. The next day, climbing the Mount of Olives, Behar said: H5 Tongue of the Prophets "There is something I must tell you, Ben Yehuda, that I know will be painful to you. I do it only with the understanding that you realize what I am about to say comes from a devoted friend." Ben Yehuda looked at the schoolmaster with an expression of anguish on his face. "I have taken all the blows I can bear. What new catastrophe does fate have for me now?" Behar then repeated exactly what Dr. Schwartz had told him, even including the remark about how little time Ben Yehuda had left to live. He concluded with a demand that the marriage con tract be broken. For a moment Ben Yehuda said nothing. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and started walking in the direction from which they had come. As Behar caught up with him he tried to talk to his friend, saying: "Be strong, Ben Yehuda! Remember those words? You said them to me one day after my own wife had died. Be strong, you said. Now I say your own words back to you." Ben Yehuda did not reply. As they approached the house Ben Zion and Yemeemah came running to meet their father. He dis missed them, sending them into the garden to play, while he went to his study, asking Behar to accompany him. There he sat down and wrote a short note to Pola Yonas, whom he addressed as Hemda. He told her what Dr. Schwartz had reported. He told her that the marriage was now out of the question. He concluded : "You are free, therefore, and please do not worry about the two children. You have no right to sacrifice your life for them and for me. They will grow up like all other orphans. Besides, their grand mother is here to look after them." When he reached the end and signed his name he put the letter in an unsealed envelope and handed it to his friend. "I beg you to give this to Dr. Schwartz. Ask him to read it and then mail it himself so he will be certain it is on its way. Now I should like to excuse myself. I wish to be alone." The next day Behar and Ben Yehuda took their customary walk and talked, as usual, of the affairs of the day. No mention was made of the letter or the broken engagement. Day after day they walked 146 Love by Mail and talked, and not once did the editor reveal what was going on in his heart and his mind. Ben Zion, the elder child, was puzzled. There was no longer the excitement around the house that there had been. His father did not even answer when he asked questions about when his new mother would arrive. For two weeks it went on that way. Then one day a cable came. BE CALM. LETTER FOLLOWS. HEMDA. Ben Yehuda showed it to Nissim Behar. "What do you suppose it means? 55 The schoolmaster smiled. "I would guess that she is not taking your advice !" Two weeks later the letter arrived. It was full of affectionate phrases and profuse reassurances. One paragraph said : "Please express my thanks to Dr. Schwartz for his special interest in my fate. Tell him it has touched me deeply. Also tell him that I am coming to you, whether for many years, or for a month, or only for a day. Whatever it is, you and I shall spend together the time left for the two of us." Ben Yehuda handed the letter to Behar, saying: "I am grateful to Dr. Schwartz. Now if anything happens to my second wife we all have clear consciences. But I am also grateful to him that as a result of this correspondence the tie between Hemda and me is stronger than ever. Tell Dr. Schwartz that!" Ben Yehuda s mother and the two children did not need to read the letter to know that things were again as they had been. Once more the house hummed with excitement. One day Ben Zion was called to his father s study and given some instructions. "My son, I am going away in a few days to meet your new mother. While I am gone you must be head of the household. When I return to Palestine I shall send you a cable to meet us. You shall hire a carriage and be the head of the reception committee. Be sure, now, that you and your sister create a good impression !" 147 27 To Become a Princess . . . THE RUSSIAN STEAMER WHICH HAD TAKEN THEM from Odessa to Constantinople began nosing its way toward shore. Suddenly Mother Yonas was beside Pola, saying excitedly: "Look, my dear! Look! There is Eliezer!" Pola held tightly to the rail and looked. He was not at all like the picture she had been carrying in her mind. His long blond beard was short-trimmed and pointed. Instead of being dressed in the manner of an Orthodox Jew, as he had been in Moscow, he now wore elegant European clothes. His trousers were checkered and his jacket was of black velvet. He was more frail than he had been, which gave him a more youthful appearance. He was vibrant with energy. It showed even in the way he walked. He did not look at all like a man who had been weighed down for years with troubles. There was even a bit of dash and swagger about him. Pola stood rigid, trying not to display any reaction, but to herself she said: "Doesn t he look just like an English artist ! He is more romantic in real life than he ever was in my dreams !" There was only one touch which annoyed her. On his head he wore a red fez. To Become a Princess . . . She was a little disappointed when he greeted her so formally. From the ship they went directly to the hotel rooms EHezer had engaged for them. Pola s room was banked deep with flowers. In addressing her at dinner he used her self -selected name. Father Yonas wheeled on his daughter. "What is this name he calls you? 33 Pola laughed and explained. Father Yonas held his hands out in a helpless gesture. "Not only do I lose two daughters to this man, but he tries to rob me even further by taking away the names I gave you." Conversation that first evening was difficult. Eliezer insisted on talking Hebrew. He reverted to French only when addressing Pola, who was therefore out of the conversation most of the time. The two children, Oniah and Peninnah, who were five and seven, were put to bed early, and Mother Yonas left with them. Father Yonas finally gave up late in the evening. At last Eliezer and Pola were alone for the first time. Taking her hand, the young editor said : "Hemda, I can hardly believe you are here!" Then he made his first love speech to her, in the course of which he said it was difficult for him to express such intimate thoughts in French. She must promise to learn Hebrew quickly. As they sat close beside each other he said softly: "Hemda, when your sister was in the hospital she told me one morning when I went to see her that she had had a dream the night before. You appeared before her, looking just as charming as you now look to me. As you stood there, she suddenly said to you: " Tola, if you wish to become a princess, marry Eliezer/ "Of course I pretended to get angry. I said she and I would live together for many years, and the subject was dropped. But a few days later, as her strength began to fail, she whispered to me that she was going to die and hoped that you would take her place after she was gone. "I would never have told you this unless you had already agreed to marry me. It would have been using an unfair weapon. But I hope it will make you happy to know you are carrying out your sister s last wish." Tongue of the Prophets Pola tightened the pressure of her hand on Eliezer s and silently debated whether she should tell him of the letter she had received from Deborah. Instead, she changed the subject. It was the wedding day of Eliezer Perlman, now called Ben Yehuda, and Pola Yonas, now called Hemda. While Mr. and Mrs. Yonas were out making the necessary ar rangements, the principals went for a walk. As they started Hemda turned to Eliezer, fixed her eyes on his red fez, and said : "I hope you do not think me rude, but is it not possible to buy a a regular hat down here somewhere?" Eliezer blushed and replied: "Of course! 53 A few minutes later they passed a men s shop and he disappeared inside. When he came out he had a smart-looking European hat on his head. It was only then that he explained that all subjects of the Ottoman Empire were morally obligated to wear the fez as a symbol of respect for their rulers. Then he added : < As long as we are being so frank, I do not much care for that foolish little student s hat you wear!" So they stopped in a women s shop and bought not only a new hat but a chic umbrella, gloves, and a French handbag. Although Hemda had lived in busy Moscow, she was impressed by the shops of the Galata section, the horse-drawn vehicles, the oriental excitement and confusion, and most of all by the Street of the Dogs. Eliezer explained that for Moslems in Constantinople the dog was a sacred animal, not to be killed or even injured under pain of civil and ecclesiastical punishment. For some reason the dogs had taken over this one particular street. They seemed to know that here they would receive especial attention. When they arrived back at the hotel, the Yonases were in a state of indignation. They had been searching the city for the two young people. The assistant Hacham Bashi had already arrived to perform the ceremony. As the service began Eliezer interrupted with a demand that the assistant Hacham Bashi speak exclusively Hebrew. 150 To Become a Princess * . * Just as the ceremony ended a messenger arrived with word that their ship was about to sail without them. There would not even be time for a wedding feast. With feminine foresight Mother Yonas had procured a roasted chicken and several bottles of wine, which she carried herself aboard the Russian steamer Zesarevitz. As they reached the dock the boat whistle was being blown for the third and last time. Father Yonas, although an aristocrat in his inclinations, had in sisted they travel in the most humble manner possible (as deck passengers) because he said he wanted to enter Israel in austerity, to share the experience of those pioneers who were forced by eco nomics to travel in this manner. They were only a few hours out of Constantinople when Hemda received her first Hebrew lesson. She had given Eliezer the keys to her baggage. Now, in Russian, she said: "Please give me the key to my suitcase. I want to get something." As he handed her the key Eliezer said: fe Zeh maf teach.** When Hemda asked him what that meant he said it was Hebrew for: "This is a key." / Slowly the girl repeated the words until glhe had memorized them. In later years she would always say that fmafteach" to her was the most important word in Hebrew, because it was the "key" which Eliezer gave her on her wedding day to the language for which she eventually was to develop his own deep love. After stops at Smyrna, Alexandria, and Port Said they finally came within sight of Jaffa. Standing at the rail peering toward the shore, Hemda said: "It is just like a giant bird, isn t it? Just like an eagle with its wings outspread !" Eliezer was vibrant with excitement. This, now, was "his" coun try. This was the place where he had suffered so much, yet it was the place which meant more to him than any other. In excited Russian words he tried to explain it to Hemda. "This is our land, Hemda ! This is where we all once lived and where we really belong! I hope you feel it and understand!" But Hemda did not understand. To her it was just another shore line, not nearly so attractive as Constantinople or Smyrna. But she Tongue of the Prophets knew that if she admitted this to Eliezer he would be unhappy, so she made no answer. Small boats in the harbor were dancing wildly on the waves, wait ing like birds of prey for the signal which would permit them to en circle the steamer. Government officials boarded the Zesarevitz. There was an in spection of passports, a medical examination, then questioning by police. Now a flag was hoisted as a sign that the medical men had found no contagious diseases aboard. Instantly the small boats swarmed in. Hemda clapped her hands excitedly and pointed to one in which there were four men. "Look, Eliezer! What do all those beautiful flags on that little boat mean?" Eliezer smiled. "One is the flag of the Ottoman Empire. Another is the banner of the Cook s travel bureau. Then there s a flag advertising a hotel. But wait those four men are all friends of mine ! Four of my young Hebrew teachers ! Where did they ever get those banners? They re coming for us! Our reception committee!" Soon the four men were clambering up the rope ladder. They pressed around Eliezer after giving him a military-type salute. They talked rapidly in Hebrew. Hemda understood nothing they said, Finally Eliezer turned to his bride. "My friends offer their congratulations to both of us." Hemda in Russian asked Eliezer to thank them. By now the steamer was vibrant with the noise of haggling porters, shouting boatmen, annoyed officials, and almost hysterical passen gers. Hemda was dizzy, but she remembered for years how impressed she was by the young Arab boatmen, so sunburned and iron- muscled, filling the ship with the noise of their lusty speech and filling the air with the gesticulations of their hands. They literally tossed the baggage from man to man and finally down into the boats. They literally dragged the passengers after them down the rope ladders which were flapping loosely in the wind. Those were the lucky passengers; the ones who had been cleared by the officials. The others waited with panic written on their faces for someone to "fix" a permit for them. 15* To Become a Princess . . . When Eliezer said they must now descend into the small boat, Hemda replied: "And my family?" "They must stay on the ship because they have no entrance per mits. But as soon as we get into town we will do everything possible to have them released." It took a great deal of arguing to persuade Hemda to pull herself away from her parents. Hemda s reaction to Jaffa was not at all what her sister s had been. She found the city gay and exciting. She liked the mixture of Arabs, Turks, and oriental Jews swarming through the streets, talk ing, singing, and crying their wares. They had lunch at a table Eliezer had reserved in a small hotel. It was set with flowers and there were bottles of red wine. Friends came by and shook the young editor by the hand and stared at his young wife. Hemda was annoyed that they all talked only Hebrew. There was always the "comedy" of translation. She sensed that all these people could speak some language she understood if Eliezer would only permit them to. She thought of it as a conspiracy to try to con vince her that no one here spoke, or even knew how to speak, any thing but the ancient language. When the luncheon was nearly over Hemda s family suddenly appeared. Father Yonas face was pale with suppressed anger. He had revolted bitterly against his reception in this, the land of his own ancestors. He had hoped that here, at least and at last, he would feel safe ground under his feet; that no one would tell him "this is allowed and that is forbidden." Eliezer had hired two carriages, drawn by three horses each, for the trip to Jerusalem. While the baggage was being loaded he took his bride into what she admitted was the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. It was just across the street from where they had had luncheon. Although the two carriages were now ready, several of Ben Yehuda s friends said that the night before Arab bandits had at tacked a party of Jews on their way to Jerusalem and had robbed them of all their belongings. Some of the victims had been wounded. It would be foolish to travel during the night just to avoid the heat. 153 Tongue of the Prophets Better to start early in- the morning, rest during the midday at the halfway spot, Bab el Wad, and make the ascent of the Judean hills in the relative cool of the late afternoon. Ben Yehuda agreed and sent a telegram to his son, Ben Zion. The sunrise the f oflowing morning was so radiant and the air so refreshing that Hemda grasped Eliezer s arm and said: "It makes me feel as if the world has just been created; as if I myself have just been born; as if all life lies ahead of me !" "It does," her husband replied, smiling. Leaving Jaffa, the road at first ran between groves of orange and lemon trees. This being the month of Nisan, the air was heavy with the fragrance of fruit blossoms, heady and almost as intoxicating as strong wine. Then they drove through fields of growing wheat and barley. Then vegetable plots. Hemda, looking for a lake, a river, or a small pond and seeing none, asked: "How do all these things grow if there is no water?" "The groves are irrigated with water from wells," her husband replied. "The fields are watered all summer by night dew from heaven. In the winter there is much rain." Gradually the cool of the morning was conquered by midday heat. Often the two carriages had to pull to the side of the road to allow vehicles coming from Jerusalem to pass. Each time there would be a volley of greetings from those going in the opposite direction. "You act as if you were all members of one large family," Hemda remarked, to which Eliezer replied: "Because we are!" Finally the carriages came to a stop at Bab el Wad. The coach men put their horses in the stables. The elder Yonases and the two children went into the inn to rest. Ben Yehuda and his bride went for a walk, then sat under an olive tree. Stretched out on her back, looking up at the sky, Hemda said that in spite of her imagination and her desire to picture Jerusalem as it might be, the closer she approached the city, the more distant and blurred it became in her mind s eye. "Nevertheless," Eliezer said, "you will be sleeping tonight in the Golden City!" 154 22 "Shalom Doddah!" TEN-YEAR-OLD BEN ZION BEN YEHUDA FELT HIM- self a real man with "responsibilities" while his father was gone. He was not content just to collect articles from contributors and deliver papers. He spent much time learning the art of typesetting. He also began his own writing career, which would someday make him a well-known literary figure. One of the many articles he composed and persuaded the temporary editor to publish in the Deer was en titled: "We Shall Not Give Up Nissim Behar!" It was based on rumors that the head of the Alliance school was to be deposed. Then came the telegram: "We have arrived. Gome and meet us at Bab el Wad. Daddy." Ben Zion was as excited as his father had been weeks before over the receipt of the cable from Moscow. He took his four-year-old sister by the hand and ran to the house of the coachman, who lived in another section of Jerusalem, and insisted that they start out im mediately. It was an "occasion 35 for the small boy. It was his first trip out of Jerusalem. Then there was the excitement of meeting Hemda, al though he was afraid he was not going to have one tenth the affec tion for her that he had had for his own mother. 155 Tongue of the Prophets They reached Bab el Wad without incident and found the Ben Yehuda- Yonas party lined up waiting for their carriages to be brought to them. Ben Zion s first impression was that they all looked like foreigners, even his own father. When Eliezer took his son in his arms to greet him, Ben Zion noticed that he appeared younger than he ever had before. Then the introductions began. "You remember your grandmother, Ben Zion, even if maybe Yemeemah doesn t. "And here, Ben Zion and Yemeemah, is Hemda Ben Yehuda, your new mother!" The little girl looked at the ground and shyly said: "Shalom. 55 Ben Zion stared at Hemda. She wore a large fancy hat, unlike any he had ever seen on a woman in Jerusalem. She carried a bright-colored parasol. There was a pleasant smile in her eyes. With a childlike spontaneity of decision Ben Zion made up his mind he liked her, so he reached up, put his arms around her neck, kissed her affectionately, and said: "Shalom, Doddah!" Yemeemah, taking the cue, then did likewise. For Hemda the happiness of that moment was marred by the necessity of responding to the children through a translator. Turning to Eliezer, with a choked-up voice she said : "Tell them quickly that they must not use that word doddah. I know that it is Hebrew for aunt/ Tell them I was their aunt but now I am something more. I can t be their real mother, but I shall try to take her place. They call you abba, which means daddy, not father. They called Deborah mother. But why should they not call me imma, which means mamma 5 ? * The children agreed. They would never use the word for "mother 5 to Hemda, but they would call her "imma." It was three o clock when they began the ascent of the Judean hills. At first the horses seemed to enjoy the climb, but soon they were sweating. Often the passengers had to get out of the carriages to Kghten the load. It was nine o clock when they saw the first lights of Jerusalem. 156 "Shalom Doddah!" One hour later they drove into the city. The streets were unlighted, which meant that Hemda saw nothing but the shadowy outline of buildings. Few human beings were in sight. Finally the carriages pulled to a halt and Eliezer said softly: "This is your house !" As he led her across the threshold, her heart sank. It was a house, all right, but not a home. The entrance hall was also partly a dining room. Overhead there was an enormous vaultlike dome, similar to the cupola of a Christian church. Off the circular hall were the bedrooms. The reception committee consisted of Ben Yehuda s mother, who had put on her Sabbath dress for the occasion, and her brother, the official from the Russian consulate, with his wife, who was even younger than the new Mrs. Ben Yehuda. Hemda was tired. She went to bed almost immediately. As she tossed herself to sleep she wondered what her first impressions of Jerusalem would be when she saw it in the morning. Whether Jeru salem appealed to her or not, she had made her decision. Despite what she might think of the place, it was now her city as well as her husband s. When Hemda awoke the next morning the first thing she noticed was a bouquet of roses on a chair beside her bed. Drops of morning dew were still on the petals. She had almost forgotten, but this was Eliezer s way of saying that he had remembered. This was her twentieth birthday. As she bent over to smell the flowers Eliezer came in. She smiled her thanks to him. "Good morning, my husband. And why are you up so early?" "You will soon learn, Bitti, that I never miss the sunrise." "Bitti? What does that mean?" "Bitti means my child. It is an affectionate little word which just seems to fit you. 3 "I like its sound. I hope you will call me that often!" At breakf ast Hemda realized how sizable a family she had. There were her own father and mother, Eliezer s mother, her two step children, her brother and sister, and Eliezer s niece, a woman about thirty-five years old whose parents had sent her to Jerusalem at the 157 Tongue of the Prophets time of Deborah s illness, hoping that perhaps she might become the second Mrs. Ben Yehuda. There were ten at the table, a big respon sibility for a girl of twenty. After breakfast Eliezer took her for a walk in the garden. It was not as magnificent as the one in Jaffa, but there were olive and fig trees, grapevines and almonds. It was Passover eve and spring was in all its beauty. Eliezer showed her the two eucalyptus trees he had planted for her, "This one," he said, pointing to the more delicate of the two, "I have named Hemda." "So we shall call the other Eliezer, yes?" As they returned to the house and entered her husband s study, a large room with a domed ceiling, Hemda s first reaction was dis pleasure that the windows were covered with an iron grillwork that made them look like windows of a prison. The walls were a full three feet thick. A wide stone divan ran along one entire wall. It was covered with cushions in the oriental manner. In the center of the room was a round table littered with papers, and against a wall was Eliezer s desk, deep with notes in his own delicate handwriting. Eliezer sat down beside his wife on the divan, produced a Bible, opened it at the first page, and asked her to read. "But, my dear husband, I hardly know the Hebrew alphabet !" Ignoring her remark, he pointed to the first word in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis and said : "That is bereshith. It means at first, or in the beginning. Now look at it again and repeat the sound." The second word she learned that morning was "created," and the third "God." The lesson went on for half an hour. Hemda s head was swimming. Finally Eliezer put the Bible away and asked : "Would you like to go for a walk?" They wandered first through the streets of the city. Hemda, in her childlike imagination, had thought of Jerusalem as like Rome or Athens, which she knew about from pictures and paintings. But Jerusalem was unlike either of them. It had no great crumbling forum. Its streets were narrow and ugly. They were full of refuse. 158 "Shalom Doddah!" Animals and even children played in the garbage. Hemda was de pressed by it. Later they climbed the rough path that ascends the Mount of Olives. Then they threaded their way through rows of tombstones until they came to Deborah s grave. At her feet were the even fresher graves of her three children. They stood in silence for many minutes, without sharing their thoughts. Finally Hemda lifted her head, looked at Eliezer, then put her arms around him. From that moment on she realized that her life was not her own. 159 23 Like a Beautiful Flame HEMDA TURNED OVER THE MANAGEMENT OF THE household to her mother-in-law so she could devote all her energy to her two stepchildren who had been so neglected by their invalid mother and later by their bereaved father. Mrs. Perlman had dressed ten-year-old Ben Zion like an Ashke- nazic boy, in a frock coat, long trousers, and a large-brimmed hat which, in the Orthodox manner, he always kept on hi the house. He even had earlocks like those Eliezer wore when he arrived so many years ago in the village of Glubokiah. Yemeemah, although four, had never had her hair trimmed. Her clothes were hand-me-downs from Moscow, much too large for her. "She looks like a dwarf from the land of Lilliput," Hemda com plained. The two children were pale, emaciated, and walked as slowly as if already on their way to the grave. They spoke with timidity, had no playmates, and knew no child games. First Hemda took scissors to their hair, to the dismay of the paternal grandmother. As she did so she smiled, remembering her 1 60 Like a Beautiful Flame parents story of how she had cried when Eliezer cut off his earlocks. Then she cut the legs off Ben Zion s long trousers, making him look like a boy rather than a dwarfed man. She made little dresses for Yemeemah which actually fit. She bought two large hats in a German shop in Jerusalem so the children would have protection from the sun and their skin would not turn the shade of an Arab s. Now the offspring of Ben Yehuda the Rebel began to attract more attention on the streets of Jerusalem than ever before. In addition to being the only Hebrew-speaking children in the city, they now also looked different from any others because of their European dress. But that did not bother Hemda. Next she dug out of one of her suitcases a large doll she had brought for Yemeemah. At first the child was terrified because it was so lifelike, but eventually she overcame her fear of even touch ing it. Then Hemda bought a rubber ball and taught the children how to throw and catch it. But they were so self-conscious that they were reluctant to play, even with a ball. There was great danger now of the Ben Yehuda home losing entirely its Hebrew character. Mrs. Perlman spoke Yiddish. Hemda spoke Russian and French. Ben Yehuda was being subjected to violent criticism by his colleagues. Why did he not do something to prevent this? Why had he not taken a Hebrew-speaking wife? His enemies rejoiced. The structure had begun to crumble. Ob viously he was having to abandon his own teachings himself. How could he now expect others to follow? Eliezer met this situation by doing a decisive thing. He had the printing press moved into his home. That added four or five printers to the population of the house. All were men who had been given their jobs with the understanding that they would never speak any?- thing but Hebrew. As they worked putting Ben Yehuda s articles into type, they sang. Hemda said they sang more than they worked. They sang nothing but Hebrew songs : "The Sun of the Spring," "The Rose of Jacob," and "Jerusalem." Father Yonas, tired of the same three songs over and over again, morning, noon, and night, composed a fourth for them. He called 161 Tongue of the Prophets it "Hebrew Is Our Language" and taught the children as well as the printers to sing iL Then there was Chain ha Halabi, a Syrian servant who ran errands for Ben Yehuda and helped in minor ways on the paper. Now he was given a new assignment. He was to be with the children from the time they arrived home from school until they had their dinner and went to bed; a male governess. He was to speak nothing but Hebrew to them. Also, he was to correct the Hebrew pronuncia tion of everyone in the house, so that eventually all the words might be said in the same melodious oriental way. Nevertheless, Hemda realized that in the long run it was up to her to decide whether this would remain a Hebrew household or not. So she began to spend all her spare time over her books. Bay after day she would sit in one of the deep window sills, curled up on a pillow with a Hebrew grammar in her lap, looking occasionally out at what she had nicknamed "our Garden of Eden." Often tears would well up in her eyes because of her fear that she would never be able to learn the language. Although she had previously mastered several other languages, she found Hebrew grammar next to impossible. "Never," die once told her father, "will the Semitic spirit be able to vanquish the Slav in me." But she kept all these doubts from Ben Yehuda, Day after day she took lessons from him. He taught her first to read the entire Book of Genesis, but each day he gave her a sprinkling of purely household words to learn. Although he corrected her patiently, she persisted for weeks in saying the Hebrew word for "he" when she meant "she," and mixed up her present, past, and future tenses. But finally, after three months of study, she made a little speech to her husband, all in Hebrew: "Eliezer, I did not think that this day would ever come, but I have now a big atinouncement to make to you. Beginning right now, I wish you to speak nothing but Hebrew to me. If you talk slowly I think I will understand. I do not yet promise that I shall always reply in Hebrew, but someday that also may even be pos- afifc" 162 Like a Beautiful Flame Eliezer smiled, kissed her, and called her "Bitti" with an extra degree of warmth. In all this period Hemda asked her husband not to invite guests to the house. She did not want to meet people until she could talk to them in his language. The only exceptions were Nissim Behar and Hayim Calmi, close friends, with whom she spoke French. Six months to the day after Hemda arrived in Palestine, on the Feast of Sukkoth, she walked into Ben Yehuda s study and made a second announcement. In almost perfect Hebrew she said: "I know you have waited patiently for what I now say, so I hope you will be pleased. From this moment on I shall speak exclusively Hebrew, not only with you but with everyone we meet. "I do not yet have as large a vocabulary as I would like, but I feel able to conduct a two-way conversation on most subjects. If you wish to start planning trips for us, I promise never to embarrass you by speaking a foreign language again." "Bitti," he replied with a trace of tears in his eyes, "you make me very happy. You are like a beautiful flame, giving both light and warmth. I shall thank you repeatedly for what you have brought into my life !" Hemda s reward for her accomplishment was a trip to the Jewish settlements. When Eliezer asked her if this would please her, she clapped her hands and kissed him on the forehead. As they made plans for the trip Eliezer smiled and said: "It will be a real honeymoon, Bitti. Gall it our second if you wish, but really it is our first; the first trip alone. To make it more exciting, we shall do part of it by railway." "Railway? Railway to where?" "I thought I had told you. The new railway between Jerusalem and Jaffa has started running. Maybe you will laugh at it, but to many of our people who have never seen a train it is like a miracle." The train consisted of a small engine and three miniature cans. As the Ben Yehudas took their places she said: "It is really like a plaything, Eliezer, isn t it?" The conductor apologized for the lateness in starting. This rail way, he said, had more problems than any other in the world. 163 Tongue of the Prophets Jews who lived anywhere within a mile or two of the right of way congregated twice a day to watch with infinite excitement the slow passage of the train. But the Arabs reacted differently. To them this was an instrument of the devil. The more religious the Arab, the more he felt it his holy duty to destroy the monster that screamed up and down the Palestinian hills belching fire and smoke. In superstitious fear the Arabs at night placed large rocks between the rails. "The trouble is/ 5 the conductor explained, "our timetable allows no time for the removal of these Arab barriers. How late we are depends entirely on how many Arabs went without their sleep to place how many rocks on the tracks during the night. 35 But when the Arabs discovered that the rocks, no matter how high they piled them, did not defeat the devil on wheels, they adopted another technique. They gathered in droves on the right of way and defied the engineer to run them down. This called for more strategy than strength on the part of the train crew. There was also a certain not entirely unlaudable nonchalance about the way the train was run. If some prominent Palestinian or distinguished visitor from abroad sent word that he would be late making the tram, the train would wait for him. Or if some woman passenger dropped her umbrella out the window, the engineer would stop and the conductor would wander back looking for the lost article. In Jaffa, Ben Yehuda insisted on taking Hemda to the homes of many friends before going on to the settlements. He did not admit it, but he wanted to show off her ability to speak Hebrew, and his wife, knowing- it, tried to put on a good performance. Never once did she allow a Russian, French, or Yiddish word to slip its way into her conversation. Jehiel Michael Pines, Israel Belkind, and many of Ben Yehuda s other friends expressed their astonishment. Some refused to believe that six months ago Hemda had known no Hebrew. Several accused Ben Yehuda of playing a joke on them. The story spread quickly through Jaffa and soon, wherever the Ben Yehudas went, a crowd gathered and there was a hushed silence, 164 Like a Beautiful Flame as if an opera singer were about to begin her great aria, and when Hemda finished speaking there would be a babble of comment. This was one of Eliezer s moments of glory. Here, in the person of his second wife, was living, talking proof that it could be done. Just half a year after setting foot on Jewish soil Mrs. Ben Yehuda was talking Hebrew, if not like a scholar, at least like a normal in telligent person; talking of the weather, of their railway journey, of Jerusalem, of common everyday matters. If Hemda could do it, so could others. EHezer did not say all these things with his lips. His whole attitude said them. He was an often defeated man reveling now in this hour of small triumph. His eyes sparkled. His shoulders, Hemda noticed, were thrown back at a defiant angle. He had not coughed once all day! But that first night Hemda in her exhaustion said to her husband : "Eliezer, I know how happy you have been today, but now we must go on to the settlements. I cannot possibly go through my performance 3 again tomorrow. I felt all day like a dancing bear in a circus!" The next day, Friday, they started out in an "omnibus" drawn by three very old and lazy horses. What Hemda saw as the carriage laboriously made its way down deep-rutted roads through clusters of Arab huts frightened her. She kept a handkerchief to her face to ward off the stench which, Eliezer explained, came from fires over which Arab women were baking bread. "But why should smoke have such a vile smell, Eliezer?" "Because, Bitti, the only fuel these people have is dried manure; dried human and animal dung." Hemda could see that the same windowless huts served as shelter for both man and beast. At the entrance to several she noticed old women, obviously blind, sitting grinding corn just as their ancestors had done for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Hemda shud dered and held the handkerchief closer to her nose. "Cheer up," Eliezer said, "we shall soon be approaching Rishon Le Zion." But what if the Jewish settlements were even a little like these Tongue of the Prophets Arab places? How much could the Jewish immigrants have done in a mere ten years to change this ancient and filthy way of life? So Hemda was afraid to look when her husband suddenly shouted out enthusiastically: "Look, Bitti! Off on the horizon, just to the left, you can see the roof of the synagogue of Rishon Le Zion ! M 166 24 Printer s Ink THE BEN YEHUDAS AND THE SABBATH ARRIVED IN Rishon Le Zion simultaneously. The sun was just going over the horizon as their carriage approached the settlement, which meant that all work must cease immediately for those following Orthodox custom. Years later Hemda wrote in a book: "Never in all my life had I seen such a beautiful village!" As soon as the red roof of the synagogue came in sight the land scape suddenly changed. Now the road was lined with orange trees and mulberries. There were fields of grapes and beds of flowers. The predominating color became green instead of brown; green of many shades, sprinkled with dots of brighter hues. Ben Yehuda became rhapsodic as he grasped Hemda s hand This, Bitti, is our earth ! Here Jews have changed the desert into a Garden of Eden. Look ! Here we have triumphed, just as someday we shall triumph over all the hills and deserts of the Holy Land! 3 * As they drove into the settlement they saw men, women, and children streaming from a low wide building. They all seemed cleanly dressed and happy. Each had a small parcel under the arm. They were on their way from the public baths. 167 Tongue of the Prophets Some of the houses were painted white, others pink, yellow, blue, and red, which prompted Hemda to remark: They look like flowers in neat little rows in a garden, don t they, EBezer? But what is that long low building with so many windows? It looks like a museum. Does someone live there? 3 * Eliezer laughed. That is the stable, BittL Just horses live there." Hemda thought of the Arab villages, where no one was housed as well as animals were here, In one street there were some small children at play. They politely said "Shalom" to the two strangers and then went back to their game. Hemda asked Eliezer why just hearing this commonplace Hebrew greeting had put such a bright light on his face. "No, Bitti, it was not their shalom. 5 It was something else. Per haps you missed it, but I heard the words they were saying to each other even before they looked up and saw us. A few years ago I would not have believed it possible. But, Bitti, they were talking Hebrew to each other! Children, speaking Hebrew of their own volition ! Imagine that !" They headed immediately for the home of David Idelovitch, the young man who had arrived in the first wave of immigration and for whom Ben Yehuda had found a job making knife blades in a Ger man workshop. Now he was one of the best Hebrew teachers in Palestine. Af ter the evening meal the house filled up with young people who sang Hebrew songs and told stories of their adventures in helping to conquer the desert. The next day the Ben Yehudas celebrated the Sabbath by making a house-to-house tour. The only man in Rishon Le Zion who did not speak Hebrew was Baron Rothschild s administrator, but few of the women could even understand the questions Hemda asked them in Hebrew. They ex cused themselves on the ground that "sickness and all the difficulties and demands" of their pioneering life had left no time for mastering a new language. Hemda, determined to keep her promise, insisted on conversing through an interpreter with the women of Rishon Le Zion, many of Printer s Ink whom had been in Palestine for years and some of whom had been born there. "How do you like life in Rishon Le Zion?" Hemda would ask in Hebrew. Then Idelovitch or someone else would repeat the question to the woman of the house in French or Yiddish. "I have been happier these last few years than ever before in my life, even though I do work harder," the woman would reply in Yiddish or French. Then the interpreter would translate the answer into Hebrew for Hemda. It was a little comedy, for Hemda could easily have carried on the entire conversation herself in the woman s language. It was even more amusing when Hemda realized that six months ago the situa tion had been just reversed. In every house the men s conversation, from the first "shalom" of greeting to the final "shalom" of good-by, was filled with politics, which meant the issue of Baron Rothschild and his administrators versus the settlers. And each conversation eventually turned to a dis cussion of the Deer . The men of Rishon Le Zion were almost brutal in the frankness of their criticism. The Deer gave too much news of Jerusalem and not enough about the colonies. Ben Yehuda defended the Rothschild administrators too much and too seldom took the side of the settlers. They did not like the paper on which the Deer was printed. They even went so far as to complain about typographical errors. They said too much of the paper was written by Ben Yehuda him self. Why didn t he print articles by others, with a different style and different point of view? Then they discussed the new Hebrew words which Ben Yehuda sprinkled through each issue. What was the origin of these words? Was it true that he invented many of them himself? If so, what right did he have to originate words? Shouldn t everyone have a voice in deciding such a vital matter as enlarging the language? It pained Hemda to see him subjected to such an ordeal, almost as if he were on trial for a crime. She tried unobtrusively to lenii 169 Tongue of the Prophets her moral support. Several times, when he began to cough or seemed worn out, she found a subtle way to bring the visit to a dose. Nearly everyone wanted to know how the Hebrew dictionary was progressing and how soon it would be ready. The first time such a question was asked, Ben Yehuda answered by pointing to his wife and saying: "It all depends on her/* Hemda tried not to show her astonishment. "On her? 3 * someone asked. "Surely she is not going to make the dictionary!" "I mean," Ben Yehuda replied, "it depends on her help. The more help she can give me in my other work, the more time I shall have for my dictionary." On the way home Eliezer announced that he was taking back with him more new subscriptions to the Deer than he had ever obtained before on such a trip. As they discussed the future of the weekly Hemda asked: "Why wouldn t it be a good idea for me to write letters to many of tlie people whom we have met, suggesting that they send us news from the settlements?" "It would be," Eliezer replied, "except that many of them would expect to be paid, and others will presume that because they cor respond for the paper they have a right to influence its policies. I m willing to sacrifice a great deal, but not my principles. You have seen yourself the opposition even among my friends. A man must be strong to face it, but with your help now, I think it will be much easier. 35 That gave Hemda an opening to ask what he had meant about the additional help he expected from her. "For one thing," he replied, "I want you to start writing articles for the Deer." "But, Eliezer, I am not a writer, I am a chemist. I have no desire t be a writer. Besides, I don t know the language well enough." > Ben Yehuda made a gesture as if to sweep aside all her arguments. 170 Printer s Ink "Remember, I have proof of your writing ability. Have you for gotten all the letters you wrote me from Moscow? 5 * "But, Eliezer, it s one thing to write a letter; quite another to write articles for a paper !" "Your letters were beautifully written, Bitti. They were even more beautiful than the famous letters of Madame de Sevign6. As for the language, I shall correct what you write before it is set into print." When Hemda persisted in her refusal, he took a new line of attack. "This is not just a matter of filling up columns or satisfying a few hundred subscribers who cry for fresh material, or even of giving me more time to work on the dictionary. You must understand what a vital contribution you can make to the creation of a living, breathing, vibrant new Hebrew language. "The hour demands that women enter the field of Hebrew litera ture. The language needs a feminine touch. You can help give it the softness it lacks, the flexibility, the delicacy, the subtle nuances/ As Hemda thought back later on this conversation she realized that it was the final speech which won her. Her first contributions to the Deer were entitled "Letters from Jerusalem." She patterned them after the letters of Jean Joseph Charles Louis Blanc, in which the celebrated French journalist dis cussed affairs of the day as if he were writing to a friend. In her letters Hemda wrote about life in the Holy City in an intimate, feminine style. More and more Hemda began to share her husband s professional problems. Gradually she eased the demands on his time. Gradually the fanatic look in his eyes came into hers too. Their chief worry, always, was financial: where to obtain the funds for rolls of paper, stamps, the wages of printers, and still have enough left for bread. Then there was Ben Yehuda s desire for foreign literary contri butions for which he would not have to pay. Together he and Hemda made a list of half a dozen young Hebrew writers scattered around Europe, and she wrote a pleading letter to each of them ex plaining how hungry Jews in Palestine were for European ideas. The percentage of affirmative replies was good. Now the size of the 171 Tongue of the Prophets paper was increased. The back page was devoted to advertisements. One day, looking over the latest issue, the editor said to his wife : "If we could only get a few more advertisements, I could afford to add a two-page literary supplement." Hemda made no comment, but the next day she started out as an advertising solicitor. She discovered that the businessmen of Jeru salem had a queer attitude toward advertising. They considered it an indication of a firm s approaching bankruptcy, One of the city s most successful merchants told her that even if she offered to insert an advertisement without charge he would still refuse to allow his firm s name in the paper. In a shop specializing in women s wear she found some em broidered dresses on a rack in an obscure corner and talked so vociferously to the owner about advertising them that he finally sighed and gave in. Within a few days he had sold all the dresses and became a regular advertiser. Hemda received no congratulations for that success because the profit all went to pay for a subsequent piece of folly. She was in another dress shop and was telling the owner of the success his rival had had. In the second shop she had seen some old-fashioned women s suits which the merchant had imported from Vienna, so she asked: "Why don t you advertise these?" "If I did, would it influence you to buy one yourself? 9 Hemda could think of nothing to say but "Yes." The deal which was finally consummated provided that Hemda would buy one of the Viennese suits, paying half in cash, half with an ad. The advertisement bore no fruit and was the last one tHe mer chant ever took. But Hemda, having paid a goodly sum for "half a suit, * had to wear it. It was many sizes too large and looked like an ancient hand-me-down from a prosperous relative with very ba<d taste. Up to this time no one had ever bothered about setting up a book keeping system for the paper, so Hemda undertook that additional chore. 172 Printer s Ink Then she began to assist Ben Yehuda with work on the dictionary itself. She wrote letters to important personages in Europe, soliciting their support, copied philological material, and even helped search through musty volumes for traces of Hebrew words. During the second six months of their marriage the bonds which held them together grew strong, and a beautiful companionship developed, despite the great difference in ages. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who appeared to the world as a fanatic, had a warm side to his nature too. But Hemda knew better than anyone else his singleness of purpose, how often his mind was occupied solely with academic matters, how primarily the scholar he was. Hemda never forgot Deborah s story of the time she and her young husband were walking together in the woods. They sat on a log to rest. It was cool and pleasant in the shade of the trees, Deborah felt in a romantic mood, but suddenly she saw a scorpion and, jumping up, shouted in Hebrew : "Help, Eliezer! A scorpion !" Ben Yehuda did not come immediately to her rescue. Instead, very reproachfully, as a teacher to an errant pupil, he said: "Deborah, how many times have I told you that the Hebrew word for scorpion 3 is akrab and not akreb!" 25 Saul Killed Thousands ALTHOUGH HEMDA WAS ALMOST FOURTEEN YEARS younger than her husband, it took her a very short time to establish herself as the ruler of the household and the final authority when any important domestic decision was to be made. Eventually she found a new house for them on the upper Jaffa road, opposite the government hospital and next door to the police station, which the brothers Kukiah agreed to lease to her for ten years. The garden was lined with great acacias and was surrounded by a high wall, giving the privacy Hemda wanted so much. About this time she began writing a fashion column, much to the disgust of Orthodox Jerusalemites, who contended that this was the extreme in the sacrilegious use of the holy language. With Eliezer*s help she even created a new Hebrew word for what British and American women called "fashion 31 and the French called mode. The word was ofnah, derived from the ancient Hebrew word off en, meaning style or manner. For many years the women of Jerusalem fought against this word, preferring to say modah, be cause it was more like the word Paris used. In the Ben Yehuda camp there was one real rebel who, although Saul Killed Thousands he had affection for his "mother," was determined not to acquiesce as his father had done. Ben Zion later in life wrote: "I insisted on showing my new mother that I had ideas of my own and therefore refused to surrender to her will and whims, for I considered myself heir presumptive and determined that my place should not be usurped by anyone else." Ben Zion was a little older when he became involved in what he called "My First Scandal." He told about it in this manner: "One day the news reached me that the Great Donor, which was the nickname we had for Baron Rothschild, was planning a second visit to our land. This was enough of a spark to revive in me an idea which had been in my heart and mind for some time, the idea of a Hebrew army. "I was still then only eleven or twelve years old, but this is what I did: "I called my young sister Yemeemah, my child-uncle Oniah and my child-aunt Peninnah, who were both younger than I was, and two or three other little friends to a meeting in the full of the moon. This was to be a secret meeting at which I would expose my idea for an army for our people. I realized that for such a project a great deal of money would be needed. "Oniah, who called himself my uncle, got cold feet and refused to participate. The other children, while in favor of my idea, refused to have their names mentioned, being afraid of their parents. So they appointed me to launch the project by myself in the form of a letter to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, which I agreed to do. "After much serious deliberation with myself I wrote what I called A Letter of Freedom for an Israeli Army* and I read it to the others. A majority of the group agreed to it and the letter was sent off." Ben Zion addressed the communication like this: Great Sire, Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Paris Palace, Next to the Palace of the President, Paris, France. 175 Tongue of the Prophets When the boy was asked later where he got such an address he explained that the principal of the school he attended once told the class that Baron Rothschild "lived in a palace in Paris more beauti ful than the home of the President of France." The letter, which the boy wrote in French, read as follows: Do not be surprised to receive this communication from your faithful servant. The current events in some of the colonies of Your Excel lency, at which a few farmers have been killed by their own so-called Arab guards, have caused great disturbance and ex citement among the Jews of the country. It is because of this that I, the undersigned, on behalf of my many friends, boys and girls (already a few hundreds) , appeal to Your Excellency with this proposition, daring, perhaps, at first sight. I am ready to undertake the responsibility for the formation of a Hebrew army which will defend the colonies of Your Ex cellency. This army, like the French army, will be made of Jews and Arabs, the latter to be named Ugion Etrangdre* As it is clear to me that such an army requires great funds, I propose to start small. One hundred men will be sufficient for the beginning, eighty Jews and twenty Arabs. According to my estimate, it will be necessary to have one hundred pounds per month, in addition to the money required for uniforms and armament. In order that Your Excellency will not suspect us of desiring the whole sum immediately, we shall appreciate it if we receive by the return of the mail the first one hundred napoleons for the purchase of uniforms for the officers. We have already also started maneuvers. We also have al ready a flag which is herewith enclosed, along with my picture when I was four years old. The flag was drawn for us by David Idelovitch from Rishon Le Zion, whom I call my uncle. This banner, as Your Excellency sees, is white, like the color of Is rael in its white conscience. 176 Saul Killed Thousands Your Excellency will be pleased to hear that I have trans lated into Hebrew, for the purpose of a marching song, the first verse of the French "Marseillaise," in abbreviation. In olden times we had Samsons, Maccabees, Bar-kochbas, Why should we not today have "Rothschilds"? Yes, Rothschilds, for this will be the name of our soldiers. Rothschilds with rifles and many napoleons, for, according to the Hebrew saying, "Money is the answer for everything." Please, Your Excellency, answer with money and your name will be written in the history of Israel not only as our "Great Donor" but also as "Leader of the Army of Israel." Saul has killed thousands. Your Excellency will kill tens of thousands ! I sign, with complete humbleness, Ben Zion Ben Yehuda, Colonel of the Hebrew Army. "Days, weeks, months passed without a reply from Paris. Then one day my father s friend, David Idelovitch, whom I called uncle, arrived from Rishon Le Zion, together with the secretary of Baron Rothschild, to see my parents, and said that the baron was shocked at the receipt of the letter, saying that this was the biggest scandal in the history of our land and that he therefore decided not to carry through his visit to Palestine as he had planned. "The baron said that if the son of Ben Yehuda, his great and de voted friend, could write such stupid things in order to get funds, he felt obliged to withdraw his interest in various undertakings in our country, and of course withdraw his support of my father s newspaper. "Needless to say, both my parents were shocked and dumfounded. An investigation was made and the perpetrator was found to be my self. I was brought before my parent and I acknowledged my guilt, but then I quickly added: " But I do not retract! "There was then a big uproar which was quieted down by the in tervention of my uncle from Rishon Le Zion. He influenced the 177 Tongue of the Prophets secretary to the baron and persuaded him to forget it and consider it a dead thing, which the latter promised to do." Despite the necessity of regulating the impetuosity of young Ben Zion, this period of Eliezer Ben Yehuda s life was probably the least troublous he had ever known. Hemda faithfully kept her promise to follow in her sister s foot steps. There was just one exception. If there were a shortage of food, which there often was, she divided what they had in exactly equal portions. She refused to "starve" herself, as Deborah had so often done. Despite Ben Zion s prank, the Ben Yehudas continued to receive a subsidy of ten napoleons per month from Baron Rothschild. The newspaper brought in a profit of one or two napoleons a week. In addition there were occasional "windfalls," like the one thousand rubles Eliezer received from a Russian publisher for a small diction ary, the sums paid for articles from the Deer reprinted in other pub lications, and the fee received for Ben Yehuda s translation into He brew of Jules Verne s Around the World in Eighty Days. One minor problem which developed in these days was a family conflict over Hemda s insistence on regular baths for the children. There was no bathroom, no bathtub, no hot water, all of which made bathing a rather complicated procedure. The naked child would stand in a large copper basin in the middle of the room, would soap himself, and then would be given a cold shower by Hemda from a pitcher. Ben Zion led in the rejoicing when Arabs one night stole the copper basin. But Hemda somehow managed to save money for another. In this period Eliezer was spending much time searching through Spanish, Italian, and Egytian literature for "lost" Hebrew words and would often come from his study with a book in his hand and read the family a passage he considered especially beautiful. Hemda required the children to memorize many of these selections. But the tranquillity of the home was shattered by what Ben Zion later called his "Second Scandal." As he told it: - "I came back from a -visit in the colonies one day full of excite ment at what I had seen, and a new idea was born in my mind : Saul Killed Thousands a newspaper for the children of Jerusalem and the settlements. "One day as I was walking through the Old City I stopped as usual at the stationery store of Mr. Hagis, who was holding in his hand a stenciled copy of a poem, and thereafter he showed me the little machine on which he could produce many more copies. He said it cost only one medjidie [a Turkish coin worth less than an American dollar]. "At this point my dream came back to me, a Hebrew children s paper with me as the editor. But here I was stuck. I did not have the great sum of one medjidie to buy the machine, and of course the whole thing had to be done in secret because I wished it to be a bombshell to the public. "Now I approached the oldest of my intimate acquaintances, Baruch Homah, who was known in our school for his beautiful handwriting, in Hebrew, French, and Arabic. He said that for the remuneration of one quarter of a medjidie he was willing to write up the whole paper in special ink for the stencil. But I still had no money. "Thereupon I went to see the writer Yavetz, whose eldest son agreed to write literary articles for the children. The rest of the edit ing I took upon myself. "The contents for the paper were soon ready for the first issue. The following were the contents: "a. To the Young Readers. "b. The Duty of Hebrew Children in Our Land. "c. Hebrew Only, or French and Turkish Also? "d. The Boundaries of Our Land Before Our Fathers Abraham and Moses. "e. Through the Land of Israel in Eight Days. "f. Children s Plays. "g. The Children s Press in France. "h. Jokes for Children and Charades. "Having everything ready, I went to our great friend, Nissim Behar, who was about to leave the country, and to Mr. Calmi, also a dear friend of the family, and told them my proposition. Mr. Nis sim Behar gave me immediately five French francs, and Mr. Calmi one half a medjidie. Tongue of the Prophets "Happy with my success, I ran to Baruch Homah, the boy with the beautiful script, and gave him the half medjidie, and then to the stationery shop and bought from Mr. Hagis the hectograph or dupli cating machine, to which he added five hundred sheets of paper. "A week later our paper appeared on the market. We sold fifty- seven copies and sent twenty to my uncle David in Rishon Le Zion, five to Rehovoth, and a few to Jaffa to Mr. Kragliakov, who refused to accept them. "The bombshell was enormous and the copies were handed from one to another. "When I told Mr. Hagis, the stationer, of our success he said : " *You will be a great man one day, son! 5 "When I got home, however, full of the glory, my father met me with scorn, not because of the whole enterprise but because of the article, The Boundaries of Our Land Before Our Fathers Abraham and Moses. He reminded me that after the first scandal I promised that I would never mention a Hebrew army or anything connected with it again, and yet in this article I declared that we must fight for the ancient boundaries. "Well, there was a feeling of panic in our circles. Yavetz repri manded his son. Baruch Homah s father made his son stop his par ticipation. "Luckily a sensational event took place in Jerusalem at this time which drowned the importance of my paper and the article. A Rus sian Jewish merchant by the name of Goldberg, seventy years old, and his wife, fifty-five, were shot dead by a Turkish policeman. "This aroused great excitement all around and caused complica tions in the Russian and Turkish diplomatic corps. "I took advantage of this turmoil and threw away the duplicating machine in the only pool in Jerusalem," 180 26 Behind Bars IN THE DYING YEARS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Palestine was populated by only a few tens of thousands of Jews spread thinly across the land. Yet there was little unity among them. The relationship between Ben Yehuda and Jehiel Michael Pines was typical of the times. The lexicographer-editor was actually a great admirer of the man who represented the Jews who had emigrated from Great Britain. It was Pines who, when Ben Yehuda first came to Palestine, helped him form the Hebrew-Speaking Group. Yet it was Pines who had terrified Deborah, telling her that her first-born child would grow up to be an idiot because the father insisted it speak only Hebrew. It had been a strange relationship. Now Pines was involved in a new controversy. There was a Russian- Jewish group called Bney Mosheh, which sponsored some of the Hebrew schools in Palestine. Its leader was a Russian intellectual who had changed his name from Ginzberg to Ahad Haam, meaning "One of the People." Ahad Haam was a Ben Yehuda ally in that he proselytized for spoken Hebrew, but he was an enemy in that he was against the colonization of Palestine, con tending that Jews were inadequately equipped, intellectually and 181 Tongue of the Prophets spiritually, for a pioneer life. He favored concentrating exclusively on improving the culture of Jews here and abroad. Pines and Ahad Haam had had a feud, and Pines had Ibeen read out of the group by its leader. The controversy came to a climax at a meeting in Jaffa which Ben Yehuda attended. Many vitriolic speeches were made, leading to an outburst by Pines himself in which he vowed that he would "fight to the last breath" against the Bney Mosheh. Ben Yehuda warned Pines that by his stand he was endangering all that both of them had been working for; that if he persisted he would destroy the entire Hebrew movement. Then let it be destroyed!" Pines shouted. This remark so angered Ben Yehuda that he retorted : "Then I shall destroy you first!" When Ben Yehuda reached home after the meeting he went im mediately to bed with bloody coughing spells. For days he was in a serious physical and emotional condition. He already deeply regret ted his outburst of temper against a man for whom he had such deep personal affection. Talking about it to Hemda, he said: "Maybe I was wrong, Bitti, yet this is a war we are fighting, and I suppose in a war a good soldier must fire at his adversary, even if that adversary be his own brother!" Hemda tried to nurse him back to health, but she had her own problems at this time. She and Ben Yehuda had been married for more than a year, and already the gossips of Jerusalem were raising their eyebrows and questioning the fact that the child bride had not yet conceived. She and Eliezer had talked about it months ago. She had subtly mentioned the fate of Deborah s three children and her husband s lung disease. She had told him of her horror at the infant and ma ternity mortality rate in Jerusalem and the prevalence of malaria, dysentery, and cc that terrible eye disease." Eliezer each time expressed his understanding of her hesitation. Yet she felt that he hoped she would bear him a child. So when Hemda finally felt new life stirring within her, she ftriekly confided the secret to her husband, who took her hand and sbfttysaid: , 182 Behind Bars "Bitti, I am very glad!" But that same evening she extracted a promise from him. It must remain a secret. She would hide it from everyone, even from her mother and his, for as long as possible. This would be her small way of annoying the gossips of Jerusalem. So Heinda continued to preside at her Friday-evening soirees, to write for the Deer, to attend receptions, and to travel to the colonies, cloaking her secret by an ingenious use of the dressmaker s art. The second Mrs. Ben Yehuda was almost twenty-two years old when she bore her first child, which was the sixth child of Eliezer, who was thirty-five. Mrs. Yonas announced the birth in these words to the father: "A perfect little girl ! Five fingers on each small hand and five toes to each small foot. Bright open eyes and a sweet, tiny mouth. You should be happy and proud, Eliezer!" To perpetuate the memory of the first Mrs. Ben Yehuda, the child was named after her, and the following announcement appeared in the next issue of the Deer: "A daughter has been born to Eliezer and Hemda Ben Yehuda, and her name is Deborah." Congratulations poured in from Jaffa and the settlements, but with them came some loud complaints. The announcement in the paper said a name had already been given* What did the Ben Ye- hudas mean by such defiance of religious convention? Were they not good enough Jews to know that a name is given only after prayers have been said in the synagogue? Eliezer Ben Yehuda was so excited over the birth of Deborah II and so eager to remain in constant attendance upon mother and child that he persuaded Father Yonas to take over temporarily the management of the newspaper. Father Yonas, the rebellious freethinker, had undergone some thing of a conversion during the brief time he had been in Palestine. Gradually he became less and less the rebel he had been most of his life. He warned the Ben Yehudas that they were making a great mis take in not bringing up the children in the strict ways of religious orthodoxy. 183 Tongue of the Prophets The elderly distiller from Glubokiah took pride in the issue of the Deer which he had the privilege of editing. It was a special issue for Hanukkahy the eight-day candlelight festival which commemorates the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Temple and is celebrated by putting one candle in the window the first night and adding one more each subsequent evening, through the eighth. Father Yonas was especially proud of the leading article he wrote entitled "Good Deeds Require a Purpose/ 5 which praised the cour age of the Maccabees and exhorted present-day Jews to follow in the footsteps of their illustrious ancestors. Like the Maccabees, the article said, "we must collect our forces and move forward." Palestinian editors in those days had to be very careful of what they wrote. Under Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the Ottoman officials were severe in their censorship. Jewish editors could comment on Jewish affairs and their own internal politics, but that was about all. They were not allowed to discuss, let alone criticize, the Ottoman Empire. If Ben Yehuda ever wished to publish even news items about world affairs, he had to be sure they were carefully phrased, with the import half concealed. Yet as Eliezer read over the special issue of the Deer he could see nothing wrong with anything his father-in-law had written. That was why what happened surprised and shocked him. On Friday afternoon, the fourth day after the birth of Deborah, and only a few hours after the Hanukkah issue of the Deer appeared, the walls of buildings along Jerusalem s Jaffa Street were suddenly plastered with placards signed by officers of the Central Administra tion of the Halukkah, by the Hacham Bashi of Jerusalem, and by the chief Ashkenazic rabbi. The placards denounced Ben Yehuda for using his paper to try to stir up armed revolt against the Turks, a scheme with which the signers hereby completely dissociated themselves. As proof of the accusation, the placards quoted the single phrase from the Yonas article, "Let us collect our forces and move for ward." This, of course, meant military forces, they said. All day Saturday, Jerusalem, which thrived on controversy, buzzed with excitement. Some said: 184 Behind Bars "Obviously Ben Yehuda is proving too much of an annoyance for the old generation. They finally realize that he represents a new element which has entered the country and will not be put in its place and is changing the very foundations of Jewish life here. Therefore, they are out to get him !" The opposition, however, charged that Ben Yehuda had been "poking his nose into everything"; that every week his paper made some new attack on Jews; that he had tried to interfere in the elec tion of the Hacham Bashi; that he had printed expos& about the distribution of charitable contributions from abroad; that he had criticized the way Jewish religious institutions were run; that he had made public a list of rabbis and scholars who had been receiving free medical service from charitable funds. Jerusalem, they argued, must be freed of this man s evil influence by any means possible. The placards were right! Ben Yehuda himself dismissed the entire affair with one word, "Ridiculous !" and went on about his business. But on Sunday morning a policemen in Turkish uniform ap peared at the Ben Yehuda home and said Eliezer must accompany him. After getting his hat and coat, the editor stopped at his wife s bedroom and called to her: "I shall be back soon. I am just going to the censor s office!" After he was gone Hemda s instincts told her that something was wrong. It was the first time since their marriage he had ever left the house without kissing her good-by. Hours went by. Still Eliezer did not return. Late in the day Hemda became anxious and sent someone to bring Nissim Behar to her. The messenger returned saying Mr. Behar was with Mr. Ben Yehuda. Finally, early in the evening, Mr. Behar appeared. The process of interrogation had been long and protracted, and it had not yet been concluded. "However, do not worry. Your husband will surely be home in the morning." Hemda, finally realizing that Eliezer had been imprisoned, burst into tears. 185 Tongue of the Prophets At midnight a man wearing long earlocks and a dark coat ar rived with what he said was a message from Mr. Ben Yehuda. He must deliver it to no one but the wife. Speaking in a whisper, he identified himself as Alter Kossover. He ran a store at the prison where the watchmen bought their gro ceries. Therefore, he had certain privileges. When he had heard that Ben Yehuda, whom he greatly respected, had been imprisoned, he persuaded a guard to let him visit the prisoner. When he asked Ben Yehuda if there was anything he could do for him, the editor had said^. "Yes, go at once to my home and tell my wife it would be wise if she cleaned up the house because she might be having some unex pected guests soon." As the man talked Hemda studied his face and finally decided he was a trustworthy character. Yet she had a fear that this might be some sort of trap. What did Eliezer mean about cleaning up the house? And guests? He knew she was bedridden, and so ... But then she suddenly realized what he was trying to tell her, so she quickly replied to the messenger: "Say to Ben Yehuda that I understand and shall clean up the house at once !" As soon as the prison shopkeeper had gone she went to the study and collected all the documents and letters which might in any way compromise her husband with Turkish authorities. She made a package of these papers and had them delivered to a neighbor. The morning after the imprisonment another messenger arrived with a note from Ben Yehuda. It read: "I am in prison, but many friends are working to get me out. Do not worry. Take care of yourself." Hemda, however, had no faith in Ottoman bureaucracy. She con sidered the Turkish officials more unpredictable, more evil than even those of the czarist regime. In her wild imagination she decided that even now Eliezer might be on his way to an execution chamber in Constantinople. So she announced she was going to the prison in person and began dressing. David Yellin, the young Hebrew instructor, accompanied her. As they walked through the Old City businessmen stood in their door- 186 Behind Bars ways to stare at her, and a crowd gathered. As they walked Hemda said to Yellin: "It is all so quiet. It is almost as if the angels of death were hover ing around us already !" When they arrived at the prison gates the watchman said they were too late; it was after sunset; the prison was closed; they could not possibly be admitted until midnight, when the director would arrive for his nightly inspection. "Have some pity on this poor woman!" Yellin pleaded, at the same time surreptitiously handing the guard some coins. The guard said, "Wait a minute!" and disappeared. When he returned Ben Yehuda was with him. The husband and wife talked from opposite sides of the iron gate. Hemda thought Eliezer looked very pale and terrified. They had exchanged only a few words when the watchman said he would now have to take Ben Yehuda away; this was strictly against the rules. Nissim Behar was waiting for Hemda when she returned home. Her first request was that he send a report at once to Baron Roth schild in Paris. Maybe he would help. By this time it had become clear that the arrest had been made after the Orthodox leaders had taken a translation of the Yonas arti cle to the Turkish officials, along with their own statement disavow ing responsibility for the "diabolical" suggestion advanced by the paper. The arrest itself had been ordered by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who had previously issued the decrees forbidding Jewish immi gration into Palestine. Nissim Behar was the leader of the fight for Ben Yehuda s libera tion. He worked day and night without rest, hardly taking time for meals. He went to the Turkish governor of Jerusalem and tried to explain that the accusation was merely a vengeful act of old enemies. But the governor, obviously afraid of his own superiors in Constan tinople, replied: "You had better have nothing to do with this man or his affairs, else you might find yourself in a cell with him. 5 "I am ready to go whenever you decide to send me!" Behar re plied, and stalked off. 187 Tongue of the Prophets It was Nissim Behar who sent a long cable to Zadok Kahn, Chief Rabbi of France, imploring him to take the case up with Baron Rothschild. Behar knew that the baron s representative in Rishon Le Zion had already cabled Paris that the Rothschild standing in Palestine would suffer greatly if the baron intervened in the case. It was Nissim Behar who appealed to Ben Yehuda s friends throughout Palestine to contribute what they could to a fund. He ex plained that it would cost one thousand gold francs per day to bribe the prison officials, from the director down to the doorkeeper, in or der to obtain permission for Ben Yehuda s acquaintances to visit him, which was essential so they could hold consultations about what he was to say at his own trial. The money was raised quickly. Behar s own daughter, Henrietta, pawned the jewelry left to her by her mother and gave the proceeds to the fund. Hundreds of people came daily to the prison. A Jewish business man and his Arab partner opened a special cafe outside the gates so Ben Yehuda s visitors could get coffee and other refreshment. Telegrams by the hundreds came from all parts of Europe. Numerous progressive Arabs, among them many high officials, risked the ire of the Turkish government by openly lining up on Ben Yehuda s side. Many offers of help came from Christians, some of them diplo mats, some Catholic priests. One group of Freemasons sent a resolu tion of protest against the "crime" of the imprisonment. The most encouraging repercussion was that Ben Yehuda s arrest finally brought about some degree of solidarity among those Jews who were not actually in the camp of the opposition. Even Pines, with whom Ben Yehuda had so recently had such a violent feud, came to Hemda with an offer to do anything he could. He was in such a state of indignation over the arrest that at times he actually wept with anger. It was well known that Father Yonas was the author of the article which had started all the trouble. But he was still a Russian subject, whereas Ben Yehuda had become a Turkish citizen and also was listed on the masthead of the paper as the "responsible editor." Fur thermore, it was Ben Yehuda they were after. 188 Behind Bars For eight days the emaciated, consumptive editor was kept behind bars. At first he was put in a cell already occupied by fifteen assas sins, a cell so small and crowded that he had to remain standing all night, his face thrust against the small opening at the top of the door in order to get air to breathe. The next day the prison doctor, influenced by a sizable bribe paid to him by Nissim Behar, decided that Ben Yehuda s tubercular con dition endangered the lives of the fifteen condemned murderers and ordered him put in a cell by himself. Hemda and Nissim Behar arranged to have a painter whitewash the walls of the new cell to rid them of insects. They also sent Ben Yehuda a straw rug, a bed, a mattress, a chair, and a worktable, as well as bed linen, a lamp, books, ink, paper, and a small oilstove on which to make tea. In her excitement Hemda mislaid the grating for the stove and as a substitute sent two large oriental keys to hold up the teapot. Hemda wanted to take Eliezer s two oldest children to the prison to see him, but Ben Zion was visiting the Yonases, who some time ago had taken quarters of their own, so Hemda was able to take only Yemeemah. They arrived at the hour of the midday meal. As they entered the prison they saw the other inmates wash their feet and then join in a prayer for their own delivery, to which they added a postscript to the Almighty "for the man with the little beard." Hemda, describing the visit later, said: "The courtyard looked like a melting pot of East and West." On the way home Hemda and her stepdaughter came upon a scene which shocked them. In a narrow street they saw Ben Zion, then only eleven, surrounded by a crowd of older boys, most of them students in the Yeshiva, who danced around the child, pointing their fingers and shouting in Hebrew so he would surely understand (be cause he still spoke no other language) : "Your father is in prison. Your father is getting, what he deserves. Your father, the Heretic, is in jail. Your father is behind bars with murderers where he belongs." When Ben Zion saw his stepmother he ran to her with tears streaming down his face. 189 Tongue of the Prophets Later in the evening, after he had grown calm, he suddenly said to Hemda: "One thing Father will be happy about, anyway. Every word they shouted at me was in Hebrew. In his language !" On the third day the prison director called at Ben Yehuda s cell to pay an official visit. The two got along amazingly well, for the di rector was interested in astronomy, and Ben Yehuda could converse intelligently on the subject because he had studied it at the univer sity. They were in friendly astronomical conversation when the di rector suddenly looked down and saw the two oriental keys beside the teapot on Ben Yehuda s table. The warden examined the keys carefully. By an odd coincidence they were almost exactly the size and shape of the keys to the prison gate. That ended a happy friendship between two astronomy en thusiasts. The next morning Hemda was allowed to have breakfast with her husband in the prison courtyard, at the cost of another bribe. This time the other prisoners included her in their prayers. On each suc ceeding visit Hemda found Eliezer more calm. He even grew philosophical. "It does not matter," he told his wife, "what they do to me. If they condemn me to stay in prison for a long time, at least I shall be able to work on my dictionary here." 190 27 On Bail ON THE EIGHTH DAY AFTER THE ARREST THERE appeared at the cell of Eliezer Ben Yehuda two guards who an nounced that they had come to take him to the Palace of Justice to stand trial for treason. One of them carried a pair of handcuffs. Passively the young editor held out his hands so they could be fastened together with the links of steel. But at this moment some thing caused the guard to drop the handcuffs to the floor. The other guard, his superior, cursed and said: "Idiot! Surely you know that now we must take him without his hands bound together, for it is written that if the circles of iron drop to the ground they must not be used again." Thus Eliezer Ben Yehuda walked through the doors of the Palace of Justice for his own trial with his hands hanging free. Outside the building a great crowd was gathered. It was about equally divided between those who shouted the Hebrew equivalent of "Hurrah for Ben Yehuda!" and those who cried in a babel of Yiddish, Ladino, Russian, German, French, and other languages, "Condemn the heretic !" It was worthy of note that Ben Yehuda s supporters were mostly I9 1 Tongue of the Prophets young people, while his opponents were nearly all of ,the older gen eration. The prisoner s defense counsel was a Dominican monk. Father La- Grange, Ben Yehuda s close friend, who had always been eager to have Eliezer enter the monastery. The judges were a Sephardic Jew and two Arabs. The entire case was prejudiced just before the trial began by the arrival in Jerusalem from Constantinople of a cable signed by the re ligious leader of the entire Jewish community of Turkey proclaim ing against Ben Yehuda a ban or herem, as grave a punishment as excommunication of a Catholic by a decree from Rome. Following Jewish religious procedure, the ceremony of the herem was carried out in the principal synagogue of Jerusalem, with the blowing of the shof ar and the burning of black candles. Throughout the rest of Palestine the fact was widely advertised that henceforth and forever this man who had defied the ecclesiastical authorities was an unclean and evil person, beyond the realm of salvation. According to custom, no one but members of the immediate family could have anything to do with a person placed under such a ban. It therefore amounted to a virtual business and professional boycott. Among Orthodox Jews it was the most feared of all punish ments. It later developed that the excommunication had been arranged by the rabbis of Jerusalem, who had argued with their spiritual leader that if he failed to take such action it would be a virtual an nouncement to the world that he and they favored the proposed overthrow by force of the Ottoman Empire. So when the case of the Ottoman Empire vs. Eliezer Ben Yehuda came to trial it was already an established fact that his own people, the Jews, had officially, through proper ecclesiastical channels, is sued their own condemnation of him. Father LaGrange presented to the court a translation into Arabic of the disputed editorial, arguing that it contained nothing at all re bellious. The prosecutor retorted: iC The Jewish rabbis are better able to judge than you! 5 * The one pregnant phrase, "Let us collect our forces and move 192 On Bail forward," contained an old Hebrew expression, laassot hayil, which figuratively means "to progress, to go ahead, 33 but literally can be translated, "to form an army." Mr, Yonas had used it in its purely metaphorical sense, but that was not easy to prove in a court of law. The judges were in a difficult predicament. The Jew was afraid to compromise himself and therefore held out for a verdict of guilty. The two Arabs had been bribed by both sides and were therefore in a quandary. Finally the bench handed down its verdict. It took a "happy" middle course. The opinion was expressed that Eliezer Ben Yehuda was not a dangerous rebel. On the other hand, said the opinion, it was clear that he was a troublemaker who should be punished. Therefore, he was hereby sentenced to one year in prison. The newspaper, the verdict said, was certainly the cause of all the trouble, and so it was hereby suspended indefinitely. The judges then ruled that Ben Yehuda could take an appeal to a higher court if he wished, meanwhile going free on bail, if such bail were provided on the spot. Otherwise he would go back to prison and lose his chance for temporary freedom, even if a satisfac tory bond were to be forthcoming later. The court set bail at three hundred Turkish pounds (about fifteen hundred dollars) . Nissim Behar jumped up and offered to sign the required bond, but his offer was rejected because he was not a property owner. After an audible gasp of disappointment from Ben Yehuda s friends the guards started to take the prisoner back to his cell. At this dramatic moment a Sephardic Jew, Shlomoh Amiel, who had emigrated from Morocco years ago and now was a wealthy Pal estinian landowner, stepped forward and agreed to put his signature to a bond, which was accepted. Flanked by his two most loyal friends, Nissim Behar and David Yellin, Ben Yehuda walked from the building a temporarily free man. The crowd, assuming that he had been found innocent, broke into an uproar, the cheers interspersed with almost equally vehe ment shouts of disapproval. 193 Tongue of the Prophets Jerusalem that winter was plagued by heavy rains, fierce storms, great winds, and bitter cold weather. It was a gloomy winter for everyone, most of all for the newspaper editor without a newspaper. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, by the terms of the bond under which he had been liberated, was not allowed to leave the country or to move about freely. Even when he walked in the darkness of Jerusalem s narrow, twisting streets he had the feeling that he was being watched and followed. Most of the time he was a prisoner within his own four walls, although he did occasionally spend long hours in Nissim Behar s home, planning the appeal. In these months both sides were preparing for the new trial, which was to take place in the Syrian city of Beirut. The prosecution sought to postpone the rehearing of the case to as late a date as possible, for as long as the lower court s sentence hung over the editor s head he was under a stigma and could be con trolled. Also, the case could remain a continuing source of revenue to officials who were not above subtly suggesting the payment of more bribes when they were not voluntarily forthcoming. Ben Yehuda s advisers naturally wished to have the trial as soon as possible, because the editor was without a voice as long as his pa per was banned. Nissim Behar wrote to prominent Jews the world over for their moral and financial assistance. The opposition followed his example, so a battle of letters ensued. Both sides knew that the trump card in this game of strategy was held by Baron Rothschild; that whichever side he supported would have victory within its grasp. So the French millionaire was deluged with cables and letters. For a long time there was complete silence from Paris, Then fi nally the Orthodox rabbis received one of the most succinct cables on record. It read merely: EXERCEZ VOS PRIERES. BARON ROTHSCHILD. It took no great astuteness to realize that behind this admonition to "look to your prayers" was the implication that they were outside 194 On Bail their proper sphere when they interfered in political and judicial matters. It was undoubtedly this cable which prompted them to try to back out of the case in as face-saving a manner as possible to avoid the wrath of their benefactor. Accordingly a message was sent to Ben Yehuda that the Hacham Bashi wished to see him. With understandable pride the editor refused to present himself. One day Nissim Behar invited Hemda and Eliezer to his home for tea. When they arrived they found a large assemblage of guests, and from the expressions on the faces realized that this was no ordinary social affair. After their host had greeted them he waved his hand toward a black curtain which hung over a doorway, and through the curtain came the splendid figure of the Hacham Bashi, Rabbi Jacob Saul Elyashar, with his hands outstretched. As he approached Ben Yehuda he said in Hebrew: <c Ahenu atah [You are our brother] !" Quickly Ben Yehuda was surrounded by excited well-wishers who knew that these are the words by which a herem or excommunica tion is formally and officially lifted. Turning to his host, Ben Yehuda indignantly said: "Why did you do this without my consent?" Nissim Behar smiled. "My friend, it is done!" Ben Yehuda returned to his home that day full of annoyance and refused even to discuss what had happened. It was Hemda who passed the news on to other members of the family that Eliezer was no longer technically an infidel. The happiest of all was Feygaleh Perlman, the most Orthodox member of the household. It had grieved her that her own son, in stead of becoming a conventional rabbi as she had always dreamed he would, had ended up being declared a heretic. Ben Zion also understood what it all meant. In a burst of feeling he said: "Now they will no longer be able to dance around me, and call me names, and shout that my father is a bad man!" 195 Tongue of the Prophets Little Yemeemah thought it meant that her father would never again be sent to a horrible place like the prison in which she had visited him, so she dapped her hands and joined in the celebration. Later Nissim Behar arrived and convinced Ben Yehuda that he had not "lost face" ; that he had actually won an important victory; that the lifting of the excommunication would help raise his stature throughout Palestine, would bring new unity in the Jewish com munity, and, most important of all, would pave the way for an ac quittal at Beirut. "Even if Baron Rothschild uses his influence on the judges," Be har explained, "and of course I still hope that he will, it is neces sary that the high court have some excuse for an acquittal. Now the excuse has been provided, for by lifting the ban the rabbis have offi cially retracted their charge and have as much as admitted that they were wrong." In the weeks which followed, Ben Yehuda devoted all his time to his dictionary, working eighteen or nineteen hours a day in his study, most of the time standing, for he preferred to work at a high desk such as bookkeepers use. He contended that he could think better standing up. Because the winter of that year was so frigid and because the Ben Yehudas had no money for fuel, it was necessary for Eliezer to work bundled up in as many garments as he could drape on his frail body. One day Nissim Behar arrived wearing a broad grin which her alded the good news he bore. "The baron," he announced, "has finally thrown his full support to our side !" Then he explained that a message had just been received by the Rothschild representative: ACQUITTEZ BEN YEHUDA CO^TE QUE COtfTE. That was a nice French idiom, coute que coute: "regardless of cost"! With the message had come a check for ten thousand francs. The defense spent three thousand francs hiring a good lawyer. Five thousand more went to bribing the prosecutor. The remainder 196 On Bail was used for miscellaneous expenses, which of course included some minor bribes. The appeal was heard eight months after the original trial. Nissim Behar was unable to leave his school and Hemda was un able to leave her infant child, so Ben Yehuda went to Beirut alone. Friend and wife waited impatiently for news of the verdict. Fi nally it came in a cable from Eliezer which contained just one He brew word : ZAKKAY [INNOCENT]. When the exonerated editor returned home, however, he an nounced a detail of the decision which kept the family happiness from being complete. The court had ruled that the ban on the Deer must remain in ef fect for a full year in all, which meant another four months of voice- lessness for Eliezer Ben Yehuda. The partial victory was hailed in the press around the world as a triumph over bigotry and persecution. 197 28 Words Everywhere ALTHOUGH BEN YEHUDA WAS GLAD TO HAVE THE additional four months in which he could work without interruption on his "words/ 5 it was apparent to everyone that he was as unhappy without his paper as a professional orator or singer without the use of voice. As the twelve months drew to a close he began counting the days. Finally, on the anniversary of the original trial, he presented himself at the office of the governor of Jerusalem and applied for the return of the Deer s license. The stubborn old governor said he did not feel bound by the order of the court in Beirut. The paper would remain under the ban for a full twelve months more. If by then nothing else had happened, per mission to republish might be forthcoming. Ben Yehuda was disconsolate. He poured out his bitterness to Hemda. She tried to comfort him, saying: "Eliezer, my dear, I am sure this is Providence s way of forcing you to concentrate on the really important task. You were happy for months working on your dictionary. Now you can continue to con centrate on it. You know that is really your lifework!" So Ben Yehuda went back to his study and his words. For years he 198 Words Everywhere had been covering small pieces of paper with notations in his fine, aesthetic handwriting. The room was full of them. They overflowed from his desk and the tables onto the floor. Whoever cleaned the room had specific instructions that no scrap of paper, however small and unimportant-looking, was ever to be thrown away or even touched. Hemda knew that on the back of an envelope there might be notes for a word which someday would be used by millions of Jews to designate an object or idea for which no Hebrew word had previ ously existed. Or on such a scrap of paper there might be a few words of etymology which Ben Yehuda had spent weeks searching for in some distant library, Hemda never forgot the day her husband "lost a word." He came to her with the expression of a child whose favorite little sailboat has just been carried out of sight by a malicious wind. "Bitti," he said in a grieved voice, holding up a piece of paper not much larger than a postage stamp, "have you seen one of my notes about this size? I have hunted for hours and hours and cannot find it!" Hemda shook her head. Finally she said: "Eliezer, what was on the piece of paper?" "It was a word, Hemda. A new Hebrew word. A very important word which we need very much. I do not know what I shall do if I fail to find it ! It would take months and months of work, searching through books here and abroad, to trace that word again. It was a word which disappeared from usage long ago. I was just about to bring it back to life again when Where do you suppose that piece of paper went to, Hemda?" Eventually the "lost word" was found in the cuff of Eliezer^s trouser leg, but Hemda knew that this would happen over and over again until the dictionary was finally completed. The Ben Yehuda family lived on words those days, and little else but words, for the financial situation was acute again. They had dark bread and words for breakfast. They had bread and words and olive oil for the midday meal. They had bread and words and maybe a little something else for the meal at the end of the day. About this time the Ben Yehudas were paid a visit by an English 199 Tongue of the Prophets scholar. Professor Solomon Schechter, who later was to become president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He ex pressed great admiration for the work Ben Yehuda was doing and before he left made a suggestion which, although childishly simple, revolutionized the lexicographer s work. He advised Ben Yehuda to inaugurate a filing system; to put his notes on small cards and ar range them systematically. This suggestion enabled Ben Yehuda to classify his material and make much speedier progress in his work. Two young theological students, Rafalowitch and Hirschenson, were hired at ten francs apiece per month to work half of each day copying Ben Yehuda s notes in alphabetical order. Few people in Jerusalem understood Ben Yehuda. Very few un derstood what he was doing eighteen or nineteen hours a day poring over so many books. But everyone knew about the books. They knew that this thin, consumptive man consumed books voraciously. So they came in a constant stream to the Ben Yehuda home laden with books. Some came to sell their books. Others wanted to rent them at a small weekly fee. The more generous brought them as free-will offer ings and presented them as gifts. There was hardly a book they brought, no matter in what lan guage, that Ben Yehuda did not at least skim through. He had an elaborate system of marking passages with pencils of various colors. Sometimes, however, if he happened to have a pen in his hand, in his absent-mindedness he would make marginal notes in ink, to the eventual distress of the owner of the volume. The mountains of books that were stacked everywhere in the Ben Yehuda home bothered Hemda, who was instinctively a neat house keeper. The books which the people of Jerusalem brought were often anything but clean. Often worms crawled out from the bundles, or cockroaches. Sometimes moths flew out. Once she even saw a small mouse chew its way out of a package of books someone had left in the entrance hall. It was the mouse which prompted Hemda to say at dinner one night, trying to frighten her husband into action: 200 Wards Everywhere "Eliezer, I am afraid these bugs and animals will breed and mul tiply in your study and that eventually they will eat up all your lovely Hebrew words! 35 To which the husband, in an oratorical voice, replied: "A living Hebrew word, Bitti, is stronger than any bug or insect or animal ! It will fight for its life and will survive afl its enemies F In these days there arrived in Jerusalem from Paris a representa tive of Baron Rothschild, who called on the Ben Yehudas and after the usual formalities said he had something interesting to show them. Out of his suitcase he produced an album of fine leather containing ten attractive pictures. "I have the intention," he announced, "of paying a visit to the Turkish governor of your city and making him a gift of this volume with the compliments of the baron." "I am sure he will appreciate it," Ben Yehuda said with only a mild show of interest. But the visitor went on, with his eyes sparkling: "We have a hope that he will be so pleased with the gift that he will make certain concessions to us." The visitor now had the expression of a small boy in possession of a secret no one else knows and who can hardly wait to reveal it to someone. Turning to Hemda, he said : "Do you not notice that each picture is fastened in the book quite loosely and that there is something peeking out from underneath each one?" Hemda had not noticed. But now she looked more carefully and found that under each picture there was a one-thousand-franc- bank note, with a corner of each just barely showing. "I think," said the baron s representative, "that our friend, the old pasha, will like the album very much. Then we shall see what concessiofis the old rascal will give us." The Ben Yehudas sent the man off with their good wishes and then waited impatiently for him to return with a report. He was gone for hours. When he came back he had a self -satisfied smile on Ids face. Eliezer had difficulty remaining patient. 201 Tongue of the Prophets "Tell us quickly what concessions if any you obtained !" "He agreed that the ban will be lifted on the right of Jews to con struct new houses." Eliezer jumped to his feet. "That is a great victory ! That will end one of the worst handicaps our people have had in the colonization of the land ! You are to be greatly " Honda, however, interrupted: "Did you by any good fortune obtain any other concession?" The man from Paris smiled. "Yes. It was a very fruitful meeting. The old pasha also agreed to mitigate the ban against the immigration of Jews into Palestine. From now on we shall not have to smuggle our people into the coun try disguised as sacks of potatoes I" "That is the way my own mother had to enter Palestine," Ben Yehuda said wistfully. "Yes/ 5 said Hemda, "but I had hoped that maybe . . ." The man from Paris seemed to be enjoying the little game he was playing. Now he stood up in order to make his next announcement as impressive as possible, "Your hopes, Mrs. Ben Yehuda, were well founded. The pasha also gave his permission for a weekly newspaper known as the Deer to be published again, starting at once !" In the months that followed, Ben Yehuda temporarily abandoned work on his dictionary and devoted all his energy to reviving his "favorite child" which had, for nearly a year and a half, been sleep ing. Soon its voice was stronger than ever and began to be heard not only in Palestine but even beyond the borders of the country. The interest shown in the revival of the Deer indicated how much it had been missed. Young aspiring journalists in the settlements be gan voluntarily to send in news reports. It was Hemda who was responsible for a journalistic fraud which greatly enlivened the paper. She had resumed her column, "Letter from Jerusalem." Now she suggested: "Why should I not also write letters from Vienna, Paris, Moscow, Berlin?" 202 Words Everywhere "But, Bitti, where would you get your material? We cannot afford to send you to all those cities!" "If I read all that the papers from those places say about art, books, politics, music, and everything else, I could get all the infor mation I need, then if some of our friends could send us occasional short cables they could be worked into my columns and make them appear as if they had all just been cabled to us." Eliezer at first thought this would be a violation of journalistic ethics, but Hemda had her way and soon columns were appearing each week from foreign capitals bearing the signatures of various mythical correspondents. One week Hemda wrote a "Letter from Safed," signing it with the pseudonym Hida. A few days after it appeared Hemda, at a lit erary gathering in Jerusalem, met a personable young man who obviously, from his conversation, failed to realize her identity. He was making, however, a great effort to impress this attractive young \\roman with his own literary accomplishments. Oh yes, he was a writer, he said. A professional writer. A great Seal of his work had been published. Surely die knew the paper called the Deer! He was a regular correspondent. In fact, he had had a column in the Deer this past week entitled "Letter from Safed." She had read it? What did she think of his literary style? That night, telling Eliezer about it, Hemda said: "I wonder how many people in Paris, Vienna, Moscow, and Ber lin are taking credit for what I write?" Ben Yehuda s encouragement of young Jewish writers in various parts of Europe prompted them to send a flood of contributions to the revived Deer. Many men who later were to become celebrated in the field of Jewish literature got their start through the little Jerusalem weekly. Nahum Slousch wrote many travel stories for the Deer. His Voy age to Lithuania was printed in weekly installments. Saul Tshernikowski, who later became known as the "poet of paganism" and "the poet laureate of the Jews," contributed many poems which introduced a Hellenic spirit to a growing Hebrew literature. 203 Tongue of the Prophets Micah Berdyczewski wrote fiction and philosophical pieces for the paper. Joseph Klausner contributed articles on a variety of subjects. Each time an envelope came from any of these men there was excitement in the office of the Deer, for the Ben Yehudas realized there here, without a doubt, was another piece of real literature. One day an especially fat envelope came from Berdyczewski. It contained a philosophical article entitled "The Cane." As Ben Yehuda read it his forehead was as wrinkled as it often was when he was struggling with an especially troublesome philological prob lem. Finally he tossed the article onto Hemda s desk, saying: "Read this, Bitti, and see what you think of it. I am afraid I do not understand exactly what he means. But I am sure there is some thing in it." After Hemda had studied it she reported : "I fail to understand its meaning either, but it is beautifully writ ten, so let s publish it. * The day the next issue of the Deer came from the press Ben Yehuda and his wife went off on their first trip to the settlements since the Deer had reappeared. They wanted to get the reactions of their public. They were certain they would be showered with con gratulations, for the Deer was becoming strong and robust and ad venturesome. They went from colony to colony, thanking their friends for their support during the black hours. At Rishon Le Zion they were greeted by an elderly subscriber who pointed a finger at Ben Yehuda and shouted: <c Those letters from Paris and London and other places you can t fool me ! You write them yourself ! J * Someone else expostulated: "That man Nahun Slousch bores us with his interminable voyages and travel tales I" Then there were the tirades against Tshernikowski by those who said he wrote only of "love and stolen kisses, sweet promises and broken hearts." In the same breath they denounced the love stories wMch Hemda occasionally wrote. Love, the critics said, should be 204 Wards Everywhere confined to the bedroom and not written about; especially not in the holy language or in a publication that the young might read. But it was the article called "The Cane" which came in for the most violent denunciations. Judah Grazovski, one of Ben Yehuda s best friends in Jaffa, called it "nonsense." David Idelovitch, the Hebrew teacher, could hardly wait to say : "Ben Yehuda, why do you fill your paper with such straw and fodder? Do you think we are all donkeys and cattle unable to dis tinguish between such stuff and real literature? What does the writer of this article mean? I defy you to explain it!" Hemda looked quickly at her husband. She could tell he was about to admit it had been incomprehensible to him, too, so she took a quick step forward and said rather sarcastically: "It s just that you re too lazy to figure it out ! Read it three or four times more and eventually you will comprehend it." The only new writer who was generally approved was Klausner. Hemda said it was because "he manages all the time to say nothing but to say it beautifully, without making anyone think." One subscriber said, "Why waste your energy on a little news paper? You ought to be working full time on your dictionary." "The dictionary depends on you people," Ben Yehuda replied. "You can have it whenever you wish. I am ready to commence the printing just as soon as funds are forthcoming. If you wish a Hebrew dictionary so badly, then go out and raise the money!" As a result of that speech those within hearing promptly sub scribed enough for the publication of a volume of forty pages. At that time Ben Yehuda himself thought one thousand pages would be sufficient for the kind of dictionary he had in mind, little realizing himself to how many volumes of how many thousands of pages the first real Hebrew dictionary in history would eventually run. 205 29 Burned Career BY THE YEAR 1897, IN SPITE OF THE OBSTACLES which the Ottoman Empire had so often thrown along the path, a real national Jewish life had begun to develop in Palestine, partly as a result of the labors of Eliezer Ben Yehuda and his group of idealistic followers. By this time Jaffa, so recently an almost Arab city, had become at least half Jewish, . The settlements were multiplying, and dividing, and increasing their holdings as well as their population. Even the ancient city of Safed, so far from Jerusalem, was feel ing the effects of the renaissance because of the colonies in that area* Hebrew at last was being used as a living language by those who dared defy the reactionaries, Nissim Behar, weary of the continuous difficulties he was having with assistants sent to him from Paris, resigned his principalship of the Alliance school about this time and started on a tour of the world. When he left, the Ben Yehudas felt they had lost their best and most loyal ally. His successor continued French as the curricu lum language. 206 Burned Career An institution for the education of Jewish girls, called the Evelina de Rothschild School, used English as its "official" language. The Lamel School, supported by the Jews of Germany, conducted all its classes in the Teutonic language, as did a German orphanage which finally had a sizable enrollment. Ben Yehuda wrote frequent articles demanding to know how long this absurd situation was going to be allowed to continue. He kept insisting that the "first" language in every school be Hebrew, arguing that this would create harmony and that if eventually the children spoke the language in their homes, their parents would also learn it. But Hebrew was being taught as a "foreign language" in most of the schools by now, and many of Ben Yehuda s allies among the teachers encouraged their pupils to speak Hebrew on their play grounds, in the streets, and after they reached home. Teachers and principals who co-operated in this way received special recognition in the columns of the Deer. Not many months after the ban on the Deer had been lifted Ben Yehuda one day announced to Hemda: "Look, Bitti! Here is the first copy to come from the press of the first real little Hebrew dictionary in two thousand years !" Almost as proudly as he had showed off his first child years ago, he displayed to his wife a forty-page booklet which he had published with tie small fund they had raised on their last trip to the colonies. It was badly printed on cheap paper with a thin yellow cover, yet it was a dictionary, put out in defiance of the Turkish decree against the publishing of books by Jews. Later that day he said: "One thing I realized as I prepared the copy for this little book. If there is ever going to be a real dictionary I must get to work on it in earnest. Years and years of work remain to be done, and I do not see how " "I have a solution, Eliezer. You must put everything else aside and " "But the newspaper, Bitti " "I shall take over the paper. From time to time you can give me 207 Tongue of the Prophets a political article, and of course you must write your column about words. But leave the rest to me." So it was that Hemda, although pregnant with her second child, became in fact if not in title the editor of the Deer. The day she as sumed charge she took her chemistry notebooks from a trunk and burned them. One day a group of Jewish women came to Hemda and asked for her help on a project of theirs. They had discovered that the people were hungry for music, so they had engaged a gifted young violinist from Rehovoth to come to Jerusalem and give a concert. The Alliance school would permit the use of its auditorium. The women themselves would sell tickets from door to door. But they needed some publicity. And they also needed a word. They wanted a Hebrew word for "concert" ! Hemda took up the philological matter with Eliezer. "Yes, Bitti, tliere is a word, tizmoret. I have just recently made some notes about it. A very pleasant little word it is !" Hemda reported to the concert committee that as his contribution to the project her husband presented them with tizmoret, but they should keep it as a surprise until the last moment. Eliezer, however, not being informed that it was to be a surprise, launched the word on the public in his next word-column in the Deer, immediately precipitating a crisis in Palestinian musical cir cles, for at this same time, in Rishon Le Zion, a small orchestra was also planning a concert and also needed a word for it. Reading in the Deer about tizmoret, they put out announcements that a tizmoret would be given on such-and-such a date. The women of Jerusalem were disconsolate. Not only was there no longer any surprise, but "their word" had been expropriated by a rival music group ! Hemda went again to her husband. "Eliezer, you must create another word for concert, for us!" So Ben Yehuda locked himself in his study and after a long time came out with a solution, a second word for concert; not a new creation, but a Hebrew word he had found in ancient literature wldeh had disappeared from usage long ago: the word mangina. 208 Burned Career That is how it happened that one evening a tizmoret was given by an orchestra in Rishon Le Zion and some nights later a mangina was given in Jerusalem* Today, as a result of that friendly feud between two rival musical organizations more than half a century ago, anyone speaking mod ern idiomatic Hebrew has a choice of two words when he wishes to speak about a "concert." Deborah Beu Yehuda was two yeans old when her mother gave birth to a second child, Ehud, who looked so much like the father that the mother called him "The Little Prince." It was not Hemda s fault that Ehud died when he was one year old. Nor was it due to contracting the father s chronic disease. Ehud died of pneumonia. It was Hemda s first intimate experience with death, and it left a cruel mark on her. She never forgot the picture of her baby lying motionless, nor how Eliezer had to drag her from the death cham ber, nor how he had said: "You must not sorrow any more, Bitti. It is all over." Nor did she ever forget how, after Eliezer had left her alone^ she had sneaked back to have a last look at her dead child and had found her husband on his knees by the bed, crying over the still, small form. The illness which overtook Hemda after this had no connection with Ehud s death. It was a result of the Palestinian climate. Ma laria and rheumatism combined to keep her frequently in bed. When she could move about die took numerous trips to Jaffa, partly for a change in atmosphere but principally so as not to inflict her busy husband with worries about her ailments. Then tragedy struck again. Father Yonas had shared with Eliezer and Hemda their joys and their tribulations. He had been delighted that his protege had won so many battles against the forces of ignorance arid intolerance. But about this time he announced that he himself could no longer endure the tips and downs of this unpredictable sort of life. He was growing old, Palestine was a place for youthful souls. "Would you and Eliezer be distressed," he asked Hemda one day, "if I left the country for a few years? I think I should like to stay in 209 Tongue of the Prophets Paris for a time. I could send you articles for the paper from there. When the children are ready for their advanced education you could send them to me one at a time." Eliezer and Hemda were sympathetic. They even agreed that dur ing his absence, however long it might be, they would care for his wife and two small children. The entire family went to the railway station to see him off for Jaffa, where he was to catch a boat to Marseille. As they left for the depot the father took his daughter aside and said: "Pola, my child, we have been close friends all our lives; closer than most fathers and daughters. But I warn you that if I see a single tear when we say good-by I shall be forced to change all my plans." So Hemda smiled bravely and waved a small handkerchief until the train disappeared in the Judean hills. Then fate played a strange trick. The tram was late reaching Jaffa and it missed connections with the boat. Father Yonas discovered that he could not get another steamer for two more weeks. While he was waiting in Jaffa he contracted a contagious disease and went to Rishon Le Zion for treatment. Hemda understood why he picked Rishon Le Zion. It was his favorite spot in Palestine because it was such a progressive settle ment and he had so many friends there. After a few days Eliezer received a message from Rishon Le Zion that he and Hemda and Mrs. Yonas had better come quickly. Before the next steamer sailed for Marseille death claimed Shlomoh Naftaly Hirtz Yonas, the distiller of Glubokiah. In trying to comfort Hemda, Eliezer said to her : "Bitti, we can at least be happy that it happened at Rishon Le Zion. There is an old Hebrew proverb that says, C A man s feet always take him to the place where he really wants to die. 5 " Jews from all over Palestine trekked their way several days later to Rishon Le Zion to pay their respects to the man who years ago had found a small boy shivering one morning in a synagogue and had taken him home, and thus had started him on a career which already had affected the lives of so majiy thousands of Jews. 210 Burned Career Nothing could have delighted Hemda more that autumn than Ben Yehuda s suggestion that they take a long trip through the Jew ish settlements of Galilee. She knew Eliezer was concerned about taking her mind off all that had happened, but he assured her he wanted to see whether Hebrew had taken firm root in Galilee. Their first stop was Petach Tikvah, which charmed Hemda be cause of its lushness, owing to constant irrigation from great artesian wells. Next they went to Hedera. "I am sorry we must stop here/ 9 Eliezer said, <c but I think you ought to see it. It is known as the Village of Death* now. It had a siege of yellow fever recently which killed every one of the original settlers. How many inhabitants we shall find left I have no idea!" As they rode into Hedera they found the once busy village as de serted as a graveyard. There were no women s voices, no men at work in the fields, no children playing. Only two inhabitants were left. Both were ill in bed. "I can feel death stalking up and down these streets/ Hemda remarked. One of the invalids was a young man, sole survivor of a family of seven. The other was an agronomist who, when he arrived to make a survey, had been warned to leave at once if he wanted to leave at all. He had refused. Now he was on his deathbed. Over and over again to Ben Yehuda he said : "This place must somehow be brought back to life!" Eliezer explained to Hemda that the trouble resulted from marshes on the edge of the village. "Petach Tikvah had marshes and malaria, too, yet today it is one of our healthiest and most prosperous places. Hedera will be like that, too, someday. The baron plans to plant a forest here. The drainage of the swamps had already begun when the epidemic came. I am sure we will live long enough to see Hedera another Petach Tikvah !" Hemda looked at the deserted streets and raised her eyebrows in doubt. Years later, however, she was to pay a return visit and see her husband s prediction come true, for Hedera was destined to be- 211 Tongue of the Prophets come one of the largest Jewish, settlements, free of disease, wealthy in its production of milk, butter, cereals, fruit, cattle. The road now led up steep mountains to Zichron Yaakov, which called itself the "Little Paris of Palestine. 35 Although only two hours from Hedera, the climate here was cool and healthy. This was a place settled principally by Rumanians, tall, broad-shouldered, jolly people, prosperous and self-satisfied. "Why, Eliezer, the Little Paris ?" Hemda asked as she stared at unattractive lime-covered houses and mud-rutted streets down which humans and animals alike had to walk because there were no side walks. Her husband smiled. "Maybe because of its wonderful park. Or because they are so prosperous. There is a legend that no Zichron Yaakov farmer knows where his own fields and vineyards are because they are all worked by Arab employees. Or perhaps it is their European-looking syna gogue and the miniature of a Paris department store. Or, more likely, because everyone here speaks such perfect French and the children are required to do their studies in the language of Paris in schools established by Baron Rothschild." There were old people in Zichron Yaakov who complained bit terly about the loss of their children. They had skimped and saved to send their youth to France, and their youth, in most cases, had not returned, leaving the parents with fields they themselves were now too old to work and with no new generation to take their places in the settlement. After they had left Zichron Yaakov, Eliezer said: "I predicted this years ago, Bitti, when your sister and I first came to this place. I preached and wrote against what the baron was do ing with his importation of French culture and insistence on the French language. I had bitter fights over it. They accused me, with my Hebrew, of trying to turn their children into ignoramuses and illiterates. They fought every additional quarter hour of Hebrew I tried to get into the school curriculum. When they bought books, they wanted French ones and not Hebrew. <f l called it the suicide of the youaager generation and I pleaded with our people to put a stop to it. I begged them to educate their 212 Burned Career children in our own language, teach them our own culture, en courage them to take pride in our own literature. "I wrote that they were making cripples out of their children by letting them go abroad and putting them back voluntarily under the yoke of prejudice and persecution. "Hemda, you know how much I admire things intellectual. But French culture could be the death of Israel, if what has happened in Zichron Yaakov were to happen everywhere. "Did you see some of the young men who had returned from abroad? They are often referred to as the sons of the rich baron/ They behave just like typical rich men s sons. They consider them selves too good for hard labor, yet have not acquired the knowledge to do anything else. They can merely talk French in the Paris man ner. 3 * Despite the obvious truth of all this, the Ben Yehudas did meet in Zichron Yaakov a member of the younger generation who impressed them. Aaron Aaronsohn was tall, strong, and proud that his family had been farmers. His spirit was as healthy as his body. He was still young, but he was already having the dreams which years later would lead to his discovery of a type of wild wheat which would become an important Palestinian crop and help revolutionize Jewish agriculture. This was the youth who was destined to achieve fame during World War I by guiding British troops through the desert and indicating to them where they might find water. Aaronsohn s sister Sarah was to become the Jeanne d Arc of Pales tine in that same war, helping to found a Jewish intelligence service for the British, but finally being tortured to the point of suicide by Turks who seized her when a note die had written to General Al- lenby was captured. The next day the Ben Yehudas went to Athlit, which in less than a quarter of a century was destined to play a spectacular rqle in war, for here Jews were to help liberate their own land from Turkish rule by sending secret signals to ships of the British navy. Then on to Haifa, with a great bay at its feet and with Mount Carmel high above it, like a crown; Haifa, which one day would be come the second city of Israel and boast of one of the finest ports in 213 Tongue of the Prophets the Middle East, but which in those days was a backward and pre dominantly Arab town. When Ben Yehuda found that the Deer had many readers in Haifa he asked several people to send him news letters occasionally. From each he received the same reply. What would they write about? Nothing ever happened here. There was no . Jewish life. Even tourists from abroad, if they came to Haifa > just rushed through on their way to Nazareth. On the way to Nazareth, Hemda kept asking how much farther it was, because the heat was so great and she was so thirsty. When they finally reached Nazareth, Eliezer and the horses were also badly in need of water. In the center of the town they found some Arab women drawing water from a well. The Ben Yehudas approached them with words of greeting spoken in Arabic, but the women picked up handfuls of stones and pelted the strangers, shouting angrily at them: "Jews! Jews!" "It is ironical," said Eliezer, "that this is the well, in the New Testament, from which Mary was accustomed to draw water ! "Someday, Hemda, this place and Bethlehem will be testing stones of the Jewish respect for the shrines of others. Nazareth has little significance in our own history, but to Christians it is of su preme importance. I am sure that when we become masters in our own land we shall show the world that we can watch over the shrines of others as carefully as over our own/ 5 Now they began the long descent to Lake Tiberias, known in the New Testament as the Sea of Galilee, where in summer it is insuf ferably hot because it is nearly seven hundred feet below sea level. As usual, the heat in Tiberias was so intense that the Ben Yehudas were unable to sleep. For years Hemda remembered it because here every thing they were offered to drink was full of small flies, and Eliezer re fused each glass or cup that was extended to him because of his almost fanatical hatred of insects, for which he had a special He brew expression meaning "repugnant filthy creatures." The native people laughed and said he would die of thirst if he remained there long. "You drink flies here or you don t drink at all!" The next morning at sunrise they took a boat trip around the lake whore many of the New Testament incidents had taken place. 214 Burned Career Eliezer s repetition of the parable of the fishes and loaves of bread was so graphic that Hemda, looking at the spot, felt she could almost see, in that strange early-morning light, Christ s disciples gathering up the baskets of crumbs left after the multiplication of the loaves. The settlement of Rosh Pinah was to be the next stop. On this part of the trip they were accompanied by David Idelovitch. They were traveling in a coach drawn by three horses down a road which was hardly a road at all, when the carriage suddenly collapsed. The driver, surveying the wreckage, said it was beyond repair; they would have to continue on foot if they wished to continue at all. The sun was hot enough, as Idelovitch seriously pointed out, to fry an egg on a flat stone. They were stranded in the middle of a desert wilderness. As they surveyed the landscape, Hemda noticed on the horizon a small building which looked like a ruin, but, he said, "at least we could get protection there from the heat and per haps the driver could walk to the next village and find us a convey ance." The coachman was violently opposed to this plan, "That place," he warned them in an ominous voice, pointing to the structure Hemda had seen, "is the hiding place of the worst band of thieves and assassins in this part of the world !" Just then, out of a cloud of dust, a number of horses appeared and everyone relaxed. The riders were young farmers from Rosh Pinah. When they told Hemda she would have to ride horseback, she pro tested, remembering that Nissim Behar s wife had died as the result of a fall from a horse, but one of the young farmers got her onto a saddle and walked beside her to quiet her fears. At Rosh Pinah they were guests in the home of the baron s repre sentative. As Hemda, travel-stained and weary from days of primi tive living, wandered through the house staring at its luxurious furnishings and the table set with sparkling crystal and silver and expensive French china, she turned to Eliezer and whispered : "This really is like Paris, isn t it? Yet we are still practically in the middle of the desert!" In Hebrew the baron s representative gave Eliezer an account of progress being made at Rosh Pinah. "We have fields and vineyards," he said, "and an abundance of 215 Tongue of the Prophets fruit trees. The land flows with Tn.ilk and honey, as the Bible says it should. Each man lies under his vine and his fig tree and is happy with his lot . . ." Eliezer finally interrupted this report which made Rosh Pinah sound like a new Garden of Eden to ask: "What about the Hebrew language?" The administrator, looking around as a man might who was about to reveal a great military secret, finally whispered : "Less French is spoken here than in most settlements!" Then, looking over his shoulder again to be sure no eavesdropper had entered the room, he added in even more of a whisper: "You must not allow this to become known, for if the baron were to hear . . . ! The baron, you know, does not believe in nation alism in any of its manifestations. He wants only settlements and simple farmers who work the land. The baron has a most negative attitude toward Zionism !" 216 30 Oriental Fashion BY NOW THE BEN YEHUDAS WERE ABLE TO MAKE certain generalizations about the settlements in the north. They had found that the entire area was afflicted with malaria; that it took a long time for people from Europe to become acclimated to the in tense heat; that a great percentage of Jews caught contagious skin and eye diseases from contact with their Arab neighbors, and that the biggest impediment to colonization was that the pioneers were mostly men who, in the countries of their origin, had engaged in commerce or the professions and therefore were not adapted by training or temperament to tilling the soil. But now they heard about a new settlement that was being estab lished which would be free of most of these handicaps. At a spot called Metulla, on a hilltop facing the white snow mountain of Hermon, a group of second-generation farmers was to found the most northerly colony in the entire "Land of Our Dreams," as Ben Yehuda so often called Palestine. Here the air would be cool and here there would be no malaria to battle. It was a gay party that started out one evening from Rosfa Pinah for Metulla. There were three carriages. Hemda was able to relax in Tongue of the Prophets the comfort of a real landau. They took quantities of food, and some of the young men brought musical instruments. Hemda, who was still young, although she had borne two children already, became a carefree girl again that moonlight night and sang and made jokes with the young farmers. It was 3 A.M. when they arrived at Metulla, but they were all so exhilarated by the clean, pure air that no one wanted to go to bed, so they stayed up to watch the rising sun gild Mount Hermon with its touches of golds, pinks, and lavenders. There were thirty young settlers at Metulla, living in primitive mud huts which had been abandoned by the native Druses from whom the land had been purchased at an exorbitant price. Hemda was intrigued by stories of these fanatical Arab people. They be longed to a secret religious sect founded in the eleventh century by a missionary named Darazi. They had many strange convictions. They believed that the wicked became camels and dogs; that God had appeared to man exactly seventy times in the past in various disguises, and that there is a fixed number of humans on earth which never changes. The Druses of Metulla had all left, except one family. After the man had accepted the price agreed upon for his holdings, his wife had refused to budge. It was the settlement s first real problem. Someone suggested Hemda might be able to argue the woman out of her stubbornness, but as she entered the Druse dwelling place she immediately regretted having undertaken the assignment. In the one-room primitive abode, made of cakes of dried mud, animals and humans lived in the closest possible proximity, a cow in one corner, a donkey and chickens in a second, the children in a third, and the adults in the fourth. Even grain was stored there. The woman, her half dozen screaming children clustered around her, refused to listen to anything Hemda said through an interpreter. It was a real predicament. Sundown was approaching and there was fear that this woman s obstreperousness might upset the other Druses who had been invited to a celebration to solemnize the busi ness deal and who would soon be arriving. In desperation Hemda remembered something, so she hurried to the landau and found some sweet cakes, which she gave to the 218 Oriental Fashion half dozen children. As their screaming stopped, the mother, no longer having her Greek chorus as an accompaniment^ suddenly ceased her wailing and also accepted some of the sweets Hemda held out to her. While the woman was eating Hemda talked softly to her about the beautiful new house her husband would be able to build with the money the Jews had given him, and what a happy life she had ahead of her. It worked ! It worked so well that Hemda had difficulty getting rid of the woman, who insisted on staying close at her side wherever she went the rest of the evening. The only substantial building in Metulla was a brick structure occupied by the baron s representative. This was where the Ben Yehudas were to stay. There was no furniture. Hemda was told she would have to sleep on a blanket on the floor like the others. As she was thinking back to the elegant Parisian-type home she had just left in Rosh Pinah, Eliezer remarked: "This is like a military camp. I find nothing wrong with it. We really are all soldiers. There is no reason Jews should not endure a few hardships until they can make a comfortable living for them selves. Of course it will take months of work to build chicken houses, barns, and dwellings, but work never hurt anyone." Later, however, as he saw how the others were living in mud huts, he was a little more sympathetic to their complaints. One of the Jewish farmers had already paid a high price for this unsanitary way of life. During the night a snake came through the roof of his hut while he slept. There was no doctor within many miles and no medicine. He died in a few hours. The party for the Druses lasted all night. Hemda left early and curled up on a blanket on the floor of the administration building, but she was not permitted to sleep, for the Druses kept shooting off rifles at frequent intervals as a sign of the importance they attached to the proceedings. It was dawn before the last Druse trekked off and left Metulla to the Jews. But that was just a preliminary to the feast the next day. Jewish settlers from nearby colonies had been invited, *and also a limited number of Arab leaders, because it was necessary to establish cordial 219 Tongue of the Prophets relations immediately with all neighbors. Only the sheik of each ad joining village had received an invitation, but each sheik brought along his brothers, his sons, his sons-in-law, and even a few servants and womenfolk. Sixty in all. Many lambs had to be killed, for the slaughtering of lambs was an outward symbol of the respect one had for one s guests, the num ber of lambs indicating the extent of the respect. The Arab chief tains must have no doubts about the esteem in which the Jews held them! Also, it was necessary to prepare all the dishes in the Arab man ner, else the guests would refuse to eat. Hemda watched with fascination as the preparations were made. In addition to the lambs many fowl were killed. Vast quantities of rice were cooked in Arabic butter in large steel barrels. Watermelons had been brought from Hedera, quinces from Petach Tikvah, grapes from Rosh Pinah, and figs from a nearby village. There were Arabic sweetmeats, and to drink they had the juice of Indian date root. Wine was kept out of sight because of the Moslem ban against any thing alcoholic. One thing puzzled Hemda. She saw no tables being laid. Late in the afternoon the sheiks started to appear, riding beautiful mares and followed by their servants on donkeys. The administration building quickly filled up, and still Hemda saw no tables. While the servants remained outside to guard the horses, the Arab notables took their places, squatting on the floor in a great circle. The food was then brought in, not on plates, not on platters, but on immense trays. One tray was placed in front of each guest. Hands were used instead of knives, forks, and spoons. As soon as one tray was emptied another quickly appeared. "I never saw food consumed so fast!" Hemda whispered to Eliezer. Before she herself had decided whether to try to manage with her hands or to shock everyone by calling for at least a spoon, the meal was over. What was left of the food was taken outside for the servants and the Arab women who had trailed along. Meanwhile the Arab men were drinking an interminable number 220 Oriental Fashion of cups of thick Turkish coffee and smoking their strange-looking water pipes. Next (as after any banquet, whether on the edge of a Palestinian desert or in Paris or New York) there were speeches^ including an exchange of mutual compliments, and a series of congratulations from the Arabs on the founding of the village. Then more coffee and more pipe smoking. The visitors left with protestations of friendship which they ex pressed by saying: "We shall be good neighbors and protect you, our children, from all evil." The Jewish leader gave a sigh of relief and ordered a meal pre pared for strictly Jewish consumption. Another lamb was killed and cooked, along with a few chickens and some vegetables. "But who is going to eat all of this?" Ben Yehuda asked, for there were only half a dozen of them present The young Jewish leader laughed. "After all the exercise I have had, I shall eat half of it myself and leave the rest for the remainder of you !** During this private meal there was much singing of Jewish songs and some drinking of wine. After they had finished they went out intq the village square, where the rest of the settlers were having their own banquet. While Hemda and Eliezer watched in amazement, the young Jewish leader sat down and, as if he had not had a mouthful of food since morn ing, consumed enough to feed a small family for days. Here there were more speeches, more wine, and the shooting of rifles into the air until the stars began to twinkle overhead and the less hardy ones went off to bed, among them the Ben Yehudas. Thus Metulla, the northernmost settlement in the land of the Jews, was formally founded with prayers that she might become the "Pearl of the North," a hope which did not immediately materialize, because for a long time there was doubt that Metulla would survive. It was not until many years later that she finally did become one of the most important of the North Galilee colonies. 221 31 If You Will It . . . ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA WAS EXCITED IN 1897 BY news that Israel Zangwill, the brilliant British author, was coming from London to Jerusalem for a visit, along with a delegation of the Order of Ancient Maccabaeans, headed by the grand commander, Herbert Bentwich. "Bitti, this is an opportunity such as we seldom get !" he exclaimed to his wife. "Millions of people read what Zangwill writes. He is one of the most popular authors of the day. If we could only convince him and enlist his pen in our fight !" So Eliezer Ben Yehuda sent a letter to Zangwill offering him the hospitality of the modest Ben Yehuda home. When Zangwill and his Maccabaeans arrived they were received in Jerusalem with great honor, not only by leaders of the Jewish community but by British diplomats as well. Zangwill paid the first of many visits to the Ben Yehuda home one hot afternoon. As he sat talking with Hemda and Eliezer, Deborah, who then was barely four, came running in from the garden and with a ladylike curtsy presented the celebrated visitor with a rose she had picked. Zangwill bent over and kissed the child, then tried to make conversation with her* 222 // You Will It . . . The parents laughed and Eliezer said: "There is no use, Zangwill. My children speak only Hebrew/* "But I learned Hebrew myself as a child! Let me see if I can remember a few words. 5 * So with an accent so "foreign" that Deborah could hardly under stand him, the British writer tried to speak the language of his ancestors to the child of his host. Eliezer took his guest into his shop to show him the old hand press on which the Deer was still being printed. To it was affixed a small statue of Gutenberg, the fifteenth-century German who, by invent ing movable type, became the "patron saint" of printers all over the world. Before he left the shop Zangwill raised his hand over the press and pronounced a Hebrew benediction, ending with the words lazman hazeh, meaning "having reached this time." It was a subtle play on words, for Ben Yehuda realized that Zangwill was thus comparing his little paper to the great Times of London. There were many meetings between the two writers. Gradually Zangwill seemed to be catching the contagion of Israel. When Ben Yehuda suggested he deliver a public lecture on some historical Jewish subject, the British novelist promptly agreed. The lecture was given in the Grand New Hotel of Jerusalem and was attended by Jewish, Moslem, and Christian dignitaries. Zang will spoke on "Jews in the Holy Land" and made frequent reference to Jesus Christ, concluding his lecture with these words : "How many injustices have been done to Jews in Thy name !" It was after this successful public appearance that Ben Yehuda one day, talking privately to the visitor, said : "Zangwill, you have glorified the life of Jews in the ghettos in many books. Now you have seen something of the life of Jews here in the place they really belong. Why do you not return and make your home with us and glorify our new national life in your future books?" Zangwill did not immediately reply, but his expression indicated that the suggestion tempted him. Finally he said: "As you know, I am leaving tomorrow. Please come down and see me off." 223 Tongue of the Prophets As Zangwill left there were tears in his eyes. On the way home Ben Yehuda said to his wife : "Unless I am very mistaken, we have won him to our cause!" Ben Yehuda devoted much of the next issue of the Deer to the visit. For days Jerusalem talked about Zangwill, always using posses sive little words about him. He was "our Zangwill" to them. Although Zangwill had left without giving a definite answer to the invitation to come to Palestine to live, Ben Yehuda waited im patiently for his next book, certain that at least he would put into print the emotions he had so obviously experienced. The next Zangwill book was Dreamers of the Ghetto. It was not about the Promised Land. Eliezer Ben Yehuda was bitterly disappointed. About this time Hemda happened to meet some visitors from abroad who added another chapter to an old story. They were from Sweden and knew Tshashnikov, Eliezer s Polish journalist friend, who, they said, had gone to Sweden, but at the time of Deborah s death had wanted to return to Jerusalem and offer his consolation and see Deborah s children but had not been certain how welcome he would be. Recently he had married a Swedish girl who, he said, reminded him of Deborah. Hemda wondered whether she should tell Eliezer. Intellectuals and liberals the world over in these days were aroused to a fever pitch by the Dreyfus case. Ben Yehuda threw his small weekly paper into the fight against the forces of bigotry and intoler ance. Article after article appeared in the Deer calling on the Jews of the world for their support of the Frenchman who was being perse cuted because he was a Jew. This was the sort of fight Eliezer Ben Yehuda liked. Father Yonas would have liked it too. But now something happened which relegated the Dreyfus case to a position of relative unimportance in the Deer and in Ben Yehuda s mind. In 1896, seventeen years after Ben Yefcuda had issued his first ap peal for a Jewish homeland and a revival of the Hebrew language, // You Will It . . . a book entitled Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) had been pub lished by a brilliant Hungarian journalist and playwright, Theo- dor Herd, correspondent for Neue Freie Presse in Vienna. Ben Yehuda knew of Herd, but up to now they had been dia metrically opposed on most issues. Herzl had written for his paper that the Dreyfus case was of no particular importance and that the Jewish officer was probably guilty. Just four years before his publication of The Jewish State Herd had said in a newspaper article that "the historical homeland of the Jews no longer has any value for them; it is childish [for a Jew] to go in search of the geographical location of his homeland." This article had come out at a time when Ben Yehuda and his colleagues were fighting such lonely battles for the Zionist cause. But now Herd had changed his mind and in his book had argued for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, to be chartered by the Turkish authorities and financed by colonization companies. There had been Zionists, although they were not called that, since the year 70, when the Temple was destroyed. In every generation there had been dreamers and visionaries who talked of a Jewish return to the homeland. George Eliot, in 1876, when Eliezer was at school in Diinaburg, had written Daniel Deronda, which for years was the Bible of Zionists. Eliezer Ben Yehuda himself had written and worked for seventeen years before HerzTs book came out to give the dream substance. But Herzl was a "man of action" and now was leaping into a posi tion of leadership which would win him the title of the "Father of Modern Zionism" and after his death would cause his name to be spoken almost with reverence by Jews in every part of the world who believed in the dream. One of his chief contributions was to be a single sentence which was to become a slogan for Zionists the world over. "If you will it, it is no dream!" Herzl had followed up his book by issuing a call for a world-wide conference of Jews to take place at Basle, Switzerland, in August 1897. Associated with him were many men Ben Yehuda knew and re spected, among them Israel Zangwill and Herbert Bentwich, whom 225 Tongue of the Prophets he had so recently entertained in Jerusalem, and two of the most important French Zionists, Dr. Max Nordau and Dr. Alexander Marmorek, who at that time was working on a cure for tubercu losis. Ben Yehuda should have gone himself to Basle, for the conference had been called to discuss the idea which had been his obsession since his student days in Paris. But, as he pointed out to his wife, there were two reasons why he would have to report the proceedings from a distance. The Ben Yehuda financial situation made such a trip impossible. Besides, the Turkish officials would not permit it. He was a subject of the Ottoman Empire and had so recently been ac cused of "revolt against the kingdom" that the right to travel had been denied him, and there was no court of appeal. But as he read the call for the conference, Ben Yehuda exclaimed to his wife: "Would it not be wonderful, Bitti, if these men were to declare from their platform, for all the world to hear, that Jews should return to their own land and make it a place where they could live as free people?" Yet Ben Yehuda, in his most excited dreams, had no idea the Basle conference would dare go as far as it did. With firmness and clarity the leaders of world Jewry at Basle an nounced that their ancient homeland, Eretz Israel, must become the new abode of Jewish people. They went so far as to state their pro gram in these words no one could misunderstand: "Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine." V\ A World Zionist Organization was created. Any Jew anywhere in the world could belong by agreeing with the Basle aims and paying one shekel, one mark, one shilling, or one American quarter. A council of distinguished Jews was elected, with Herd as presi dent. There was talk of the erection of a Hebrew university in Jeru salem, of the creation of a Jewish national fund, and the setting up of a Jewish world bank in London to finance colonization. A song written in Hebrew was accepted as an anthem of a country yet to be born. A design was adopted for a national flag of blue and 226 If You Will It . . . white, the colors of the traditional prayer shawl, emblazoned with the Star of David. It was only a few days after all this news arrived that Ben Yehuda received a letter in longhand, written by Herzl himself, announcing that the editor of the Deer had been unanimously elected a member of the executive board. For days Ben Yehuda went around Jerusalem as if in a trance. This was what he had been working for all these years. Now that it had happened, he was intoxicated with the news that came pouring in from Basle. There was only one sour note. The congress had concerned itself with a flag, a song, and many more trivial matters, but no mention had been made of a national language; a revival of Hebrew. Why had not some friend of his insisted on this? They might create a nation without a flag, without an anthem, but they never could do it without a language ! It was Hemda, as usual, who tried to console her husband, arguing that there would be other Zionist congresses and plenty of time to convince the leaders of their oversight. What was done at Basle created some immediate problems for Ben Yehuda. He was forced to write to Herzl and explain why it was out of the question for him to accept membership on the ex ecutive board. Friends in Turkish government circles had warned him that, if he were to accept, his days of activity in Palestine would quickly come to an end. He must remember, they said, how close he had come to serving a prison term. He still was not out of the shadow of the bars. The government in Constantinople had been astonished, he was told, by the "effrontery" of the Jews. They talked of Palestine as if it were their country! This new movement must be stamped out before it spread. A series of new decrees was being planned as an answer to the Jews of Basle. Then the Turkish censor, Ishmael Bey, sent for him and made it more positive. "Not a word about this thing called Zionism 3 must be printed in your paper. The expression Eretz Israel must never be used. There 227 Tongue of the Prophets is no such thing as Israel. The place is Palestine. You do not have a country, you Jews, and you never shall have. Remember that!" When he returned home from the censor s office Ben Yehuda poured out his grief to his wife. "Bitti, how can I write about Zionism without using the word? How can I try to win support for this movement without mention ing Israel? 5 * Hemda reminded him that the censor had not forbidden him to write about a revival of the Hebrew language, which, after all, was his own great project. "Now, Eliezer, you can be thankful that they did not include a national language in their program at Basle, for if they had, the censor surely would have prohibited your writing about it !" In the days and weeks which followed, Ben Yehuda watched carefully for reaction from abroad. What stand would England, France, and Germany take? These great powers exerted considerable influence over the "Sick Man of Europe," as Turkey was often called. And what would the reaction be in the Vatican? After all, it was Rome which put handcuffs on the Jews nearly two thousand years ago and started this long era of slavery. What would Rome now say to the announcement of the Jews that they finally were going to break loose from this bondage? Ben Yehuda had to wait a long time to get answers to all these questions, but he found out within a few days what some people thought of the plan. Many learned and cultured Arab friends came to him and expressed their happiness. One of them put it this way: "Through you we also will be liberated from this ruthless tyrant, the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. We have seen what you Jews have ac complished in the desert. We favor your revival of the Hebrew language because it is so similar to our own. We must remember that Arabs and Jews are children of the same father." Of course there were Jews in Jerusalem who thought that a great mistake had been made by even calling the Basle conference. When new decrees finally came from Constantinople banning all further Jewish immigration into Palestine, forbidding the purchase of land by Jews, and reimposing the ban on the construction of Jewish 228 // You Will It . . . dwelling places, these timid members of the Jewish community were quick to say: "We told you so!" But Ben Yehuda was accustomed to such opposition. Bade for him was a stimulant which inspired him to work even longer hours than usual on both his paper and his dictionary. Often when Hemda entered his study she found him pacing up and down the long room with one hand to his head, in such deep thought that he would fail to notice her presence. Once she found him standing in front of his desk looking up at the slogan he had tacked to the wall: THE DAY IS SO SHORT; THE WORK TO BE DONE SO GREAT ! When he saw her he pointed to the motto and said: "How much truer those words are now than ever before! They drive me on and keep me from sleeping, for now more than ever we need a language, now more than ever we need a real newspaper. 5 * One result of the Zionist Congress was that Ben Yehuda, instead of having to rely now on the contributions of young, unknown writers, was able to obtain articles for his paper from such men as Zangwill and Nordau. But Ben. Yehuda wanted to make some outstanding contribution of his own to the cause, so he prepared what he called "The Second Appeal," a sequel to the first call he had issued for the resettlement of Palestine eighteen years ago in the Vienna paper, just before he himself had emigrated to the Holy Land. In his second appeal Ben Yehuda laid stress on a point he thought had been overlooked at Basle. This new movement, he wrote, was not merely for those who had deeply religious reasons for returning to the land of their fathers. This must be a movement of all Jews, whether they were extremely Orthodox in their religious beliefs^ or had adopted the assimilationist position, or even if they had em braced Christianity. Ben Yehuda was even more specific than that. He called on Jews abroad who had married non- Jewish women and were the fathers of half-Jewish children to turn their eyes toward the Promised Land. All of them, he wrote, would be welcome. 229 Tongue of the Prophets Then, raising a point which would become a bone of contention in future years, when the dream turned into an actuality, he argued that the fate of this land must not be dictated only by those who were Orthodox in their beliefs. This second appeal, although avoiding the technical pitfalls the censor had warned about, was unpleasing to the Turkish authorities, but it was received with acclaim by most Jews, except those who were already lining up as confirmed opponents of Zionism. 230 32 Garden of Eden THE EXCITEMENT OF THE BASLE CONFERENCE WAS quickly followed by another development which affected the Ben Yehudas 5 personal future as much as the decisions taken at the meeting in Switzerland were ultimately to affect the future lives of so many millions of Jews. The Jewish Colonization Association, organized by Jewish philan thropists in England to help transplant Jews, came to Eliezer s assist ance by advancing him the sum of five thousand francs to use as he saw fit. It was typical that he spent the money in this order: First he wiped a considerable number of debts from his books. Next he bought some new type for his printing shop which not only would give the Deer a fresh and more attractive appearance but also could be used, when the time came, to set his dictionary into print. Finally he turned what was left over to his wife, saying: "Bitti, you have struggled along with me in these inadequate old quarters long enough. You have been a good soldier about it. But now we are going to have a real home." It took Hemda only a short time to find what she considered a 231 Tongue of the Prophets "dream house." It was a stone building, large and roomy, set in the middle of an immense garden. At the same time she succeeded in renting from a neighbor a two-story structure adjoining the property to house the printing shop. There was a caretaker s lodge which Hemda made into a real bathroom by leading water from a nearby cistern through a rubber hose which stretched across the garden and through the lodge window. This improvised bathroom soon became one of Jerusalem s showpieces. Hotels in those days had bathrooms, but not private homes, so visitors from abroad, after they had seen the other sights of the ancient city, were often taken to the Ben Yehuda place to see what Hemda called "Jerusalem s first private bathroom,** Eliezer Ben Yehuda was happy in his new home. Now at last he had an adequately large study and the privacy he had always needed, for the nursery was on the other side of the house instead of being next door to his room. He enjoyed working in the garden. There were forty flower beds to be cared for, and almond, fig, and olive trees, as well as grape vines. At the entrance stood two tall rose laurels with a bench be tween them. There, in summer, Ben Yehuda took his afternoon tea and in winter his ten o clock morning refreshment. In the garden there was an old Roman ruin consisting of two low stone arches which the children loved to climb. In the interior of one arch they installed their small dog; in the other, the family cat. Life was idyllic for a time in the Ben Yehuda Garden of Eden. It was in this period that Hemda gave birth to another child, a robust boy who inherited the name of Ehud, Hemda s second child, who had died. Ehud II was the eighth child to be born to the man who had been told by doctors nearly twenty years ago that his days were numbered and that he would soon be living on borrowed time. There were many reasons why this should have been the most serene period in Eliezer Ben Yehuda s life. His newspaper was prospering; he had adequate quarters in which to work on his dictionary; for once his family did not have to worry about whether there was money enough for the daily bread, 232 Garden of Eden and all the forces which had fought him so bitterly for so many years at least temporarily had been routed. But now a new worry arose to plague him. Hemda had grown pale and thin. The malaria she had contracted had destroyed her vitality, and frequent attacks of rheumatism also caused her great pain. The Jerusalem doctors said a trip to Europe might help, and so Eliezer, still suffering from self-accusations about the death of Deborah, bought two steamship tickets and one day casually handed them to his wife, saying: "The boat sails from Jaffa tomorrow. I hope you can get ready in time." Hemda became panicky. Her latest child, Ehud II, was only six months old and she was still nursing him. There were five other children to think about. She had few clothes for a trip to Europe. Why were men so thoughtless and inconsiderate? Ben Yehuda listened calmly and then, picking up the tickets, said : "As you please, but it will be too bad to lose all the money I have spent on these tickets." So they sailed the next day. Hemda made her mother promise never to go farther away from the house than into the garden. She tried to pacify her daughter Deborah, who then was just five, by saying she would bring her back a talking doll from Paris and some pretty dresses. Ben Zion, Yemee- mah, and Hemda s brother and sister promised to help take care of the younger children. They sailed second-class on a French ship called the Orenoc, and as soon as land was out of sight Hemda relaxed and her husband swore to her that for the first time in months color had returned to her cheeks. Eliezer was as bubbling with excitement as a small boy on his way to a circus. "Bitti, in Paris we will find good doctors for you. And wonderful food. You have no idea what the food in Paris is like ! In seven or eight days we will be in the most exciting city in the world. I shall take you to places which will fascinate you, and after you get to know Paris, I shall work while you play." Hemda smiled. She had never seen her husband like this. 233 Tongue of the Prophets "There are many people to be seen in Europe. I wish to meet some of the great Orientalist scholars and discuss the dictionary with them. I need their help if I am to succeed in making it a popular dictionary for the everyday use of everyday people and also a scholarly work valuable for scientific men and students of languages. "I wish to visit many libraries and institutions and go through hundreds of books which cannot be obtained at home. "I wish to talk with Baron Rothschild and thank him for all he has done. We must meet Dr. Max Nordau, and perhaps Emile Zola. "We must see Narcisse Leven and other officers of the Alliance Israelite and thank them for their support. And then we must find Herzl. Maybe through Zangwill. It is necessary to persuade him to make Jerusalem the heart of Zionist activities." 33 Eliezer s Paris IT WAS SPRING IN PARIS, AND ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA was a boy again. The horse chestnuts along the Champs Elysees were in bloom, filling the air with their heady perfume. The cafes, great and small, had put their thousands of steel tables and chairs out onto the sidewalks so people could see and be seen as they drank their coffee or aperitifs. There were elegant ladies riding up and down the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore in shiny black carriages. Boulevard St. Michel was teeming with students whose joie de vivre infected the entire Left Bank. The great pillared church at the end of Rue Royale called the Madeleine had had its spring bath; its white stones glistened in the morning sun. The Ben Yehudas had sat up all night in the train from Marseille, but when they reached Paris, Eliezer was suddenly no longer tired. They went from the railway station directly to the small Hotel de Cologne on a side street just off the Boulevard des ItaHens which was patronized by so many visitors from Palestine that it was known even to hack drivers as the "Hotel des Palestiniens." 235 Tongue of the Prophets Hemda suggested that they rest before starting out to explore the city, but Eliezer refused to allow her even to unpack a bag. He was like an old graduate returning to a college reunion. "We can sleep any time/ 3 he ejaculated. "But Paris won t wait !" So he hired a fiacre drawn by a horse which was so full of the spirit of spring that Hemda was terrified it would leave the pave ment and go galloping across the grass and into the trees. After a half hour Eliezer said in the voice of a small boy who has just suffered a grievous disappointment: "You do not seem a bit excited about Paris! 35 His wife shrugged her shoulders and replied : "Such streets as these I have seen before, in Moscow. What is so wonderful about Paris?" Eliezer never tried harder to convince anyone of anything. "Bitti, it was here that I had my dream. Everyone dreams in Paris, of something or someone. Here a man may grow old in wisdom and learning, but at the same time he grows younger and younger in spirit. "But what is more important than anything else, Bitti 3 is that this is the country which has given the world three of the most wonderful words in any language: hberte, egalite, fraternite. They are stamped indelibly on the minds and hearts of the French people. Liberty, equality, fraternity! It is those things we want for our own people." Despite his exuberance, Eliezer was tired now, so when they reached the hotel he lay down for a nap, and his wife went off on a little expedition of her own. Although she was wearing a costume which had been made for her by the best tailor in Jerusalem, she realized that people in the streets had been staring at her. She had even been able to tell by his glances that the concierge at their hotel thought her appearance odd. Knowing that something must be done about it, she wandered around the Right Bank until she found a department store called the Louvre. Maybe here she could get some clothes which would make her look as French as the paintings in the museum which bore the same name. As fast as she made her purchases she insisted, to the bewilder ment of the salesgirls, on putting them on. When she finally returned 236 Eliezer*s Paris to the hotel she was carrying in bundles under her arms most of the Palestinian clothes she had been wearing when she started out. She was rewarded when the concierge beamed and said: "Now you look like a grande darnel" Eliezer also liked the purchases and, following her example, he went on a shopping spree, returning with a pair of elegant gloves and a chapeau a haute forme, one of those cylindrical silk hats which fold up as flat as a pancake but can be extended to a height of more than a foot by virtue of a set of concealed springs. This, he ex plained, was an indispensable article for a gentleman in Paris, and he was going to be a gentleman in Paris this time ! Each evening, after a day of sight-seeing, the Ben Yehudas made their way to the Cafe Souffle, where they would at by the hour summarizing their impressions, or talking with writers and artists who frequented the place. One evening Eliezer announced that as soon as possible he wanted to call on Dr. Max Nordau, the Jewish writer and scientist who had played such an important part in the Basle congress. Hemda quickly said: "When you go to see him, you go alone. I heard in Jerusalem that he is a violent woman hater; that he detests all members of the op posite sex!" "But, Bitti, what if he is? He can t bite you! If he hates women, the worst he can do is to ignore you." A letter was written to Max Nordau, and back, quickly, came an invitation to call. The two men had never met before and yet such was their admiration of each other that they kissed in French fashion and threw their arms around each other s shoulders. Henada stood at a discreet distance studying this man who was supposed to be such a misogynist. His hair and beard were white, but he had a young and handsome face, with soft, intelligent eyes. Hemda knew that he had come to Paris from Germany, where he had studied medicine; that he now not only was a practicing physician, but had established a reputation as an authority on art, literature, and social questions. He had written several excellent books and had been the "golden- voiced orator * at the Basle congress. 237 Tongue of the Prophets While he was greeting Eliezer there was a knock at the door. "Entrez!" he shouted over his shoulder, and in came a tall blond young woman whom he introduced as his wife. "One more proof/ 3 Hemda later said to her husband, "that one must never believe Jerusalem gossip." Hemda took an immediate fancy to Mrs. Nordau and to her infant daughter, Maxa, whom she carried in her arms. Although Mrs. Nordau was Danish, she had a warmth which Hemda had never associated with Scandinavians. She once had been a celebrated opera singer. After a short time she kissed her husband good-by, excused her self to the Ben Yehudas, and said: "I m sorry I must go home now, but I would like all of you to have dinner with me some night soon. You can arrange a date with my husband. 33 After she had left Dr. Nordau explained. He lived here in this house with his mother and sister, both of whom had been opposed to his romance with the Danish girl, not because she had previously been married, nor because she had had several children by her first husband, but because she was a Christian. He had begged for his mother s understanding, but she had remained firm in her opposi tion. So they had been secretly married and Mrs. Nordau still lived in her own home with her children by the previous marriage and with little Maxa, their own child, while he still lived in this house with his mother and sister. "And now that I am taking a leading part in the Zionist move ment, I wonder what others will say." Then he shrugged his shoulders and added: "However, my wife and I are very much in love and, as you saw, we have a wonderful child !" During the visit Eliezer received much encouragement from Dr. Nordau, Hemda received some pills he thought might help her re gain the strength to fight off the malaria, and they both received an invitation to dinner. On the way back to their hotel Eliezer said : "Perhaps your sickness has been a blessing in disguise. I feel that 238 Eliezefs Paris this trip is going to be profitable to us in many ways. Just meeting Nordau has been worth the journey!" Ben Yehuda s conference with Narcisse Leven, founder of the Alliance Israelite, was even more successful. Although in principle the Alliance Israelite was not in favor of a Hebrew revival in Pales tine, Leven declared that he and his associates were interested in the dictionary project and would provide additional financing. A limited sum would be forthcoming immediately to enable Ben Yehuda to remain in Paris for a few weeks and work in the National Library gathering material. This meant that the small monthly allowance from Baron Rothschild could be sent to Jerusalem to finance the rest of the family. Leven even promised Hemda to take care of the children s educa tion in Paris as fast as they grew old enough to be sent abroad, so that night Hemda wrote to her mother to send her sister Peninnah to Paris at once. Although Hemda gave no indication of having become "infected" with Paris, she was excited by the theater. Now that a living allow ance had been granted to them, she took what was left of the money they had brought from Jerusalem and bought tickets for a number of plays and operas, fearing that unless she did the money would go for "more practical things." Once Hemda bought two tickets for Meyerbeer s Le Prophete and was looking forward to her first evening at the Paris opera with great anticipation. She had already begun to dress when Eliezer re turned to their hotel room and said: "You must look very pretty for the dinner tonight!" "Dinner?" "Yes, I am sure I told you that tonight we dine with the Nordaus." Mrs. Nordau s apartment was small but furnished in impeccable taste. The salon was lined with books. There was great excitement when the Ben Yehudas arrived; their hostess had a surprise for them. Israel Zangwill, who was on his way back to London from a visit in Italy, had heard that his Jerusalem friends were in town and said 239 Tongue of the Prophets he wanted to see them and accepted an invitation to the Nordau dinner with the understanding that the Ben Yehudas not be told in advance. With the British writer came a lovely Englishwoman, a painter, Miss Stewart. An American artist, Louis Loeb, was also a guest. As they were drinking coffee Hemda remarked to her host: "I am enjoying the evening so much that I do not even mind having missed the opera." When she was asked what she meant, she told about having tickets for Le Prophete, whereupon Dr. Nordau looked at his watch, ran out and got the Ben Yehudas 5 wraps, and insisted that they still had time to get there before the end of the second act. "One does not give up a first night at the opera even for a Zang- will!" he said with a laugh, and then went out into the street to find a carriage for them. Hemda knew the works of Meyerbeer by heart. For Eliezer it was enough that the composer was a Jew who had achieved top rank in the field of music, competing successfully with the best of Italian, German, and French composers. They both greatly enjoyed the per formance, even though it was based on a Christian theme. As they were leaving the opera house Hemda turned around to look at the crowd. "Such a staircase as that one I have never seen ! I thought one found such staircases only in royal palaces! Look, Eliezer, at the people descending! Did you ever see so much jewelry? Now I under stand what they mean when they say that a first night at the Paris opera is not the music, not the singing! No, nothing in Moscow was ever like this!" The Ben Yehudas spent four weeks in Paris. Not once were they plagued by such worries as they both had known for so long a time. They played like children, and Hemda was almost cured of her malaria, yet Eliezer did considerable serious work. He saw Baron Rothschild, whose generosity had saved his life when he was so ill and had to go to Algiers, and whose beneficence since then had helped so much with the financing of the paper and work on the dictionary. 240 Eliezefs Paris When Eliezer thanked the wealthy banker f or all his kindness, Baron Rothschild, who had a reputation for a good memory, re plied: "What do you thank me for? I do not quite understand, young man. Have I ever done anything for you?" Eliezer smiled. "Yes, sir. You have contributed about fifty thousand gold francs to my work!" "Indeed!" replied the baron, and that was all. Then they discussed Palestine and the baron s colonies. It was obvious that the great Jewish philanthropist was far from being a Zionist. In a kind but firm voice he said as Eliezer left: "I saved you once. Be careful now not to annoy the Turks witti your nationalistic writings!" Ben Yehuda was not able to see Emile Zola because he had gone abroad, but he did have a brief interview with Georges Clemenceau, who was deeply interested in all he had to say. But the great French statesman remarked that he could not understand how a person of intelligence could possibly be interested in Zionism, which he himself considered a retrogressive movement. He spoke bitterly of Palestine, calling it a country from which three religions had issued which he disliked in equal measure. He ended the interview with these words: "Voulez-vous la Palestine, Monsieur Ben Yehuda? Prenez-la, ette ne nous interesse pas [Mr. Ben Yehuda, you wish Palestine? Then take it, for it does not interest us] !" When Ben Yehuda made a final call on Narcisse Leven, the Alliance Israelite founder promised to consider allowing more Hebrew to be taught in the schools the organization sponsored in Palestine. He pointed out, however, that the Jewish Colonization Association, which he also headed, was favoring the settlement of Jews in Argentina rather than in Palestine. This was the worst news Ben Yehuda had heard and he tried to argue about it. The answer he got was: "We are afraid of the rabbis of Palestine. We are afraid of their interference. They insist that we follow all the Orthodox rules in our institutions. They themselves wish to run everything." The other big disappointment was that Ben Yehuda missed Herzl, 241 Tongue of the Prophets who had been called back from Paris to Vienna by his newspaper. No one was certain when he would return. But Dr. Nordau promised that he would use his influence with the president of the Zionist Organization, and Ben Yehuda was certain that with Dr. Nordau on his side the Viennese journalist could be won over to a consideration of the point of view of those in Jerusalem who had been working for a reborn Israel for so many years before the congress at Basle had even been a dream. 242 34 Hemdcts London IT WAS RAINING WHEN THEY REACHED LONDON, ONE of those dismal, mentally dampening rains. Besides, the Channel crossing had been the roughest voyage either of them had ever taken, Some acquaintance had suggested a small hotel in Houndsditch Street. It turned out to be a depressing place in the East End, patronized almost exclusively by Jewish traveling salesmen with limited expense accounts. It smelled from morning until night of herring, and its lobby was loud at all hours with noise and vulgarity, everyone speaking Yiddish and everyone speaking at once. "What a terrible contrast to Paris!" Eliezer said, and in his heart regretted there had been the necessity of coming to London. The next day they telephoned Israel ZangwilL In Paris they had told him they expected to arrive in London on a certain Saturday and he had said, with an appearance of casualness : "If you do get to London on Saturday, then come out to my place for dinner on Sunday. 35 They had stayed in Paris one week longer than they had expected to. Now it was another Saturday. Zangwill sounded annoyed with them on the telephone. When he arrived at the hotel he made it clear \vhy. Tongue of the Prophets "What have you two done to me?" he began. Eliezer became panicky. He considered Zangwill one of the best friends he had ever made. Now Zangwill was angry. "What have we done? Tell us." Then the British writer explained. Thinking that the Ben Yehudas were definitely arriving on the previous Saturday, he had arranged a reception for them the following day. He had invited to his home to meet them sixty of his most celebrated friends: writers, scholars, journalists, and artists. They had stood around for hours waiting impatiently for the guest of honor. "Quite embarrassing! Quite embarrassing, old fellow! Now they think Ben Yehuda is just a character I invented !" Then, suddenly changing mood, he added: "But you shall be punished for your lack of punctuality! Tomor row you two shall dine with me, and there will be no reception, no other guests, just the family." Then, looking around the hotel, he said: "How on earth, my dear chap, did you ever land in this place? You must get out of here at once !" So the Ben Yehudas moved to a hotel in Kilburn, which was clean, respectable, and did not smell of fish. The Zangwill dinner was one party they never forgot. The family consisted of the writer s mother, whom Eliezer called "intelligent" and Hemda later described as "brilliant" ; two brothers, one a col lector of antiques, the other a cartoonist of ability, and two sisters, a musician and a dress designer. Before dinner, when Zangwill heard about Clemenceau s acrid comment on Zionism, he smiled and said : "Despite Clemenceau, Ben Yehuda, I think it will be a jolly lot easier to get support for our movement from non-Jews than from Jews. I have already found much opposition among our own people. Jews here in my country are strong for assimilation. The argument they use most against us is that if we do succeed in establishing Israel as a land of our own the day will come when non-Jews in various parts of the world will say to us: " All right, now you have a country, so go to it ! "How do we answer such timid souls, Ben Yehuda?" 244 Hemda s London The man from Jerusalem replied that the Italians have a country, yet Italians who live in a place like New York are not told to go back to Italy, even though they had actually emigrated from Italy. Zangwill shook his head. "Even if someday we do achieve the dream, it will be used against us by Jews who are satisfied where they are and have little interest in the plight of fellow Jews not so happily off." In a more optimistic tone Zangwill went on to say that plans were already being made for a second Zionist congress at Basle. "I hope this time, Ben Yehuda, you will be present." But the man from Jerusalem shook his head. "I am more handicapped than you would ever believe by being an Ottoman subject. I had great difficulty getting permission to travel even to France and England. They would never give me per mission to go abroad to attend a Zionist meeting. "Baron Rothschild has implied that I cannot count on his further assistance if I get in trouble with the Turkish authorities. He himself is not enthusiastic for our Zionist cause. So again I probably shall have to watch the proceedings from afar." At dinner Zangwill was in a jovial mood and told many stories which Eliezer said were even more amusing than those he had nar rated in such books as Children of the Ghetto and The King of Schnoners. The room echoed and re-echoed with laughter during the entire meal. As they were going to the library for coffee, Eliezer whispered to his wife: "He s wonderful, isn t he, Bitti!" Hemda replied: "Yes, but he was so entertaining that I laughed instead of eating, and now I am hungry! I think, he was the only one who consumed a good meal!" Another dinner party they always remembered was at the sumptu ous home near Regent s Park of Herbert Bentwich, who had come to Jerusalem, with Zangwill. There they met a son, Norman, who in later years was to become British Attorney General in Palestine and help revise the laws under which the British would rule the country. But at that time Norman was a boy of fifteen and his 245 Tongue of the Prophets interest was music, not law. He was a violinist, and with his mother and two sisters gave a concert for the guests after dinner. Mrs. Bentwich won a place in Eliezer s heart by telling how she had had nine children (two more were born later), and as fast as they were old enough to learn, she was having them study Hebrew under the distinguished scholar, Ephraim Ish-Kishor. In later years the Ben Yehudas were to see this love of Hebrew im planted in the Bentwich children in their youth come to fruition when most of them decided to emigrate to Palestine and make their homes there. At a dinner party given by Mrs. Herbert Samuel, whom they had once entertained in Jerusalem, the Ben Yehudas met her nephew, Herbert, who years later would become British High Commissioner of Palestine and later a viscount, but at that time he was just a curious youth interested in stories of their life in the Promised Land. The Ben Yehudas spent two months in London, and not one evening were they without an invitation of some sort. Lord Lionel Rothschild made it possible for Ben Yehuda to work during those two months in the British Museum, where he found traces of many "lost" words. Ben Yehuda found considerable interest on the part of the British in his revival of Hebrew, but hardly any in his newspaper. They told him they had Jewish papers printed in English and also Yiddish papers. What did they want with one in Hebrew? As the Ben Yehudas prepared to leave the British capital Eliezer asked his wife how, after two months, she liked London contrasted with Paris. "Very much, Eliezer! It is all so neat and orderly. It has a confi dence in itself which makes a visitor feel confidence also." "But, Bitti, it is such a cold city; cold in every way. Paris is a gay city, so hospitable, so easy to live in, so " "I still like London better, Eliezer!" Eliezer refused to drop the subject. "I have observed over here that the Jews have been swallowed up. They have become more British than the British; cooler, more reserved, more phlegmatic. "I have been in some of their private clubs. Do you know what 246 Hemda s London you find inside of them? Boredom ! One gets bored to death here/ 5 Hemda dropped the argument, deciding that it was principally a matter of language. In Paris Eliezer felt at home because he spoke fluent French and could express any thought that came to his mind. He could read and write English perfectly, but he was timid about speaking the language and had difficulty expressing himself. So it was "her" London and "his" Paris! 247 35 Hide-and-Seek FOR ONE MONTH ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA WORKED IN the National Library at Paris, checking and rechecking the material he had obtained in London, covering thousands of additional pieces of paper with notes in his almost feminine handwriting. He also conferred with many celebrated philologists and scholars of oriental languages. Hemda, meanwhile, cured of malaria, fell victim to a new con tagion which she would never be able to shake off for the rest of her life. She was finally "bitten" by Paris. Before the month was up she wrote to a friend: "I begin to love Paris, the life of the boulevards, the small twisting streets, the light and gay French way of saying things, the cafes and their habitues, the modesty of the writers, journalists, scholars, artists, and diplomats. "The Frenchwomen I now find charming. I like to watch the faces of those who pass by, for there is life in their smiles and the joy of living in their eyes," As the month drew to a close she made the great confession to her husband. "I feel now," she admitted, "that I am like a woman in love with 248 Hide-and~Seek two men at the same time, one an intelligent scholar, serious-minded, an explorer of the depths of the soul; the other an artist, light- hearted, a teacher of the love of life above everything else, who possesses the art of always making the best of any situation." Eliezer smiled and took her hand. "Bitti, I knew this would happen. I am glad it happened. I would have been greatly disappointed in you if you had not caught the spirit of Paris as well as you did the spirit of London !" Before they left, Eliezer arranged for his eldest son, Ben Zion, to enter the Alliance Israelite school in Paris, with the idea that he would eventually return to Jerusalem and become a teacher of Hebrew in one of the schools. While the Ben Yehudas had been in London, Dr. Nordau had gone to his summer home in the country, so Eliezer went there to see him and summarize his own ideas for the renaissance of Israel. He advanced his old argument that there never could be a Jewish state without a common language. That was basic. A Hebrew dic tionary must be published as soon as possible, for how could a lan guage be properly taught if there were no standards of pronuncia tion and meaning? Next, plans must be made for the purchase of land from individ ual Arab owners, land on which new colonies could be founded. Baron Rothschild could not be expected to finance such projects indefinitely alone. Third, there must be a definite program of fostering amicable relations with the Arabs. There should be, for example, schools where Jewish and Arab children would study side by side and learn the art of living peacefully together. Fourth, there must be a definite program of adult education so the older generation already in Palestine could be enthused with the spirit of the new Zionist movement. Fifth, schoolbooks were needed in Hebrew. It was foolish to try to bring children up entirely on oral instruction, which was too easily forgotten* Ben Yehuda argued that he himself, for seventeen years, had been working almost singlehanded on many of these projects. But now, with the acceleration of the Zionist movement resulting from the 249 Tongue of the Prophets Basle congress, others must help. He wanted to get back to Jerusalem as quickly as possible and begin publishing his paper again, enlarg ing it to meet the needs of a growing Jewish population and adding an Arabic supplement to help cany out Point Three and to convince the Arabs of the advantages of a Jewish settlement of the wasteland. Dr. Nordau listened attentively, then said : "Ben Yehuda, as worthy as this program is, I must point out that I am only a soldier in the ranks. You shall have to see the com mander in chief. Already preparations are being made in Basle for the Second Zionist Congress. I understand why you cannot attend, but there is no reason why you should not go to Basle immediately and see Herzl, who is already there." Eliezer was disappointed. He had anticipated that Nordau would offer to help in convincing Herzl. It was with a weary voice that he said: "I shall do as you suggest. I, too, am only a soldier. I shall go to Basle." This was the first time either of them had ever been in Switzer land, but it was not a happy visit. At Basle they went directly to the Casino, where preparations for the Second Zionist Congress were already being made. When they asked for Herzl one of his friends said : "But didn t you know? Herzl left yesterday for Vienna!" Then, noticing how disappointed Ben Yehuda was. the man added: "Wait a few minutes. I shall be back." When he returned he announced he had sent a telegram to Herzl saying that the Ben Yehudas were on their way to Vienna to see him. And so, without having a chance to debate the wisdom of con tinuing the chase, the Ben Yehudas found themselves again on a train, this time heading for the Austrian capital. Because their funds were getting low they traveled third-class, and when they arrived in Vienna they were physically as well as mentally exhausted. They washed their faces at the depot and went out to look for a carriage. By the time they reached the small garden of the 250 Hide-and-Seek Herd home, breathing fresh clean air for a change, their spirits had somewhat revived. But now they received another blow. The woman who greeted them introduced herself as Madame Herd and said: "My husband left last night for the Austrian summer resort of Ischl for an important interview with Emperor Francis Joseph. He regretted exceedingly having to go, but he had no alternative. He told me to urge you to meet him in Ischl. You will find him at the Hotel of the Three Kings." Back at the railway station, the Ben Yehudas just missed a train and had to wait several hours for the next one. When they got to Ischl they went directly to the Hotel of the Three Kings. "You are looking for Herd, the man with the long beard, yes? 55 the manager announced rather than asked. "Without a doubt you are the people he was expecting. He went to the station some hours ago to meet you, and you were not on the train. He said that if you eventually arrived I was to express his regrets, but he has gone back to Vienna and then to Basle. 5 Hemda counted the money they had left. It was not enough, they decided, to finance any more of a chase, so they "submitted to fate," as Eliezer put it, and left Ischl for Constantinople. In the Turkish capital Ben Yehuda had a Herculean labor to perform. He had received word, just before they left Paris, that he would not be able to resume publication of the Deer unless he ob tained a new permit from the Turkish authorities. When they reached Constantinople, Ben Yehuda was told that if he sought a permit in his own name the old matter of his imprison ment and his "revolt against the authorities 55 would be brought up. That difficulty could be circumvented by applying in his wife s name. So the application was made in Hemda s name, but it was im mediately rejected on the ground that the request for the firman, as it was called, must first be filed with the Turkish authorities in the city where the newspaper was to be published. The night after they received this news Eliezer and Hemda cte- cided that the course of wisdom would be for her to go to Jerusalem and file the application, while he remained in Constantinople to "apply the necessary pressures. 55 But before Hemda left, something 251 Tongue of the Prophets happened which made their first separation more difficult than they had anticipated. The strain of all the traveling, the emotional upsets, and the changes of climate combined to bring on the sort of attack Eliezer had had when he was a student in Paris. He coughed violently from morning until night and had serious internal hemorrhages which confined him to his bed. And at this precise time Herzl, whom they had chased all over Europe, came to Constantinople, but Ben Yehuda was too ill to try to see him. Ostensibly Herd came as a correspondent for his Vienna paper, "covering" a visit of Kaiser Wilhelm to the Sultan, but behind the scenes there had been months of subtle negotiations. Turkey at this time had an enonnous foreign debt, and Herzl hoped that the Sultan might be persuaded to accept some financial help in return for a charter permitting the Jewish colonization of Pal estine. With this in mind Herzl had conferred with some of the Kai ser s intimates and had offered the argument that the Jews would need a "protector," and why not Germany? Word finally trickled back to Herzl that the Kaiser was extremely interested and would try to persuade the Sultan to open negotiations with the Zionists. Herzl should go to Constantinople and meet the Kaiser there. At their Constantinople conference the German Emperor said he wanted to see Palestine for himself and would meet Herzl in Jeru salem. Meanwhile Hemda Ben Yehuda had gone home. The warmest welcome she received, after her four-month absence, was from her daughter Deborah. "Now I am like other little girls because I have a mother again just like they do!" All Palestine was excited over news that Kaiser Wilhelm was go ing to pay the Holy Land a visit, but the Jews attached even more importance to the visit of the famous Viennese journalist, Theodor Herzl, president of the Zionist Organization. Herzl was anathema to the Turkish officials of Palestine, because 252 Hide-and~Seek they were convinced that somehow he was going to try to "steal" this piece of territory from them, but knowing that he was on speak ing terms with the Kaiser, they took no steps to stop him from com ing- The Jews of Palestine prepared an elaborate reception for Herd, and the Ottoman officials could do nothing about it, for if any ques tions were asked, the answer was that the decorations, the spectacles, the triumphal arches, and the processions were, of course, in honor of the Kaiser. The Geiman monarch and the Zionist leader met, by previous ar rangement, at the Mikveh Israel agricultural school, where they saw an exhibit put on by the students. Herzl got down from his horse, responded to the salute of the reception committee, then approached the Kaiser s carriage and saluted the German monarch. Wilhelm ex tended his hand, a gesture of friendship in which he rarely indulged. Eliezer had not yet come home, and so once again he missed meeting Herzl. Hemda was prevented from attending any of the re ceptions because she was now confined to her bed awaiting the birth of her fourth child, so she sent Ben Zion to greet Herd and to wel come him to Israel in the name of the Ben Yehuda family and to in vite him to call on hen Ben Zion, then just sixteen, introduced himself as "Ben Zion ben Ben Yehuda." Herd received him with cordiality and laughingly called him the Triple Ben." He sent word back by the boy that he would be charmed to call on Mrs. Ben Yehuda. When Hemda received the message she suddenly wondered whether she had made a mistake. She had heard that Ottoman de tectives were checking up on all of HerzPs movements. If he came to the Ben Yehuda home, a search of the house would undoubtedly be made later. So she left her bed long enough to ransack Eliezer s study and burn any letters or papers which might, to suspicious Turkish officials, seem to have a nationalistic tone. But Herd never came. Friends convinced him that such a visit might result in Ben Yehuda s being imprisoned again. Thus, once more, direct contact between the Zionist leader and either Ben Ye huda or his wife was postponed. 253 Tongue of the Prophets When Hemda applied for the newspaper permit she was first told it was out of the question. "A woman editor? Unheard of!" She cited the precedent of a woman: newspaper owner in Con stantinople. Then they asked her age. "Twenty-six." The answer was that no permit could be issued to anyone under thirty. "If I could grow four years older in a hurry, would that be all right?" she asked, winking. The Turkish official, suddenly showing a sense of humor, replied that if she could bring papers proving such an age her application would be forwarded to Constantinople. Through the conniving of friends Hemda obtained the necessary documents and one night wrote Eliezer a letter telling him the appli cation finally was on its way. Jokingly she added : "In connection with the application, I today became thirty years old." Eliezer absent-mindedly replied:; "You say you have just had your thirtieth birthday. I thought that you were much younger." Weeks went by, and every time Ben Yehuda called at government offices he was told the application from Jerusalem had not yet ar rived, but friends advised him that someone was simply waiting for a bribe. After Ben Yehuda had raised the necessary money and paid all the proper officials, the application suddenly was found. Now, he was told, there would be a delay while it was given consideration. Ben Yehuda spent eight unhappy months in Constantinople. Dur ing that time he interviewed influential Turks, trying to ascertain the official reaction to Herd s attempt to "buy" Palestine, He was told from every source that Herzl was wasting his time. In a letter dated January 21,1 899, he wrote to Hemda : "The more I think over the state of affairs, the more clear it be comes that there is hardly any hope for us to settle now in the land of our fathers. I have had an interview with Oscar Straus, an out standing Jew who is Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten- 254 Hide~and-Seek tiary from Washington to Constantinople, He says the Turkish gov ernment is determined not to permit the Jews the foundation of any colony and, in general, not to allow us to increase our numbers in the country. I am also told that Russia and France are backing up Turkey in this resolution. . . . "I have already written Herd about this state of affairs," 255 36 Two Bearded Crusaders DURING THE ABSENCE OF ELIEZER HEMDA GAVE birth to her fourth child. She sent her husband a telegram tell ing him he was the father of a girl with intelligent dark eyes and black hair; they were both quite well; she suggested they name the child Ada. The telegram reached Eliezer in Vienna. After sitting impatiently in Constantinople for eight months, ill most of the time, he had sud denly decided it was imperative to see Herzl, even if he had to chase him halfway across Europe again. It was important, he felt, that they discuss all he had learned in the Turkish capital. He had tried by letter to point out to Herzl that his idea of "buy ing" Jewish colonization rights was an idle dream. The reply he received from Herzl had read merely: "We are trying to arrange it." Ben Yehuda admired Herzl and had stoutly defended him since he had become a champion of Zionism, but now he feared that Herzl was being blind and deaf as well. So Eliezer Ben Yehuda took the Orient Express to Vienna, and there the two men finally met; two men of letters, two men burning 256 Two Bearded Crusaders Arith Zionist zeal; two bearded journalists, and yet unlike in so many )ther ways. In his own diary Herzl told of the meeting in one sentence: "There came to me a young enthusiast, Ben Yehuda." The "young enthusiast," who was two years older than Herzl, started out by congratulating his host and saying that without doubt listory would write that the state of Israel acually was created by the First Zionist Congress, when Jews publicly declared their wish to re establish themselves in their own ancient land. "But why, Herzl, did you say e it will come to pass in five or fifty fears ?" Herzl smiled and explained that during the next five years, in his opinion, one of the great powers would take possession of Palestine and give the land to the Jews for their own national state. (A pre diction not borne out by subsequent events.) "Then why fifty years?" Herzl went on that if his first prediction did not materially^, then it would take fifty years for Turkey to collapse. (A prediction which was about thirty years off in its timing.) Then, he added, the Otto man Empire would be divided up and the Jews would get Palestine as their share. In either case, he concluded, the Jews should now be preparing, on their own soil, to take advantage of whatever situation developed. "I heartily agree!" Ben Yehuda declared intently. "But if that is your belief, then political Zionism should be supporting the pioneer ing movement we have already begun in Palestine." Herzl half evaded by answering that the important problem at this time was political rights. Ben Yehuda then told of his conversation with the American Minister and said all his talks in Constantinople buttressed his opin ion that the Ottoman Empire would never sell the Jews any colo nization rights in Palestine. "If you concentrate all the efforts of Zionism on raising money for that purpose," Ben Yehuda argued, "and neglect the tender roots we have already planted, not only will our efforts bear no fruit, but practical Zionism will die !" Herzl disagreed. 257 Tongue of the Prophets Ben Yehuda then presented, in even greater detail than he had to Dr. Nordau, his own five-point program. As for the creation of a national language, Herzl said : "Let the Jews go to Palestine and live there for a few generations. After that they will decide themselves what language they wish to speak." "But if. there is no language ready for them, if there is no modern Hebrew, then what language could they possibly speak?" Ben Ye huda asked, spreading his hands out in an empty gesture. As for better relations with the Arabs, Herzl apparently con sidered Jewish-Arab relations relatively unimportant at this stage in Jewish history. He also showed little enthusiasm for Ben Yehuda s ideas about the political education of those Jews already in Palestine. The talk was without a single positive result. Herzl ended it by saying that he still hoped to win the Sultan over to the colonization idea and in the meantime was going to dedicate his efforts to raising the money to solve Turkey s national indebtedness, which he felt was a bribe the Sultan would not be able to resist. From Vienna, Ben Yehuda went to Paris, hoping to make a new impression on Herzl s chief lieutenant, but that meeting was also futile. Dr. Nordau seemed more sympathetic, but again he had the I-am-only-a-soldier attitude. From Paris, Hemda received the blackest letter Eliezer had ever written to her: "The situation is desperate. Herzl is convinced he will succeed in buying the charter from the Turks and will not think or talk of any thing else. He has no interest in either the paper or the dictionary. Nordau is of no help. We will not get support from anyone. We are indeed an unfortunate people." As Hemda read the letter she was lying in bed nursing her new born baby. With the letter had come a clipping from a Vienna pa per. She unfolded it and spread it out on the bed. It was a cartoon showing Herzl and Ben Yehuda in conference. She studied the face of her husband, then suddenly put the baby down on the bed and burst into tears. The look of suffering and despair on Ben Yehuda s face told better than a thousand words might have done what the result of their conference had been. 258 Two Bearded Crusaders Eliezer Ben Yehuda returned to "his" Jerusalem a disillusioned man with a heart full of sorrow. His shoulders were more stooped than usual, his eyes lacked any trace of sparkle. It was obvious that he had neither slept nor eaten properly in a long time. But Hemda had a surprise for him which she hoped would revive his spirits. "You must treat me with great respect now, Eliezer," she said after they had greeted each other, "for I am the second woman in history ever to be given a permit by the Ottoman Empire to run a newspaper!" It worked ! Ben Yehuda, who had labored so long in Constantinople for the firman, had bribed so many officials, had pulled so many strings, for got for the moment his defeats in Vienna and Paris. "It is difficult to believe, Bitti! After eighteen years, at last we have the right to a paper of our own ! We must start work at once ! I wonder how quickly we can get out the first issue/ As he talked he was on the way to his study. Hemda had to re mind him that he had still not greeted all the members of his family; that he had not yet met his own youngest child ; that he still had on his hat and coat, and that dinner was waiting. In applying for the permit they had used the name Hashkafah (The Review) , hoping that such an innocuous title would convince the Turks that the paper would not have a subversive political com plexion. But whatever the name of the paper was to be, it was being awaited eagerly by the former readers of the Deer. Much had hap pened lately. Another Zionist congress had met. Hostilities had broken out between the British and the Boers of South Africa. Here in Palestine the followers of Ahad Haam, the Russian intellectual who had read Pines out of his secret society, were conducting a re lentless campaign against the political Zionism of Herd and what they called "the Basle crowd." Also, there was a new campaign un der way for the elevation of the liberal Sephardic rabbi, Jacob Mdr, to the post of Hacham Bashi. After a full year without the Deer, the Jews of Palestine were hun gry for news and opinions. Besides, many had paid-up subscriptions 259 Tongue of the Prophets to the Deer and they wanted a paper every week or their money back. The second day after Ben Yehuda s return his wife had another surprise for him. "You know, Eliezer, how much you have talked about putting out supplements to the paper in various languages? I have an Ar;ab writer who will edit our Arabic supplement. You, of course, can do the German one yourself. And for the French supplement . . . "In your absence I saw a great deal of a wonderful young French couple, the Due Quercis. They have been most kind. I told them so much about you that they talk of you almost in religious whispers ! They are both writers, Eliezer; brilliant writers! They have agreed to edit the French section, and without pay, Eliezer !" The first issue of the Review gave the Jews of Palestine enough controversial material to keep them arguing for weeks. Ben Yehuda took bold sides on every one of the questions of the day. He threw his paper behind Rabbi Meir again, thus antagonizing the reactionaries. He heaped scorn and denunciation on the followers of Ahad Haam and stoutly defended the organized Zionists, despite the re buffs he had had from Herzl himself. He wrote that in his opinion Ahad Haam wished to make Palestine a spiritual rather than a po litical center, which would mean only a small community of Jews, content with their lot, a high-class ghetto. It was difficult to take a stand on the Boer War because the South Africans were fighting for their freedom, and instinctively Ben Ye huda was on the side of any people trying to get out from under a yoke. But in this case Ben Yehuda felt that the future of Israel was more important than any other considerations. He had evidence that France and Russia were both taking anti-Zionist positions. In this situation England was the one great hope. Therefore, it was to the Jews interest to be on England s side, so the Review came out for England. Jerusalem buzzed like an overcrowded beehive with excited talk after the first issue appeared. It was the old story all over again. Ben Yehuda was denounced and vilified; defended and eulogized. There 260 Two Bearded Crusaders were few neutrals. But he had made more enemies than new friends. There were few who agreed with his stand on all the big controver sies. If they saw eye to eye with him on the Boer War, they were in violent disagreement on the Rabbi Meir controversy. If they ap proved of the Revieztfs stand on those questions, they disapproved of Zionism. But the greatest conflict developed within the office of the Review itself. Ben Yehuda paced his study in great agitation when he read the French supplement and found that the Due Quercis had supported the Boers. He called them in and argued. A paper must have a policy. One page cannot contradict another. But his French editors were adamant. They were socialists. They were on the side of the Boers because these people were fighting for their independence. How could Ben Yehuda, a Jew, possibly oppose other people struggling for freedom? Later, when the Russo-Japanese War began, the editor and his assistants split again, Ben Yehuda taking the side of the Japanese be cause of his hatred of the evils perpetrated by the czarist regime. The French section supported Russia. The Due Quercis explained that they had a hope that out of Russia someday would come a great so cialist uprising which would change the history of all the world and that as a result all oppressed peoples, including Jews, would benefit. The feud with the Due Quercis was a continuous one. Ben Ye huda often accused the French couple of falsifying the meaning of dispatches published in the French supplement, giving them the op posite meaning they had in the Hebrew part of the paper. The Due Quercis rebutted by saying that Ben Yehuda exaggerated British vic tories and minimized the gains of the Boers. When Ben Yehuda for a second time lost his fight to elevate Rabbi Jacob Meir to the post of Hacham Bashi, the Due Quercis said: "I told you so! 53 It was seven years before Rabbi Meir obtained that post, but even then the victory was Pyrrhic, for the Sultan refused to ratify Rabbi Meir because of his "too advanced ideas. 33 This fight was like so many in which Ben Yehuda engaged; con- 261 Tongue of the Prophets stant defeats, which the slow inevitable progress of events finally turned into victories. Rabbi Meir, just before Ben Yehuda s death, finally did become Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews of Palestine. Despite the acrimony of the debates with the Due Quercis, they and the Ben Yehudas became deep friends. There would be hours of argument, then they would eat and drink together, or sit by a fire and enjoy pleasant social intercourse, discussing culture, literature, and the arts. Often instructors from the schools and young Jews in terested in progressive thought would join the circle. The Ben Ye huda home was a meeting place for those unafraid of the clash of ideas. It was the progress of Hebrew in the schools which gave Ben Ye huda the most encouragement in this period. Although Hebrew was still not the "official" language of any one school, more and more courses in Hebrew were being given; more and more children were speaking the language in the streets; more and more pupils from the villages were coming to Jerusalem to attend classes in schools infi nitely more advanced than the old Talmudic institutions. When Ben Yehuda, not long after his return from abroad, called Ben Zion to him and told the boy he was to be sent to Paris to enter the Alliance s Ecole Normale, the child became defiant. "I prefer," he said boldly, "to be a shoemaker or blacksmith here in our own land than to study in Paris. I refuse to go!" Ben Yehuda knew how closely friends and enemies alike had been watching Ben Zion since the day of his birth. If this "first Hebrew child" became a failure it would hurt his own cause more than any thing else. He tried to explain this to the boy, adding: "With you, Ben Zion, I started a great experiment. I beg you to allow me to cany it to its conclusion !" So reluctantly Ben Zion went to Paris. Some time later Dr. Nordau wrote to the father: "Your son tells me that as soon as he feels he has learned enough he is going back to Jerusalem to become a journalist. Here is the curse of our people, that a boy of extraordinary talents like your son must return to a country where there are no real newspapers and np readers!" "I hope the day will come," Ben Yehuda replied, "when our sons 262 Two Bearded Crusaders will no longer have to leave the land of their birth to receive the edu cation they need. As for our not having newspapers and readers, why do you not come to Israel and find out the truth about us your self?" Ben Yehuda added that if Nordau came he would be treated Eke a king. But Nordau never accepted the invitation. Today his bones rest in Israel, but while alive he never visited the country for which he did so much work. With Ben Zion gone, the father made Deborah his favorite child. He called her the "Happy Little Prophetess/ but in her babyhood die herself had chosen the nickname "Dola," which was what every one else called her. She was now almost seven and had begun to read Hebrew as well as to speak the language fluently. When Ada, the youngest, was less that two yeare old, Hemda gave birth to her fifth child, Eliezer s tenth, who was named Shlomit after one of Deborah s daughters who had died. Soon after that Deborah, Ehud, and Ada were all stricken with typhoid fever. Then the mother caught it too. Finally the newborn baby also became ill. The home became a hospital. Barricades were put up in the street covered with posters announcing a stringent quarantine. Doctors came and went. Word soon spread through Jerusalem that there was no chance of saving the mother s life, although some of the children might recover. Ben Yehuda s adversaries said again what they had said each time calamity came: this affliction was heaven-sent, his retribution be cause he was a heretic and a rebel But one by one the typhoid victims all recovered. When the siege was over and the barricades and posters removed, the Box Yehuda home seemed like a battlefield just after the shooting has stopped. Eliezer was a haggard skeleton. The other members of the family showed the physical scars of what they had been through. But they had all lived. The Review had lived too. Ben Yehuda had not failed to put out a single issue on time. Now, perhaps, God willing, he could settle down and try to re-establish life as it had been before the epidemic. But real tragedy stalked through the doors of the house less than six months later. Deborah, called Dola, caught pneumonia. 263 Tongue of the Prophets From the start of her illness the child seemed to know she was go ing to die. Once, when Hemda laid a cool hand on the hot small forehead, Dola whimperingly said: "Mother, I never again shall see the stars ! I never again shall see the blue sky!" Then one early evening, as she lay clutching a doll to her cheek, she suddenly cried out with fright: "Mother, what is the matter? Mother, I do not see you ! I do not see you !" Her body writhed for an instant in agony. Then death came and ended the suffering. Due Querci and his wife went out into the garden, picked an armload of flowers, and laid them lovingly over the body of the dead child, unaware, not being Jews, of tie Orthodox attitude to ward flowers and the dead* Eliezer was more bowed down with grief than he had ever been. He had centered his hopes on Ben Zion, but his deepest affection had been for Deborah. When the undertakers arrived and were shown into the death chamber, the "spectacle/ as they called it, revolted them. This was sacrilege ! Did not the Ben Yehudas know that it was contamination of the dead to have flowers anywhere near the body? Now the sanc tity of burial could not be accorded the child. Ben Yehuda stood it as long as he could. He was slow to wrath, but finally he exploded: "Be silent in the presence of my daughter! Silent, I tell you!" The undertakers suddenly stopped their chattering. "Now leave quickly! Tell whoever wishes to know that I shall bury my own child in my own garden with my own hands. That is how much respect I have for you and your customs I" Then, stumbling out into the garden, he found a spade and furi ously started to dig. Meanwhile the Due Quercis promised the undertakers that they would put the "scandal" on the front page of every newspaper in Europe unless they relented. So the undertakers held a whispered 264 Two Bearded Crusaders conference and at last agreed that if someone would remove the flowers they would take the body. Ben Yehuda and Due Querci accompanied Deborah, called Dola, to her last resting" place. A heavy stone, according to ancient custom, was placed upon her breast. As this was being done Ben Yehuda gave a sharp cry of inner torture and shouted: "Why? Why so large a stone?" 265 37 Three Iron Chests ONE DAY IN THE SUMMER OF igOI ELIEZER BEN Yehuda said to his wife: "Bitti, do you realize it was just 20 years ago this month that I arrived in Jerusalem?" In twenty years he had fathered ten children. Five had died, but five still lived* Two of them spoke fluently the language he had spent so much of these twenty years trying to bring back to life. More im portant, the streets of Jerusalem, the market places, the villages scat tered over the desert were thronged with other Jews who spoke this same revived language. Through all the vicissitudes and in face of all the opposition, he had managed to keep alive a real Hebrew newspaper which could help popularize the words he kept adding to the language for an only half-receptive public. Today there was a Hebrew literature. True, most of the books which came out in the new language were translations, but the day was approaching when men would write books directly in Hebrew. There was already an amateur dramatic group which gave plays in Hebrew, and this might be the forerunner of a real Hebrew tbeater. 266 Three Iron Chests Now it was no longer unusual for lectures and speeches to be de livered in Hebrew. Progress had certainly been made in these twenty years. But on the debit side of the ledger one must make entries too. There was no uniformity to Hebrew as one heard it spoken in the streets. One man pronounced a word this way, his neighbor or even his wife pronounced it some other way. And their vocabularies were still too limited. The language was feeble in many respects, and inadequate. As for the Hebrew books which were published, their style was heavy and ponderous, lacking in elasticity. Often the sense was un clear because different people had different ideas about the mean ings. But, Ben Yehuda kept telling himself, when his dictionary finally came out all these problems would disappear. The dictionary would be a stimulus in many ways. Most important of all, it would help to accelerate the development of the Jewish state. The only celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Ben Yehuda s arrival in Jerusalem was this little self-summation, but it served a purpose. That day Ben Yehuda went back into his study, took a red pencil, and drew heavy lines under the words of the motto which hung on the wall over his desk: THE DAY is SHORT; THE WORK TO BE DONE SO GREAT ! Then he returned to his scholarly labors with a new determina tion. It must not take another twenty years to finish the task! So he went back to a schedule of working seventeen or eighteen hours a day. He was older now and grew tired more easily, but he found that if he worked for one or two hours standing up at his bookkeeper-type desk and then one or two hours sitting down he could keep going long into the night without a break. In these twenty years he had read through thousands of volumes; the works of many forgotten poets and writers of little fame. He had even perused countless private manuscripts. He had had to become a master not only of written English, 267 Tongue of the Prophets French, German, Russian, and Hebrew itself, but also of the "sister languages" of Arabic, Coptic, Assyrian, Aramaic, and Ethiopian. Work of this sort required concentration. He needed peace, soli tude, and quiet. Yet Ben Yehuda rarely in these twenty years had had any peace, solitude, and quiet. It was difficult to go from a room in which your favorite child had just died back to a roomful of dead words and try to bring some of them back to life. It was difficult for a man who, these twenty years, had been try ing to fight off the ravages of what medical science then called an incurable disease to work seventeen or eighteen hours a day, whether he stood or sat. It was difficult to keep the mind on scholarly matters when the body announced that it was not being properly fed. Yet Ben Yehuda had, there in his study, tens of thousands of file cards covered with his own fine handwriting and a mountain of odd pieces of paper to prove that he had succeeded, during these two decades, in rising above temporal distractions. There were some who wondered why it was taking Ben Yehuda so long to put out his dictionary. If they had understood something about his method they might not have been so perplexed and so im patient. Ben Yehuda s self-imposed task was to take a language which had not been commonly spoken for two thousand years and popularize it for modern usage, and at the same time to make it adequate for the needs of a complex group of people. It must be made sufficient for intellectuals as well as tillers of the soil. It must be flexible enough for artists, scientists, engineers, and for literary people who wanted all the little nuances and shadings of expression. It must be adequate for ordering groceries, shouting at cattle, and making love. But Ben Yehuda wanted to keep Hebrew pure. He wanted to help make modern Hebrew a consistent and beautiful language, without harsh sounds; without words which grated on the ear because they were inconsistent with the ancient music of the language. That was the basic theory on which he worked. In 1 88 1, the year he began his philological labors, Jews were us ing Hebrew principally as a language in which to pray. It had been 268 Three Iron Chests kept alive in the Talmudic schools where students were taught to read ancient Hebrew and argue over the meanings of obscure pas sages in books on biblical law. To make this musty language adequate for common usage it was necessary to add thousands of words to the vocabulary. It would have been simple for Ben Yehuda or anyone else, when a word was needed, to steal it bodily from some other language. But this would have violated his own rule about keeping Hebrew pure. This would have been "bastardization," and bastardization was exactly what Ben Yehuda was trying to avoid. His first task, therefore, when he was looking for a combination of letters to express a certain object, concept, or idea, was to go back and see if perhaps the word had once existed in Hebrew and had been in common usage but had disappeared from the language. Such searches required infinite patience. Ben Yehuda would comb the pages of hundreds of books, sometimes feeling as if he were a little man with a magnifying glass looking on a great sandy beach for something the size of an ant egg. But often these searches were re warding and he would return with exactly the right word, pure and consistent, all ready to be put back into the common vocabulary. When he found such a word Ben Yehuda would handle his dis covery as tenderly as if it were some priceless relic of ancient times. Sometimes Ben Yehuda would find words almost by accident. While he was working in the British Museum he came upon some yellowed pieces of parchment and on them discovered a number of words which had been "lost" for hundreds of years and which he himself had given up any hope of finding. On that occasion he was as excited as, years later, the archaeologists would be when they sud denly uncovered the ancient wealth of King Tutankhamen. Hebrew, when it ceased being a spoken language, ceased increas ing its vocabulary. That meant there would be no Hebrew word for any idea, object, or conception which had evolved, been created, or been invented in the past two thousand years. In such cases Ben Yehuda had a more difficult problem. He then would go to the "sister languages. 55 If one of them "had a word for it," he could "borrow" it and graft it onto Hebrew. This would not violate his own rule against bastardization, because Ar~ 269 Tongue of the Prophets able, Assyrian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Coptic were languages akin to Hebrew in sound and form. Arabic provided many of the words he needed, because it was the only Semitic language which had remained alive, vigorous, and in current usage down through the ages. But here he was handicapped by the fact that the Arabs, for so many centuries, had led a primi tive life far removed from modern civilization. As a result, they had retained in their vocabulary only the words which a simple people needs. So often even Arabic was of little help, and then the task of word-birth became even more difficult. One of Ben Yehuda s constant and almost fruitless searches, as he went from city to city and from library to library, was for some trace of the ancient Canaanite and Moabite languages. They had been closer to Hebrew than any other, and Ben Yehuda was certain that in them he would be able to find thousands of "lost words." But in ancient times the Canaanite and Moabite languages had died com pletely, leaving little trace of their once healthy existence. If the word he wanted did not exist in any Semitic language, and if he could find no trace of its ever having existed, then Ben Yehuda would have to do a job of actual word creating. But here again he would never just put together a combination of sounds which were pleasing to the ear. Instead he would first look for a Hebrew base, and from that base would evolve the word. For example, as he had once pointed out to his wife, there was no real Hebrew word for "dictionary." The expression which people had been using as a substitute was sefer millim > which merely meant "book of words." So Ben Yehuda, failing to find an adequate word in ancient Hebrew books or in sister languages, took as a base the Hebrew word nullah ("word") and from it created millon, which he offered as one of his first contributions to the new language. To day when Jews speak of a dictionary they use this Ben Yehuda word. Another example was the need of a word for "journal" or "news paper." Lacking such a word, Hebrew-speaking people were using the expression michtav-et, which literally meant "a letter of the time." Ben Yehuda, as a journalist himself, decided that that was clumsy ; they needed a more succinct way of saying it. So he took the Hebrew word for "time" and, improvising a bit, came from his study 270 Three Iron Chests with the new word itton, which quickly won popular acceptance. Although a pacifist, Ben Yehuda was bothered that there was no real Hebrew word for "soldier." The closest was ish-tsavah, "man of the army." So he manufactured hayd and even gave it a feminine form, hayellet, which would come in handy half a century later when an Israeli army was formed with girls fighting alongside men for the preservation of their new Jewish state. Sometimes a word which Ben Yehuda had created from a purely Hebrew base turned out to resemble its European equivalent, and some people surmised he had stolen the word from one of the Euro pean languages. For example, in most ancient languages there had been no word for a machine which flies through the air. When such a machine was finally invented, English-speaking people decided to call it an airplane. The French named it an avion. Ben Yehuda took the base aveer (Hebrew for "air") and added on. So aveeron is an example of a purely Hebrew word which appears as if it had been stolen, be cause it sounds a little like the English word and very much like its French equivalent. In his research Ben Yehuda often found pure Hebrew words which had been taken bodily into Western languages. "Shibboleth" was an example of one which English-speaking people had stolen. In Hebrew it meant "ear of grain." There is a curious story of how it came to be used in English for "password." In ancient times the Gileadites were fighting the Ephraimites. One night the Ephraimites tried to infiltrate the lines of the enemy disguised as Gileadites, but a suspicious sentry tested them by requir ing their leader to pronounce the Hebrew word for "ear of grain." "Sibboleth," the Ephraimite said, omitting the h sound from the first syllable, as was the Ephraimite custom. Thus the enemy soldiers were identified as Ephraimites. Thus the Gileadites avoided defeat. Thus "shibboleth" came into use, even in English, to mean "password" instead of "ear of grain." Whenever he returned from working in a library somewhere, Ben Yehuda would copy his notes onto separate filing cards. There was a card for each word, 271 Tongue of the Prophets Anochiuth, the Hebrew word for "egoism," had been difficult to trace, but finally, in old volumes somewhere, he found some ex amples of its early use and had copied his findings onto the master card. But now the master card had been lost. This created a major crisis. Ben Yehuda had no idea in what books, in what libraries, in what distant cities he had found the traces of "egoism." Without the card how could he ever do justice to "egoism" in his dictionary? If he must start the research all over again, where would he com mence? Was it in Moscow, or Constantinople, or Paris, or London that he had found the word quite by chance? After the entire family had searched without success for the card, Ben Yehuda wrote a pathetic letter to the Hungarian scholar, Wil- hdm Bacher, which Professor Bacher mentioned in a tribute to Ben Yehuda many years after his death. In the letter the unhappy lexi cographer wrote : "I am so sorry, but I have not the possibility to reread all the books to find this word again. This is why I ask you, very esteemed sir, whether you possess any notes showing where this word anochi- uth, with its meaning of egoism, is first mentioned. Please let me know about it and I shall be most grateful." Professor Bacher fortunately was able to supply some clues to the missing word and the crisis ended. Having revived or created a word, or having borrowed it from a sister language, Ben Yehuda s next task was to introduce it to a new generation of Hebrew-speaking people in need of just that word to fill a gap in their vocabularies. But he soon found that people are basically conservative, slow to change, reluctant to accept something new and better in place of the old and shabby but familiar. His newspaper was his principal vehicle of introduction. Each week s new words were incorporated in articles on agriculture, litera ture, education and the arts, and in the children s corner. Immediately they became the subjects of stormy debates. The critics referred sarcastically to "Ben Yehuda s word factory." His friends called it his "language laboratory." The more enterprising schoolteachers looked forward to the en largement of the Hebrew language; lazy ones fought it, for it meant 272 Three Iron Chests that unless they were alert and kept up with the new words them selves, their pupils might embarrass them by using words which they themselves did not know. Having launched a word through the newspaper, Ben Yehuda then considered that it was up to the public to accept or reject it. There were those who, in Ben Yehuda s lifetime, accused him of being arbitrary and asked why this one man should have the power to decide what words they should use in speaking or writing. The answer he always gave was that he was merely the excavator. He dug out a word and put it on display; if they were pleased with it and felt a need for it, the word was there for them to use. If they rejected it, the word died a-borning. It was pure democracy. The final decision, regardless of what Ben Yehuda might say or do, was up to the mass of the people. However, it was natural that Ben Yehuda, having played the role of midwife, did everything he could to win acceptance of his "baby." The paper always remained his most effective instrument of propa ganda. But there was also his own large family. Each word, as it came from the "factory," was given to Hemda and the children, with instructions to get to work with it. This meant they were to sprinkle it liberally through their conversations, and if the word were ever questioned they were to explain its meaning. "The army," as the family was called, often was the deciding fac tor in getting a word accepted. There were those people in Palestine who vied with each other in trying to get the new words as fast as they came out and using them first, just as a woman in Paris or New York might try to be the first to have a hat or gown in the latest style. There was a certain amount of snob appeal about being the first with the latest word. But there were others who went to the opposite extreme and built up a sales resistance to Ben Yehuda s creations, which they said were sacrilegious. The language without these improvisations had been good enough for the prophets; it was good enough for them. Generally the Ben Yehuda "army" won its word battles, and most of the father s creations or discoveries were accepted, but some few words were so completely rejected that as years went by the only people who ever used them were the lexicographer himself and 273 Tongue of the Prophets members of his own family. One such word was the one he intro duced for "tomato." The common word already in use was agbanit, from a root which meant "to love sensuously." Ben Yehuda felt that a better word was needed, so he went back to colloquial Arabic and coined the word badurah. After it had been announced in the paper, "the army" received its marching orders. Henceforth, if any Ben Yehuda went into a shop to purchase this vegetable, he was to ask for a badurah, and if the shop keeper seemed perplexed, he was to be given a little lesson in modern Hebrew and was to be introduced formally to badurah. Such tactics generally succeeded, but after many years of prose lytizing, the only shoppers in Jerusalem who ever called a tomato a badurah were members of the Ben Yehuda family. Then there was the story about the most expensive word in the Hebrew language. A friend in London, knowing of Ben Yehuda s need of financial help with his dictionary, approached a wealthy English Jew, ex plained the project, stressed how Ben Yehuda was bringing the lan guage up to date, filling it with practical, modern words, and then asked for a contribution. The wealthy Englishman, who was greatly interested in sports, quickly replied: "If what you say is true I will make out a sizable check for this, man. But to prove it, you must telegraph him at once and ask if he has a Hebrew noun for sport, 3 and if so, to telegraph it back to you." When the telegram arrived in Jerusalem, Eliezer read it, then shook his head. "That is one of the many words which is not ready yet!" Hemda was impatient with him. "Eliezer, you cannot allow one little word to stand in the way of financial assistance, which we need so badly. If you don t have a word, create one quickly so we can telegraph it to him today!" But Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the scholar, would not be hurried. He still had additional research to do in this field. It was years before he finally announced that the Hebrew noun for "sport" would be mil ab, based on an Arabic root meaning "to play" 274 Three Iron Chests Knowing that the Englishman s financial assistance had been lost because mil ab had not been ready earlier, the Ben Yehuda family always referred to it as "the most expensive word in our lan guage." Then there was the story of the day one of the Ben Yehuda daughters came home from school and resolutely announced she was not going back to the gymnasia any more. Her parents were dis tressed. Why not? "Because you tell us that we must speak only Hebrew, yet you send us to the gymnasia! Why must we call a school by a Russian name? Why can t we have a Hebrew word instead of gymnasia? When Father gives it a Hebrew name I shall go back to whatever he calls it!" In that case, fortunately for the education of the child, Father was ready. He had already decided on midrashah, which was based on an Arabic root. And so his small daughter went back to school and announced to her fellow students that they might be attending a gymnasia, but she was different; she was attending a midrashah! But this was another word the people refused to accept, and so for years even Hebrew-speaking Jews in Palestine continued to send their children to the gymnasia; only the Ben Yehuda young went to a midrashah. One of Ben Yehuda s dreams was that someday there would be a great Hebrew university, preferably in Jerusalem, of course, which would become the intellectual center of the new Israel, and that in it there would be incorporated a body of language scholars similar to the French Academy which would pass on all linguistic matters and keep the language pure and uncorrupted, yet still permit it to be fluid. In the meantime some substitute must be created; some board or body to say "yes" and "no." Accordingly, soon after he began work on the dictionary Ben Ye huda founded what was called in Hebrew Vaad Hdashon, an Acad emy of the Language. This was to be the supreme tribunal to pass on words and settle disputes which might arise as the result of philo logical rivalries. However, few men could be found to serve on such a board who 275 Tongue of the Prophets had the crusading zeal of Eliezer Ben Yehuda. One of those finally chosen was partially blind. A second was totally blind. A third liked to make speeches. A fourth vociferously opposed everything the ma jority favored. Whenever a meeting was called, a number of the members would appear one or even two hours late. Some would send excuses, saying that the day was too hot or that they feared to go out in the rain. If the meeting were at night there were always those who worried about breaking a leg in the dark streets. Others in cold weather refused to attend unless they were guaranteed a heated meeting place. Ben Yehuda tried to appease them all. Often when he called a meeting, impatient to lay before the council a number of new words that were ready, he would send the members a message in advance that hot tea would be served, hoping thus to bribe them into attend ing. If the meeting were to be at night he would tell the reluctant ones that if they came he would see that they were accompanied back to their homes by his own Yemenite watchman, with a lantern to light their path. Protests began to come from Jaffa. Why should this council be composed of the learned men of just Jerusalem? Why should Jaffa not also have some representation? Did Jerusalem think it had a monopoly on brains? If Jaffa were not given recognition she would set up a rival council ! To avoid the confusions which would have resulted from the cre ation of a second council, it was decided that alternate meetings would be held in Jaffa. Then protests came from the settlements. Why was Rishon Le Zion being ignored? And how about Petach Tikvah? It took great patience to appease everyone. Two of the most helpful members of the council were Dr. David Yellin and Joseph Meyouhas, both of whom spoke fluent Arabic and made invaluable contributions to the new language through their own research and advice. In addition to the filing cabinets full of cards, Ben Yehuda had a mountainous collection of pieces of paper on which there was addi tional material he intended to use when the day came to correlate 276 Three Iron Chests and compile. He kept most of this mass of "raw material" in a wooden chest which was so full that pieces of paper dribbled out onto the floor. One night, as was his habit when he was searching for notes he wished to consult, Ben Yehuda put an oil lamp on the lid of the opened chest while he rummaged inside. Just then an old friend came into the study, Jacob Shertok, for whom Ben Yehuda had found a job in a carpenter shop when he arrived in Palestine twenty years before. "Is this the way you treat the treasury of our Hebrew language?" the visitor asked in dismay. "This is terribly dangerous! You might start a fire which would not only destroy you and your home and your family, but would reduce to ashes our language as well!" So the next day Jacob Shertok ordered ironsmiths to make three great fireproof chests. When they were delivered he personally helped Ben Yehuda transfer all his papers into them. It was some months later that the Ben Yehudas had as a visitor in their home Z. D. Levontin, one of the pioneers in the colonization of Palestine, one of the founders of the Rishon Le Zion settlement, and now manager of the Anglo-Palestine Bank. With him was Dr. Isaac Levy, manager of the bank s Jerusalem branch. During the evening Eliezer brought up the delicate subject of a loan. "For what purpose, and what is your security?" Levontin asked, suddenly putting on his office manner. "To print my dictionary," Ben Yehuda replied. Then, waving a hand toward the iron chests, he added: "My dictionary which is now imprisoned in those vaults." It was Dr. Levy who spoke up next, saying: "I do not understand. What do the chests contain?" Ben Yehuda opened them. He said that if he could get a loan of five thousand francs it would be sufficient. When the bankers asked for more details, he explained his plan. He now figured that he had material enough to fill four volumes. Five thousand francs would enable him to have the first volume printed. The proceeds from the sale of the first would cover the cost of printing the second. The proceeds from the second would cover the cost of printing the third. The proceeds from the third would 277 Tongue of the Prophets cover the cost of the fourth. The proceeds of the fourth would be used to repay the original loan. The answer the bankers finally gave Ben Yehuda was a loan of one thousand francs, which he accepted, although with this limited amount of credit he knew he would be able to put out only three small booklets containing less than one third of the material which eventually was to comprise the first volume of the dictionary, which was to run to many, many more volumes than he or anyone else even imagined at this point. Hemda later went to Levontin and asked him to increase the credit. When the banker* hesitated, in a typical burst of self-confi dence she said: "Maybe you will laugh, but I tell you that if you help finance the dictionary the day will come when Ben Yehuda will be one of the most important clients of your bank, for we will deposit all the funds we receive from the sale of the dictionary with you !" This piece of salesmanship failed to impress Levontin. Then Hemda offered to have the iron chests full of notes put in the bank s vault as security. He laughed at this suggestion, saying: "We take solid collateral as security for loans, but not iron chests full of pieces of worthless paper covered with Hebrew handwriting intelligible to only one man in the world, and a sick man at that!" About this time the Ben Yehudas were visited by a celebrated oriental-language scholar from Budapest, Professor Samuel Krauss, who spent days going over the dictionary material, analyzing, perus ing, criticizing. Dr. Krauss gave Ben Yehuda more encouragement than anyone else had ever given him. The Hungarian scholar complimented him on his careful research and on his scientific methods. He expressed amazement at the amount of heretofore undiscovered philological material he had unearthed. He called the project a "Herculean task which no one but a man with tremendous enterprise and boundless eiiergy could ever have undertaken." He said that if Ben Yehuda s work had no other results, it had been worth while because of the new light it threw on many obscure passages in the Bible. Professor Krauss wanted to see Jericho, so the Ben Yehudas took him to the ancient biblical city, where they saw the oldest and one 278 Three Iron Chests of the most modern modes of travel side by side, the camel and the bicycle. "I know the Hebrew word for c camel, " the professor said with a smile, "but have you coined a word yet for bicycle ?" It was Ben Yehuda s turn to smile. "Yes, and it is already in common usage. The word is offnayim, coming from the word for wheel and the word for two/ " Hemda added: "If you visit us thirty years from now, Professor, we shall bring you to Jericho again and your eyes will behold airplanes, automo biles, and trolley cars, and in your ears will resound the Hebrew words for all of them." 279 38 Overnight Hotel Jews Only IT WAS PROBABLY THE DEATH OF DEBORAH WHICH caused the nervous breakdown that Eliezer Ben Yehuda suffered about this time, but a doctor in Jerusalem suggested he had an in curable cancer and so he went to Berlin to consult specialists. While he was away a handsome young man in a blue uniform with polished brass buttons walked through the door of the Ben Yehuda home one morning and greeted the family as casually as if he had come from around the corner instead of from Paris, thou sands of miles away. "What has happened, Ben Zion?" Hemda gasped. "Oh, nothing! 3 the boy replied casually. "There was a little strike of students against the principal of the Ecole Normale, and of course I was in it. I had to be loyal to my friends, the revolutionaries of the school." "You mean you were dismissed for taking part in the strike?" "That was not the reason they gave. They had me looked at by a doctor who said I had tuberculosis. But Dr. Nordau says I am healthy and normal. 33 With Eliezer away, Hemda was perplexed over what to do with 280 Overnight Hotel Jews Only her stepson. He was much more independent with her than with his father. "At least," she finally said, "you must take off the school uniform. You no longer have any right to wear it." But Ben Zion refused to obey any of her commands. Instead he kept on the uniform and left for Jaffa. Some days later Hemda re ceived a letter of apology. He said he had a job teaching school. Yemeemah also received a letter that she could make a living in Jaffa giving private lessons. Over Hemda s protests she left too. Meanwhile, in Berlin, Eliezer had been told he did not have can cer; he was merely suffering from nervous exhaustion. When he re turned to Jerusalem his two rebellious children came home from Jaffa to take part in the welcome for him. Ben Yehuda told them how impressed he had been in Berlin with the high standards of the schools. With the assistance of Professor Otto Warburg, member of a family prominent in both Berlin and New York, he had made arrangements for Ben Zion to enter the oriental-language section of the university, to equip himself to help later on the dictionary. Yemeemah would be admitted to the teach ers seminary. The children finally agreed to go to Berlin. Before long, however, the parents began receiving letters that Ben Zion was neglecting his language studies and had become infected with the virus of journal ism, for which there is no cure. Then Ben Zion himself wrote that he had become assistant to the Berlin correspondent of a Paris news paper. In the same letter he sent his first article from abroad for Ben Yehuda s paper. In this period, in the first years of the twentieth century, little progress was being made toward the establishment of the Jewish state. HerzFs plan to "buy" Palestine had failed of achievement, and the first of his predictions had not come to pass. The year 1902 had come and gone. Still no great power had taken over Palestine and given it to the Jews. More and more anti- Jewish regulations were being promulgated by the Turks. Jewish immigration had to be effected illegally. No new colonization was permitted. And there seemed to be no hope that the situation would ever change for the better. 281 Tongue of the Prophets It was no wonder, then, that there was excitement when the Colonial Secretary of England, Joseph Chamberlain, proposed that six thousand square miles in the Guas Ngishu or Uasin Gishu Pla teau of British East Africa be turned over to the Jews for the estab lishment of their own state under British protection. The spot was not in Uganda proper, but the scheme came to be known, anyway, as the Uganda Plan. Seldom in the two thousand years of the Jews* dispersal had any announcement precipitated such an immediate taking of sides. Eliezer Ben Yehuda was one of the first to come out in favor of the plan. "This is a great ray of sudden light!" he said. "At last we shall have a shelter, free from persecution; a home where England, at least, will protect us in our yearning for self-government and peace. Even though it is far away, we will be able to gather there from the four corners of our exile, and there we will be able to learn state hood and prepare ourselves for the time when we shall receive our ancient heritage, the land of Israel, for which we have prayed these two thousand years." To Hemda he said : "At last I shall be free to write openly about Zionism. This devel opment surely will calm the fears of the Turks that Palestine will be snatched from their empire." The older Orthodox Jews took the attitude that this was fine. Now Ben Yehuda and the young settlers and the other rebels and heretics would go off to Uganda, and Palestine would belong again to the religious who spent their days at the Wailing Wall praying for the arrival of the Messiah to save them. So strangely enough, they, too, became ardent supporters of Chamberlain s Uganda Plan. But the younger generation in the settlements did no rejoicing. They had planted their roots here and had grown to love the land. Were all the sacrifices they had made going to count for nothing? Must they renounce their dreams of a new Israel on the site of the old? Ben Yehuda tried to answer them, saying that nothing would be renounced. This would be just a period of preparation for a brilliant future. It might take two or three generations to gather together all 282 Overnight Hotel Jews Only the exiles, to foster in them a national ideal, and to prepare them for the day of their final victory. Uganda might not be an ideal preparation ground, but no other place had been offered. In private conversations he went so far as to argue that in Uganda they would be able to build a military force which might someday return and take the Holy Land at the point of guns. A few were convinced by such arguments, but many continued to rebel. "Has Ben Yehuda become a traitor to all his own ideals?" they would ask. "He wants to settle Jews among Negroes. What a future for the Hebrew race !" Hemda, when the controversy was at its height, injected a per sonal note one night, asking her husband: "What will be your attitude, Eliezer, if you are told to go your self to Uganda?" A strange look came over his face. For a long moment he said nothing. Then almost painfully he answered : "There would be nothing in the world more difficult to do than leave Jerusalem, Bitti. But, if our national life should demand it, I am ready to make the sacrifice." The reply did not make Hemda happy. She had finally accli matized herself to this strange place. She had made all the necessary adjustments to the primitiveness, the prejudices, the provinciality of Palestine. Now she must contemplate moving to a torrid place called Uganda, in the unfathomable wilderness of Africa ! "It overwhelms me," she burst out, "with apprehension and alarm. I see a vision of our children becoming victims of that terri ble disease they call sleeping sickness. A hundred thousand have died of it in the past year or two." The Ben Yehuda conflict between husband and wife was being repeated at firesides all over Palestine. In general the women were against the scheme. Their most emotional argument, but one which the men found difficult to answer, was that the blood stream of Jews and Africans would unavoidably become blended, and a race of Negro Jews would evolve which might not be a credit to either Jews or Africans. Reports from abroad indicated that the controversy had no geo- 283 Tongue of the Prophets graphical limits. Theodor Herzl had taken exactly the stand Ben Yehuda had. Israel Zangwill joined the Uganda ranks. So did Dr. Nordau, who coined an expression everyone began to use. He called Uganda "our overnight hotel. 53 But Russian, Rumanian, and Gali- cian Jews rose up in arms against the plan. Then a letter came from Ben Zion, who had celebrated his twenty- first birthday by changing his name. At his birth Ben Yehuda had been persuaded to drop the name of Ittamar which he had at first given him. Now the boy had reassumed that name, adding to it "Ben Avi" (Son of My Father) . A letter came in which the son of his father said he must express himself without equivocation about Uganda. He was against the plan. Many other fathers and sons split over the issue. In London, Norman Bentwich opposed his own father s championship of the Uganda Plan. Ben Yehuda devoted all his waking hours to turning out literary arguments for Uganda. Seeing him work, no one would have thought that he had ever been ill. He glowed now with enthusiasm. An inner fire seemed to be driving him on. He wrote articles which were re printed in papers all over Europe. He, Herzl, and Nordau ex changed frequent letters. All three were being condemned as "de stroyers of Israel, no longer worthy to be respected." As feelings in Palestine reached fever pitch (it was August, when the temperature was also at its highest) there arrived in Jerusalem unannounced a member of the Zionist Organization s executive committee, Menahem Ben Mosche Ussishkin, who had come to Pal estine "to get inspiration to take to the Sixth Zionist Congress with me." It soon came out, however, that he was violently opposed to Uganda and hoped to "convert" Ben Yehuda and others. There were many arguments, but no one budged from his previous posi tion. Finally Ussishkin declared to Ben Yehuda: "Let us forget Uganda. Whatever is done about it, the time has come for an organization of Palestinian Jews whose voices can be heard at the congress and who will strengthen the Zionist cause." Ben Yehuda wrote an editorial calling for a convention to form such an organization. The meeting took place at Zichron Yaakov. 284 Overnight Hotel Jews Only Delegates came from all corners of the country. It was the first convention of Jews in two thousand years conducted entirely in Hebrew* Ben Yehuda arranged it so that Ussishkin received most of the limelight and full credit for having brought the meeting about. Ussishkin knew what to do with the limelight when he got it. He made such an impression on the delegates that he attained immedi ately a sort of immortality. The street on which the convention hall stood was renamed in his honor. Trees were planted "to perpetuate for centuries the memory of the man we today applaud/ 3 The meeting developed no serious controversy. Uganda was hardly mentioned. Ussishkin went from Zichron Yaakov almost immediately to Kharkov, Russia, where he called a secret meeting of Herd s oppo nents for the purpose, it was reported, of lining up opposition to Uganda at the forthcoming Sixth Zionist Congress. Ben Yehuda re ceived a message that at this meeting Ussishkin, speaking as an offi cial representative of the new Palestinian organization, had stated that this large body of Palestinians was against Uganda. Ben Yehuda promptly wrote an editorial he called "A Confes sion/* in which he pleaded guilty to having allowed himself to be used as a dupe in a political ruse. He accused Ussishkin of having organized the Palestinians merely to use them as weapons against Herd. Most Palestinians were revolted. The signs on the street named after Ussishkin were torn down. The trees planted in his honor were dug up before they had had time to take root. The table on which the group s constitution had been written was burned. Then the Sixth Zionist Congress convened and the effects of Ussishkin s conniving were seen. Herzl dramatically stated the case for Uganda. Nordau made a brilliant speech. But Ussishkin, although not present, had lined up the opposition. The Russian delegates bitterly attacked Herzl. It was a war between East and West, the West represented by delegates from Germany, Austria, England, and France; the East being the Polish-Russian bloc. So much emotion was displayed that this session of the Zionists 285 Tongue of the Prophets was referred to by historians as "the Crying Congress. 3 Herd suc ceeded in getting a resolution passed merely calling for a commis sion to investigate conditions in Uganda, but it was a victory which soon turned to defeat. The Russian delegates walked out of the Con gress, talking of secession. Others followed them. Not long afterward Ussishkin called a conference of his followers at Kharkov and demanded that Uganda be dropped. Herzl knew that in the face of such opposition it had better be dropped. The Russians had paralyzed the movement. Besides, British non-Jews in East Africa had now become belligerent. Herzl had gone from the Basle congress aware of his eventual defeat on the issue. His health in the weeks that followed deterio- rated rapidly. Although he was only forty-four, his figure was stooped, his eyes had grown darkened, and his mouth was drawn in pain. In April 1904 he called a meeting of the Zionist Actions Commit tee in Vienna, and after two hours of debate Uganda was given its coup de grace. Thus the Jews of the world turned a cold shoulder to the British offer of a temporary homeland and left the doors open for nearly half a century more of struggle, war, bloodshed, and tears, but they also left the doors open for the eventual establishment of the Jewish state on the soil where it really belonged. Many since then have speculated on what a difference it would have made in Jewish history, perhaps even in the history of the world, if Ussishkin and his followers had not fought Herzl and if Uganda, deep in the heart of Africa, had become a Jewish place. Uganda left scare. Theodor Herzl became seriously ill and isolated himself in the cloistered quiet of a sanitarium. Max Nordau, while attending a Zionist ball in Paris, was shot at twice by a Jewish fanatic. Fortunately he was not hit. Eliezer Ben Yehuda tried to go back to his dictionary, but for the first time in his life work was no palliative for defeat. One evening he said to Hemda : "I cannot understand what has happened to me. I pick up my 286 Overnight Hotel Jews Only pen, dip it in ink, put the point on paper, but nothing happens. The, ink will not flow. The words refuse to be written. I wonder what it is, Bitti." Hemda knew. Eliezer s heart had been broken. He was like an ardent young lover whose fiancee is taken by death on the eve of the wedding. He seldom ate any more. He tossed on his bed at night. He was like a man with apoplexy, only it was his spirit which had been stricken, not his body. Ussishkin, taking advantage of his victory, sent two of his disciples to Palestine to organize the anti-Herzl, anti-Ben Yehuda forces. This was not difficult. Few remained loyal. The Ashkenazic Jews and the extremely Orthodox group, now that there was no longer a possibility of Ben Yehuda s taking his new language and his radical ideas off to Africa, went after him again. Turkish officials, who for a brief moment had relaxed their an tagonism, thinking they might soon be rid of the Jews, now clamped down with even more stringent regulations. Henceforth no Jew would be allowed to enter Palestine without a red passport indicat ing he was a tourist on a limited visit. And the baron? Whenever the mail arrived Ben Yehuda was cer tain it would contain a letter from Paris announcing that there would be no more Rothschild financial aid. The circulation of the Review, built up slowly and painfully, tumbled to such a low point its editor wondered whether it was worth printing any more. No longer, now, was the Ben Yehuda home a meeting place for those eager to exchange bright new ideas. Even close personal friends hesitated to call until after dark, fearing they might be seen by gos sips who would revile them too. Then one day as Ben Yehuda was standing in the doorway of his home, hoping that a breath of fresh air might make his head feel better, a boy arrived with a cable. At this moment Hemda came from the house with Ehud, who then was nearly seven. "Whatisit,Eliezer?" Her husband s fingers trembled as he tried to open the cable. 287 Tongue of the Prophets "I imagine from Paris. From the baron. Probably telling " But it was not from Paris. It was from Ben Avi in Berlin, HERZL IS DEAD. Eliezer dropped the paper and put both hands to his head. Half to himself he mumbled : "Herzl dead! It really was Ussishkin who killed him." As Hemda led her husband into the house Ehud ran to the nurs ery and shouted to the other children: "Herzl is dead! Father just got a message that Ussishkin killed him!" Then with the bravado of a boy of seven he shouted: "Now I am going to kill Ussishkin !" That remark by an excited child was soon to be repeated all over Jerusalem. Then in Jaffa. Finally it spread to the settlements. Even tually it reached Europe. In its repetition it became distorted. By the time Ussishkin himself heard it, it was Mrs. Ben Yehuda who was reported to have made the threat. Years later Ussishkin, encountering Hemda on a Berlin street, threw open his coat with a dramatic gesture, saying: "I hear you once expressed a desire to kill me. Here is your chance!" Ben Yehuda was certain that all differences would at least tem porarily be forgotten, so he at once set about organizing a memorial service and national day of mourning. "But, Eliezer," his wife said, "what about the Turkish govern ment? They hated him so !" "The Turks persecute life," he replied, "but like us Jews, they are respectful of the holiness of death." Ben Yehuda himself wrote the placards announcing the death and helped set them in type. Then the Ben Yehuda home was turned into a factory for the making of black ribbons to be worn on the arm. The posters were distributed even to the schools. With each went a personal letter from Ben Yehuda, saying: "Whatever your convictions about Zionism, a great Jew has died, a man of deep integrity and unparalleled sincerity. We ask you to assist in a memorial service for him." 288 Overnight Hotel Jews Only All Jerusalem streamed silently and respectfully to the ancient synagogue in the Old City where the service was held. School chil dren marched behind black-draped banners. The crowd was so great that only a small percentage could get into the building. Many young people accompanied the Ben Yehudas back to their home. The house was too small for the number, so they assembled in the garden and asked the editor to address them, which he did. The next day Hemda found Eliezer standing beside the iron chests in his study. On the top of one chest was the almost completed manuscript for the first volume of the dictionary. There was a strange glassy look in Eliezer s eyes. In his left hand he held a box of matches. "Eliezer!" she screamed. Startled, he dropped the matchbox, stared at her blankly for an instant, then slumped into a chair. "What were you going to do?" "Burn it all!" "Why?" "I know now I have made a mistake ever trying to do it. If it were not a mistake, the opposition would not have been so great." "Eliezer! You have never indulged in self-pity before!" "Call it what you will, but I am finished. I cannot think any more. I find it impossible to work. I prefer to die, and when I die I do not wish to leave all this behind." As he said it he made a listless gesture toward the chests. "But when you die, Eliezer, this will be your great heritage." "No ! I shall never permit that another shall come and obtain glory and fortune from the blood of my body and the tortures of my soul, while you and the children live in misery. I wish to die, and I wish my work to die with me. Ashes, together." "Eliezer, do you not remember your own words to the people who came to our garden after the Herzl service? You said to them : "The living are persecuted, but the dead are sanctified! " "Maybe that is why I wish to die. What is life worth if I cannot serve my people? They refuse to be served! What is a new Hebrew language for if no one wants it? What is a dictionary for? Who will use it?" 289 Tongue of the Prophets Hemda dug the nails of her fingers into the palms of her hands and tried a new approach. "Eliezer, I agree with you about death. I, too, am tired and dis couraged. But our children . . ." "I have thought of them. They will grow up like all the other orphans of the world. They might even benefit by our death. 35 "But, Eliezer, we are deeply in debt. How can we betray those who have helped us? I have an idea! I shall borrow money and travel to Europe and sell your manuscript to the British Museum or to some other institution. With the money we will pay our debts and then together we can move on to the next world. But I beg you, Eliezer, do not go without me I" 290 39 "Is This Reality?" HEMDA SET OFF ON THE PROMISED TRIP SOON after she gave birth to Eliezer s eleventh child, a girl named Zaza. She left Jerusalem with little money and with a battered suitcase full of pieces of paper which constituted the manuscript of the first volume of the Ben Yehuda dictionary. She was in her early thirties. She had been living for many years an almost primitive life in one of the most backward parts of the world. In that time she had borne six children, two of whom had died. She had had the responsibility for two stepchildren as well as a brother and sister. She had nursed her husband through numerous almost fatal illnesses. She herself had had typhoid fever and repeated attacks of malaria. Yet despite all this she had a physical attractiveness and a twinkle in her eye which she hoped would serve as allies when it came time to beg for the assistance needed to save Eliezer and his work from matches and oblivion. Hemda had little money to finance her trip, but Eliezer had less to keep the family going. There were four small children to look after, a paper to edit, and a household to be managed by a man 291 Tongue of the Prophets who was not very practical. Unless someone reminded him, he was never aware it was time for a meal. Only fatigue ever drove him to bed. Knowing that his wife was going steerage, he made her promise she would try, after the ship sailed, to find some place to sleep. She did. She bribed the ship s cook to allow her to use his bed for eight of the hours when he was not using it himself. When she was not in the cabin sleeping she sat on a packing case on the deck and read. One day she inadvertently left a book by Schopenhauer behind when she went to dinner. When she returned it was gone. A little later the ship s captain sent for her. Holding out the book, he asked her if it was hers. A ship s officer had found it and had brought it to him, knowing his interest in philosophy. So the woman from Jerusalem and the captain became friends, .and he asked her what cabin she had. Hemda blushed and admitted she had bribed the cook for a bed. "No lady who respects herself can use the bed of a cook!" the captain growled, then gave her a cabin in second class. So it was that Mrs. Ben Yehuda arrived in Trieste looking as fresh and rested as any passenger on the ship. Her first destination was Budapest, then the center of the greatest Orientalist scholars in Europe. First she called on Professor Wilhelm Bacher, with whom Eliezer had had the correspondence about the "lost word." Opening the battered suitcase and pointing to the voluminous manuscript, she said : "I have come to ask you to glance over my husband s work and give me a frank opinion of it." The professor threw up his hands. "It will take a week to give you even a casual analysis of it!" Hemda smiled bewitchingly. "For this my husband has devoted an entire life. I have the temerity to hope that you will give it a week of your time." With typical Hungarian gallantry he replied : "I could not refuse your request, even if I would. I shall submit my opinion to you one week from today." During the next week Hemda obtained eulogistic reports from 292 "Is This Reality?" Professor Bacher and three of his colleagues, Professors Ignaz Gold- ziher, Samuel Krauss, and Lajos Blau. They said Ben Yehuda was making the most important contribution of his generation to the science of languages. Armed with these recommendations, Hemda took a train for Berlin, where she began her search for a publisher. By a stroke of luck a friend introduced her to officials of the firm of Langen- scheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, a long-established house special izing in publishing dictionaries. No salesman ever worked harder trying to sell his product than Hemda did during that first interview. But all her arguments and even the letters from the Budapest scholars seemed to make little impression. They would give her a definite answer in five days. Hemda waited as nervously as a criminal awaits the verdict. When the answer came it stated that there were certain conditions under which the firm might be interested. At the next meeting Hemda was told that it would be impossible for Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung to set the manuscript into type. They could make the plates, do the printing, bind the book, but the type would have to be set elsewhere. Without knowing whether it were even possible, Hemda said the type could be set in the Ben Yehuda shop and "mats" shipped to Berlin. Then a more delicate matter came up. Payment would be re quired in advance. Hemda would have to raise the funds herself. At the fourth meeting Hemda was given a long legal document which contained a clause stating that if Ben Yehuda died before the entire dictionary was completed his widow must carry on the work, from his notes, until it was finished. At the fifth meeting the con tract was finally signed. Hemda wanted to let Eliezer know immediately, but she feared to raise Ms hopes and then have them collapse if she was unable to raise the funds. Without communicating with him she took a train for Paris and went directly to see Narcisse Leven of the Alliance Israelite. After one month of pleading she obtained the backing of his organization. Then back to Berlin, to go through the same pro cedure with Professor Otto Warburg, Dr. Paul Nathan, Professor Martin Phillipson, and other leaders of the German Jews. 293 Tongue of the Prophets Four and a half months after her departure from Jerusalem she finally succeeded in her mission. The financial backing needed for the first volume was guiaranteed by Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, several scientific societies, the Zionist Organization, and Alliance Israelite. Her accomplishment was significant to those who knew that this was the first time these ordinarily antagonistic groups had ever combined to further a single project. Knowing the mental and physical condition Eliezer was in, she was afraid that even good news might literally kill him with joy. So she composed a series of cables, which she sent at intervals. In the first she reported the publishing house might consider the project. In the second she said they had definitely agreed, but it depended on financing. In others she built up to the final news that it was now definite; his lifework would soon be coming out in hand some bound volumes. Hemda never forgot the reply she received. It read: "Is this reality, or shall I awaken to find that I have been dream ing? 35 Soon after Hemda returned to Jerusalem a celebration was held in the Ben Yehuda home. It commemorated three events, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Eliezer s arrival in the Holy Land, which had passed some months before without fitting festivities; his fiftieth birthday, which was still some months off but which they decided might as well be observed at the same time, and the turning point in the saga of the dictionary, its acceptance by the house of Langen- scheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung. Eliezer Ben Yehuda was the guest of honor, but less attention was paid to him than to a small package Hemda had brought from Berlin and which she had never let out of her sight until she had placed it, as lovingly and tenderly as if it were a newborn baby, in her husband s hands. It contained a "dummy" of the book. It looked just as the first volume of the dictionary would look when it finally came out, except that the pages were blank. "But this is the way it will be bound/ she would explain to each new guest. "See how beautiful the leather is !" 294 "Is This Reality? Then Eliezer, excited, too, would point to the gold letters em bossed on the front : THESAURUS TOTIUS HEBRATTATIS ET VETERIS ET REGENTIORIS AUCTORE ELIESER BEN JEHUDA HIEROSOLYMITANO He did not have to explain to most of the teachers, who knew some Latin, that these impressive ancient words meant: "A Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew, by Eliezer Ben Yehuda of Jerusalem." Eliezer was exhausted with emotion by the time the last guest had left. Sitting in his favorite chair, half to himself and half to his wife, who was putting things in order, he said: "Someday soon our language, after all, may really begin to grow into something rich and beautiful. But the day is so short; the work to be done so great ! I think I should go to my study now and com mence. The printers must have the first pages this week to start setting type. I only hope my strength holds out!" In these days the Ben Yehudas had their first proof of an old adage, common even in biblical times, that nothing is as influential as success. Well-wishers came streaming to the Ben Yehuda home. Friends who had hesitated about being seen calling in daylight were no longer afraid that their names might be linked with that of the "rebel." With pride, many who had been lukewarm toward the Hebrew revival now boasted that "their" language, the language of the Jews, would soon, thanks to Ben Yehuda, take its proper place among the important languages of the world. "The great house of Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung is printing it !" They whispered it as if it were a state secret, and while they whispered Eliezer Ben Yehuda went to work. The first word in the first volume was to be av (father). It was Hemda who sentimentally suggested that Eliezer himself should set the first few lines of type. It was Hemda who, when the printers finished setting the first column and brought the heavy mass of type to Eliezer for inspection, said: 295 Tongue of the Prophets "This first column of the first volume is set in lead type. But when \ve get to the last column of the last volume I shall see that it is set in gold for you !" For months Ben Yehuda worked as if on fire. The print shop was like a furnace consuming fuel faster than it could be shoveled in. Often one of the printers would stand over Eliezer s shoulder waiting for the next page. For nearly a quarter of a century he had been doing his research, collecting notes. Only recently had he begun actually writing the text of the book. And being a scholar, he was forever making addi tions, corrections, new annotations ; crossing out a word here, polish ing a phrase, clarifying an explanation, striving always for perfec tion. Those who thought that his dictionary was going to be a mere list of Hebrew words with brief definitions were in for a great sur prise. Except for the few who had seen the manuscript, no one was aware that this was to be unlike any dictionary ever compiled. There were pages and pages of type, for example, on that first word alone, av. The word kee (because) would have twenty-four columns. After each Hebrew word would come the translation into French, German, and English. This made the work unique; a multilingual dictionary with translations into three languages, besides references in Arabic, Assyrian, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. Moreover, it was a thesaurus as well as a book of definitions. After each word Ben Yehuda listed all the other words which were in any way connected with it. Following even (stone), for example, one would find the names of various stones and innumerable words per taining to or suggested by "stone"; synonyms, antonyms, related words. The reader was given the origin of each word, an explanation of its construction, a comparison with its sister words in other Semitic languages, the changes it had undergone down through the ages, and all its nuances, shades, forms, inflections, and uses. After each word were examples of its usage, which Ben Yehuda called "witnesses." With a language as old as Hebrew there were bound to be many more shadings and colorations of meaning, and even conflicting uses of a word, than in a younger language. This 296 "Is This Reality?" had given him one of his greatest problems of research; to find in ancient, medieval, and modern literature as many different "wit nesses" or uses of each word as possible. He had dug out and listed 335 different ways in which it was possible to use the Hebrew word lo, meaning "no" or "not." There were 210 "witnesses" for ken (yes). Unlike the ordinary lexicographer, Ben Yehuda was never satisfied to explain the meaning of a word by listing several synonyms. His illustrations of meaning were sometimes whole paragraphs. He once explained why he did this by saying: "A word when standing alone does not impress the memory. It means little unless given to the reader as part of a complete thought. Only then will it be preserved in memory." Many of his "witnesses" were quotations from the Bible and other religious books, but there were often long passages from secular literature, from the works of little-known poets, or from manuscripts he had found somewhere in a distant library. These quotations were interesting reading in themselves. They gave pictures of the life of early Jews in their homes, market places, fields, and ghettos. For as a critic wrote later, Ben Yehuda never examined words, but thoughts; he did not accumulate sentences, but whole ideas. To anyone reading even a single page of the dictionary it was obvious that Ben Yehuda, in selecting a passage as a "witness," was guided not only by a philological desire to clarify the word s mean ing, but also by a literary and moral urge to present his reader with beauty and truth. The odd little marks which Ben Yehuda sprinkled through his manuscript were marks of his honesty. These symbols appeared alongside words which he himself had created. "I put them in so the reader can see immediately that these are new words, and if he does not like them he should consider them as non-existent." 297 40 Love, Revolution, Art DURING THE YEAR IT TOOK BEN YEHUDA TO COM- plete work on his first volume many things happened in the world outside his study door. Ben Avi, his eldest son, now a thoroughly experienced journalist, came home from Berlin and turned the paper into a daily, called Haor (The Light) . This was the name his father had once tried to use, to the offense of the Sultan s censor. Yemeemah also came home, in love. The man was a handsome German actor and he wanted to marry her. The father blinked. "I give you no opinion. You must follow your heart s voice." But when Ludwig Frankel appeared to make a formal request for the daughter s hand Ben Yehuda, in an arbitrary manner, said : "I do not ask whether you are qualified to support a wife. But if you wish my consent you must accept certain of my principles. First, you must have a Hebrew name, because " The young man interrupted: "I am ready to change my name." "You must also adopt our Hebrew language." The actor promised to try to learn it. 298 Love, Revolution, Art "Third, you must agree to live in Israel," The young man smiled. "I accept all your conditions. 3 * About this same time Ben Avi fell in love with a Spanish Jewess, Lea Aboujdid, daughter of a celebrated doctor who had introduced scarlet fever antitoxin into Palestine. This delighted Ben Yehuda because such a union would be a symbol of the amalgamation of the Ashkenazic and Sephardic elements of the community for which he had been working since his arrival in Palestine. The girl s family, however, was violently opposed because they considered eastern European Jews inferior, because Ben Yehuda was a "freethinker/* and because the family was poor. It was some years before the marriage finally took place. A development beyond the borders of Palestine affected the Ben Yehudas almost as much as these family affairs. After Herzl s death the Zionist Organization had difficulty choosing his successor. The logical man was Nordau, but he withdrew himself from considera tion because he was in disagreement with many Zionist leaders about the colonization of Palestine. He often said he wanted "a Jewish state, not a colony; a charter and not just Turkish toleration." Nordau s friends told Ben Yehuda that he also was reluctant to take leadership because his wife was a Christian. They claimed that the real reason he had never accepted the invitation to visit Palestine was because his wife said if he ever went she wanted to accompany him so she could visit the Christian shrines. She herself was a great respecter of human rights and freedom of religion. It would have been difficult to explain to her why her husband, as a Zionist leader, might have been embarrassed if she had toured Palestine with Christian leaders while he made the rounds of the Jewish religious places. So instead of Nordau, the Zionists had chosen David Wolff&ohn, a wealthy, middle-aged Lithuanian businessman who had been ex tremely generous in his support of Jewish charities and had founded the bank in London designed to finance Palestinian colonization. After his election Wolffsohn and his wife came to Palestine. They were received with great friendliness, but some complained that Wolffsohn was not a dreamer like Herzl. He prided himself on being 299 Tongue of the Prophets a conservative businessman and was always advising caution at a time when many Zionists insisted on the need for bold action. David WolfFsohn, it developed, was closely related to David Wolf- son, the uncle who had driven Eliezer as a boy from his home when he caught him reading Robinson Crusoe in Hebrew, but he himself was apparently not aware of his kinship to the Jerusalem lexicog rapher, and Ben Yehuda never enlightened him. There were many who were pleased, the Ben Yehudas among them, when Wolffsohn was succeeded by Professor Otto Warburg, who not only was a brilliant scholar, a millionaire, and a gentleman of great breeding, but was also one of the group in Berlin who, by responding to Hemda s appeal, were making it possible for the pub lication of the first volume of the dictionary. But the event in this period which had a greater influence than anything else on the lives of the Ben Yehudas and the entire Jewish population of Palestine was the Turkish revolution, which stripped Abdul Hamid II of the power which he had held for a quarter of a century over twenty-five million people in Asia and southern Europe. In Palestine the superstitious called it a "miracle" that this tyrant had now been brought to his knees. When a constitutional govern ment was established by the Young Turks, all Palestine, Jews and Arabs alike, joined in rejoicing that tyranny was at an end. Ben Avi brought the news to his father s study, shouting: "We are free, Father! At last we are free to write and think and talk as we please! Forget your dictionary! Let s celebrate!" Ben Avi was partly right. The pressure of tyranny was lessened, though not entirely dissipated. Censorship was abolished. Before long the Young Turks were giving out permits for the publication of new newspapers to almost anyone who could sign his name on an application. Then the tables were turned. Ben Avi was now the one who was complaining. A new daily had been started in Jerusalem called Heirnt (Liberty), and although it had little political significance, it was competition for the Light. Smaller papers also sprang into ex istence which were quickly nicknamed "Little Ben Yehudas"; papers which nibbled at the circulation of the parent. 300 Love, Revolution, Art But in his idealistic way the senior Ben Yehuda decided that this was all to the ultimate good. The more papers in Hebrew, the more people who would be reading and learning the language. It was in this same period that an attractive young man appeared one day at the Ben Yehuda home and introduced himself as Pro fessor Boris Schatz of Vilna. He had just come from Sofia, Bulgaria, by way of Berlin. He was a sculptor and with an artist friend, Efraim Lilien, was contemplating the opening of a school of arts and crafts in Jerusalem. He wanted the advice of Mr. Ben Yehuda, please. He had made this speech of introduction in a bad mixture of Russian, French, and German. Nevertheless, Ben Yehuda sat for six hours discussing the project with him. Schatz explained that he wanted "not merely to teach arts and crafts, but to create a Jewish art." Ben Yehuda was excited by the project and agreed to give it his full co-operation on one condition. "And what is that?" the young sculptor asked. "The school must be conducted exclusively in Hebrew. You must remain a prisoner hi our home until you yourself can speak a little of the language. My wife, in her spare time, will teach you." Professor Schatz replied with consternation: "But we brought our student body with us, ten enthusiastic young Jews from various European countries. I am afraid none of them knows Hebrew either." "We shall arrange for them too," Ben Yehuda said. So Boris Schatz, with little chance to argue, literally became an inmate in what he always afterward called "the Ben Yehuda Prison." It was six months before Hemda told him he knew enough Hebrew t to be allowed his "liberty." Meanwhile his partner, Lilien, the painter, found a room close by but took his meals with the Ben Yehudas and sat in on the Hebrew lessons, learning in quicker time than Schatz. The ten art students were installed in a Jewish school, this being summer vacation. Mattresses were spread on the floor and a com munal kitchen was established, in charge of a teacher of Hebrew who cooked as well as conducted classes. 301 Tongue of the Prophets Thus the Bezalel School of Fine Arts was established, with Hemda as secretary without pay, so she could make certain the Hebrew-language promise was kept. While the twelve "immigrants" were mastering the ancient lan guage they also kept busy painting and sculpting. Finally it was decided to open the school to the public with as much fanfare as possible. A building had been rented across the street from the Ben Yehuda home. Invitations were sent out for an "open house." Jerusalem had had nothing to gossip about for a long time. But now it seethed with a new controversy. The young and rebellious spirits were excited over the entrance of art into their lives, but the reactionaries were shocked. A school of art? Images on canvas and stone which violated the second commandment! Infidel things! Idolatry! More of the mach inations of that heretic, Ben Yehuda! Yet crowds came, some out of genuine interest, many out of plain curiosity; some prepared to admire, many merely to get ammunition to use in their denunciations. They came in their Sabbath dress, the young in semi-European clothes, others in blue, green, and yellow velvet, some even wearing the fur-trimmed hats which were the mark of ultra-religious Jews. What they saw first as they streamed through the doors was a large statue of the Messiah by Glicenstein. There was a painting by Reuben Lifschitz, who was to distinguish himself in later years as an artist; a bust of Ben Yehuda by Joseph Hebroni; a bust of Nietzsche by Max Kruse, and even a copy of Michelangelo s Moses. The building buzzed with the excitement of it. The adversaries de nounced with vehemence; the young progressives were loud in their praise. In between these two groups were people who had never seen art before and were confused about what to think. Those who had come on purpose to criticize saw in the head of the lexicographer a perfect object of their pent-up scorn. Some even spat at it. Others seemed so eager to destroy it that finally the two directors decided that until Jerusalem, became more art-conscious and more tolerant of Ben Yehuda, it would be well to place a guard over Mr. Hebroni s creation. 302 Love, Revolution, Art The Ben Yehuda head, regardless of what some of Jerusalem thought of it, later won Hebroni a scholarship to the Berlin Academy of Arts. With that open house as a start, the Bezalel School quickly be came a pulsating influence in Jerusalem. Ben Yehuda took time off from his dictionary work to instruct the students in Hebrew history and to teach them where to find old Jewish motifs to incorporate into their work. Lilien, through Ben Yehuda s influence, conceived the idea of an illustrated Bible and began making sketches and looking for a pub lisher. Craftsmen came to the school for help in improving the style and design of their work. The school s influence even reached into Jew ish homes. Pictures now began to appear on walls. Housewives, learning about "taste," began replacing "atrocities" with attractive furniture and tried to make their homes attractive. Thus art began to lose her status as a vagrant in the Holy Land. When the first copy of the first volume of the first real Hebrew dictionary ever published arrived in Jerusalem from Berlin there was great excitement in the Ben Yehuda home. Although no one made the comparison at the time, it is doubtful whether the arrival of any one of the eleven children that had been borne to Eliezer Ben Yehuda stirred within him quite the feelings he had on this occasion. On the page following the title page there was a dedication to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, in gratitude for all he had done to make possible the work which this book represented. It was typical of Ben Yehuda that he began worrying about the second volume the very day the first one came from the press. The funds which had come from Paris and Berlin were now ex hausted. The experience with the first volume proved that it took at least one year and the equivalent of two thousand dollars to put a single volume into print. And now it seemed certain that it would require eight or ten volumes to get through the alphabet, for the first volume covered only two letters, deph and bet h. "Why don t we worry about one volume at a time?" Hemda said. 303 Tongue of the Prophets "The first is out. We need money for the second, so I think I had better go up to Berlin and see our committee there." "If you feel you must go to Berlin, Bitti, I think I shall go with you. After all, it would be profitable to me, because I could work in the libraries there while you were doing something about money matters." The man who walked timidly through thie doors of the great German publishing house of Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhand- lung still had the build of an adolescent boy. Whenever he removed his hat his close-cropped hair stood straight up like so many soldiers at attention. His Vandyke beard and mustache were also trimmed short. But it was his eyes that commanded attention. A fire seemed always to be burning just back of them. The woman at his side was much healthier in appearance, with a good figure, brown hair of an attractive shade showing from under her hat, and with none of the nervousness her husband had. She was almost fourteen years his junior and looked it. Her eyes also com manded attention, but for a different reason. There was a coquettish quality to them which years of struggle and suffering had not dimmed. Together they walked through the doors of the publishing house. Officials of the firm of Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung bowed low and treated Ben Yehuda in the manner that a great pub lishing house reserves for one of its celebrated authors. Before the visit was over, however, they impressed upon him that he must live up to the agreement that material for subsequent volumes would be rapidly forthcoming. Hemda took Eliezer to visit the Berlin Jews who had raised the money for the first volume and had formed themselves into a com mittee, with Dr. Abraham Shalom Yahuda, whom Ben Yehuda had taught as a child in Jerusalem, as secretary, and Martin Phillipson as chairman. They all congratulated Eliezer and told him he had justified their confidence in him. Later, meeting alone with Hemda, they agreed to raise the money needed for Volume Two. It would be sent in regular installments to them. After the meeting Professor Warburg, who had made the largest 304 Love, Revolution, Art personal pledge on this and the previous occasion, took Hemda aside and said that while they were in Berlin they were to consider themselves as his guests; he would pay all their expenses. There were tears in Hemda s eyes as she thanked him and then rushed off to tell Eliezer the good news. From Berlin they went to Paris. There Hemda received a long letter from David Yonas, her eldest brother. He was a lawyer and had recently moved from Russia to Finland. He had been one of the few Jews allowed to practice in St. Petersburg and had built up enough of a fortune to retire in comfort. Hemda had written him about her husband s dictionary, thinking she might get him finan cially interested. He replied that if the Jews of Palestine wanted a dictionary it was all right with him. But let them pay for it. However, if she and her family needed a vacation, she should send for the children and all of them should come to his new home in Finland. He would send railway tickets. Everything would be paid. As Yemeemah and her actor husband were about to leave Jeru salem for Paris anyway, Hemda cabled them to bring the four small children. When Ehud, Ada, Shlomit (now called Dola), and Zaza arrived in Paris, each child was provided with an outfit of the best clothes the French capital had to offer, by courtesy of "Uncle David." The Ben Yehuda family spent two months in Finland. Hemda and the children had never been so happy and carefree, but Eliezer was restless. He seemed almost relieved when a letter came from the Berlin publishing house asking why none of the second volume had been received. 305 41 Hats in Hand UNDER THE YOUNG TURKS, CONDITIONS WERE IM- proving in Palestine for the Jews. The ban against construction of homes by Jews was relaxed; also the prohibition against Jewish im migration. New colonies were being established. On the shore of the Mediter ranean, close beside Jaffa, a new city was taking form on what had been wasteland. It was going to be called Tel Aviv (Hill of Spring) , a name inspired by one of Herzl s books. Tel Aviv would be the first really Jewish city in two thousand years. After Hemda and Eliezer returned they were instrumental in organizing a parade of pupils of Jerusalem schools who could speak Hebrew. It reached from Machney Yehuda Street to the suburb of Motza. As Eliezer rubbed his eyes and stared he exclaimed: "This is the living Hebrew language. Four miles of it V By this time Eliezer had completed work on the letter gimeL But as he tackled daleth his strength and spirit began to ebb. "I feel like a mountain climber all the time, Bitti. I just get over one difficult peak, and before I can catch my breath, there ahead is another peak to be scaled. Each peak, each letter, has its dangers, its problems. And I get so tired these days!" 306 Hats in Hand Hemda tried to get him to rest each seventh day to regain his strength. He refused. She tried to get him to take a nap each after noon. He argued he had no right to "waste" time. She tried to get him to pause at sunset for a cup of tea. He said he had lost his taste for tea. When she invited some of his old friends in for the evening, he would greet them in friendly manner, then, excusing himself, would go back to his study to work. While Eliezer was still struggling with daleth, the monthly pay ments from Berlin stopped. The Ben Yehuda debts began to mount. The printers wanted their pay. Money was needed for additional type. At first Hemda kept Eliezer ignorant of the difficulties, hoping the payments from Berlin would be resumed soon. But getting no reply to letters and cables, she finally told him that no more words could be set into type. Eliezer put a hand to his tired head and merely said: "I do not understand. I do not understand." Then he went back to his study again. Next time he came out he collapsed in a chair and said: "I wonder why I am so tired. I never used to get tired, Bitti, did I? And my fingers ! Sometimes they get so cramped I can no longer hold the pen !" Hemda knew there was nothing she could do about his fatigue, but she could do something about the lack of funds. Obviously there was no more hope from Berlin. She would have to go to Paris. But Eliezer could not be left behind in his condition, so she finally per suaded him to go with her, although he loudly complained: "Why must we keep going places? Always and always it seems that we have to be wandering Jews, with our hats in our hands! From door to door. Country to country. Continent to continent. "I suppose it will never end. We go now to get money for the second volume. Then for the third. Then the fourth. The fifth. The sixth. The seventh. The eighth. And I am so tired !" From an unexpected quarter they obtained a loan of enough to permit them to travel third-class to Paris. When they reached Jaffa, Eliezer was so exhausted that Hemda took him to the hotel and left him, saying: 307 Tongue of the Prophets "Lie on the bed and rest. I shall be back soon. 55 She had no idea where she was going. As she walked down a nar row street, letting her feet take her where they would, she glanced up at a second-story window and saw a sign which read: PALASTINA AMT She had heard about the "Palestine Office." It had been founded by the same Professor Warburg who had been so kind up in Berlin. It was under the direction of Dr. Arthur Ruppin. Without any specific idea in mind Hemda mounted the stairs. The office was the tiniest she had ever seen, hardly six feet square, with a table and two chairs. She had to talk to Dr. Ruppin in German, for he knew no Hebrew. She talked to him about the dictionary and the problem of money. He shrugged his shoulders and said : "But why come to me? I do not even know the language. 5 * Then Hemda, having spontaneously gotten the idea, asked him to call a meeting of the most influential Jews in Jaffa and see what he could do. Dr. Ruppin tried to beg off. But Hemda, feeling that she was fighting to keep alive the flame of her husband s passion, finally had her way and a meeting was called. Z. D. Levontin, the banker, was there, and Judah Grazovski, who by now had collaborated on a pocket dictionary himself and had translated Dickens and Mark Twain into Hebrew. Dr. Shemarya Levin, an enthusiast for the Hebrew language, came, and also Dr. Meyer Berlin, a prominent social worker, and others. Hemda did all the talking, in Hebrew. Exactly what she said she was later never able to remember. When she finished there were few questions, because many of the men had only a slight knowledge of Hebrew, yet were embarrassed not to speak Ben Yehuda s language to his wife. Finally a sheet of paper was passed around and each man put down his name and an amount. In a short time enough was sub scribed to assure the completion of the second volume, and Hemda rushed back to the hotel to tell her husband. 308 Hats in Hand After their return to Jerusalem, Eliezer set to work again while Hemda went to Berlin to find out what had gone wrong there. It was Dr. Nathan who explained. As one of the founders and chief supporters of the German- Jewish schools in Palestine, he was indig nant that the Ben Yehudas were trying to substitute the teaching of Hebrew for German in those schools. He frankly advised Mr. Ben Yehuda not to count on any more assistance from Berlin. So Hemda proceeded to Switzerland, hoping to borrow enough money from her lawyer-brother, who had moved from Finland to a suburb of Geneva, to go on to Paris or even New York. But David Yonas was more unsympathetic than ever. "Either there is or there is not a Jewish nation," he said in a queer attempt at logic. "If there is, then it should not have to go begging. If not, then why do you stay there? How can there be any need for a dictionary if no one wants to speak Hebrew?" In Switzerland, Hemda received news from Jerusalem which made her realize she must get home quickly. It was Ben Avi, this time, who was in trouble. He had been desperately in need of financing for his daily paper and had had what he thought was the good fortune to meet a man of wealth who agreed to provide enough financing not only to continue the paper but also to expand it in size and to put on a campaign for more circulation which would smother out its rivals. The prospective backer would pay Ben Avi a fixed salary and would demand no voice in editorial matters. When and if there was profit, he would take it. Ben Avi had jumped at the offer. But he had ignored the fact that his new associate was a Jew who had renounced his religion and be come a Christian. When the news spread through Jerusalem the storm broke. The Ben Yehudas going into partnership with an infidel! What depths would that family sink to next? Fortunately, the financial "angel" broke his contract a short time after Hemda s return and renounced his support of the paper, to everyone s relief. In the months which followed, the setting into type of the second 309 Tongue of the Prophets volume was finally completed and the book went to press. It was dedicated to Professor Otto Warburg, scholar, philanthropist, man of kindly heart. Never within the memory of living man had Jerusalem seen as much snow as fell on her sharp-pointed minarets, on her golden domes, and into her twisting streets that winter. It was during this season that the mayor of Bradford, England, a wealthy Jew, Jacob Moser, arrived in Jerusalem on a tour of Palestine. It was Hemda who got the idea that Mayor Moser un doubtedly would understand the importance of a dictionary. (The time had come to start raising money for Volume Three.) "I am sure everyone has been to see him for all manner of assist ance since the day he came," Eliezer remarked pessimistically. Saying nothing to her husband of her plans, Hemda conferred with Professor Richard James Horatio Gottheil, director of the American School for Oriental Research, which was across the street from the Ben Yehuda home. She showed him the first two volumes of the dictionary and some of the material for the third. Then she told him the financial problem. The professor looked critically at the two printed books. "Why do you make such a large dictionary? Even a tailor cuts his pattern according to the amount of material he has !" Hemda smiled and quickly retorted : "That is our misfortune. We have so much material that we are compelled to make a beautiful garment! 5 Then Hemda asked the professor to invite Mr. Moser to luncheon and try to interest him in the dictionary. Three days later Professor Gottheil came through the snow to report that Mrs. Ben Yehuda s hopes had been in vain. The English man was not a bit interested. "I told you so, Bitti, didn t I?" was all Eliezer said. "Well, sometimes I am right!" his wife responded. That afternoon, without telling anyone, she went to the hotel where the Englishman was staying. He was away, but she talked with his wife, a charming English Jewess, who listened graciously 310 Hats in Hand and finally agreed to explain the entire matter to her husband and try to persuade him to grant Mrs. Ben Yehuda an interview. Back home, Hemda began preparing her arguments, It was only two hours after she had left the hotel that a carriage drove up and out of it came Mr. Levontin, the banker, in a highly excited state. He must see Mr. Ben Yehuda. The matter was urgent! When he clasped the hand of Eliezer he blurted out: "I bear good tidings, my friend !" Eliezer blinked and rubbed a hand across his tired eyes. "Tidings about what?" "I come to tell you that Mr. Moser has just deposited five hundred pounds sterling in the bank in your name for Volume Three !" Hemda, who had been eavesdropping, slipped out the door and ran through the snow without a coat to pay an unceremonious call on Professor Gottheil in the archaeology building. She wanted to tell him herself. That evening, after Hemda had explained for the third time how she had done it, Eliezer shook his head and said: "I still do not understand !" "Well, then, let s just call it a miracle !" "Bitti, there are too many miracles in our life. Always someone must produce a miracle! How many miracles do you have left? Remember, there will probably be six or seven volumes more!" Eliezer Ben Yehuda started work on his third volume in high spirits, with more inner serenity than he had had in a long time. His wife spoke of his "wondrous quietness of soul." The old opponents were dying off or giving way. A healthy new generation was taking over. The success of the Bezalel School of Fine Arts was one example. Aaron Aaronsohn was at work on his wild-wheat experiments and was gaining recognition among scientific agriculturists. Ephraim Hareuveni had already found that plants and flowers mentioned in the Bible were still growing in Palestine, except that no one recognized them because they now had different names. Abraham Zwi had begun his research into ancient Hebrew music Tongue of the Prophets which would be used as a base in building a contemporary Hebrew music. These were only a few of the brilliant young Jews who were forging ahead in their fields, as Ben Yehuda was trying to do in his. The lexicographer was happy when he received such reports, but once he said : "What are all these things compared to the bright future ahead? Someday the Jews will be a nation. No one can stop it. The day will come when the importance and power of the Jews will be taken into consideration in the meeting places of the mighty. When the hour arrives for the last judgment of the nations, we shall be among them." Prophetic words, spoken in 1910! In these days the Ben Yehudas were living on Abyssinian Street in the New City, close by the British and Danish consulates, the Hebrew Orphanage, the Abyssinian Church, and the American archaeology school, having exchanged a small house with a large garden for a large house with a small garden. The children liked the new home because it had windows with colored glass. As they assembled for meals Ben Yehuda sat flanked by his two sons. At the other end of the long table sat "the Greeks," as Hemda and her daughters were called because they had taken to wearing sandals and long flowing robes of white, rose, yellow, or blue, cut along classical lines. One day Ehud suddenly said: "What s the matter now, Mother Worry?" Hemda smiled. She had grown accustomed to the nickname her own children had given her. Each time they called her by that name she would unconsciously put a hand to her forehead and try to smooth out the wrinkles. It was the old problem again. Volume Three, dedicated to Jacob Moser, was out and paid for. Now Volume Four must be financed. The children dreaded this phase of the cycle. It always meant that one or both of the parents would pack suitcases and go off to foreign parts, sometimes not returning for months. 312 Hats in Hand But this time the Ben Yehudas had a pleasant surprise. The house of Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung reported that a final audit of costs and receipts on Volume Two had been made and there was a small balance to the author s credit. They also offered to advance an additional one thousand marks to help with the work on - Volume Four. 313 42 Language War AFTER SULTAN ABDUL HAMID H ABDICATED, THE Young Turks sent Zakki Bey to Palestine as their military governor. He was a middle-aged man of education and culture who won im mediate respect, especially from the Jews, who whispered that he was descended from Jews forcibly converted to Islam during the Spanish persecution. Whether or not that was true, he was responsi ble for the easing of many harsh restrictions. Instead of the old-style bureaucrats, lazy and phlegmatic, new young Turkish officials arrived from Constantinople, most of them with progressive ideas. Turkish soldiers, instead of looking like tramps, now appeared in trim uniforms and with shined shoes. Another direct result of the Turkish revolution was that all the great powers now turned their eyes toward this part of the world. France directed her attention in particular toward Syria and Lebanon. Russia ogled Constantinople. England concentrated her glances in the direction of the Suez Canal. But all took an intensified interest in Palestine. Russia built a teachers college at Nazareth to provide instructors for the one hundred or more secondary schools she had scattered over the country. Even Arab peasants began to speak Russian. Language War In the German- Jewish schools there was a constant attempt to decrease the amount of instruction in Hebrew and increase the use of the German language. It was openly stated that this was part of a plan to prepare Palestine for eventual German occupation. The fear that Ben Yehuda had always had, that Constantinople would someday place a ban on the teaching of Hebrew, was com pletely dissipated, for the Young Turks imposed only one restriction :; there must be instruction in every school in Turkish. If that were done, the schools were free to teach anything else they pleased. Ben Yehuda s great objective had always been to have Hebrew the "language of the curriculum"; that all classes, whatever the subject, be conducted in Hebrew. He felt that French, German, Russian, English should be taught as "foreign languages." In some schools he had already won this fight. In others progress was being made. And then something very disturbing happened. A number of wealthy German Jews had financed the erection of a technical school at Haifa called Technikum. While the building had been under construction there had been discussions about what the language of the curriculum would be. Now the decision had been made. Ger man ! Hebrew would not be allowed. A delegation which had attended the Zionist Congress at Vienna called and announced: "Ben Yehuda, you must get to work with your pen! Write editorials ! Stir up public opinion!" Ben Yehuda wondered whether the delegation realized what a sacrifice they were railing on him to make. It was not just that he would have to suspend work on the dictionary. It was not just that he had already spent part of the money advanced for the fourth volume. If he entered this new war he would become a crusading editor again and would irrevocably antagonize the Jews of Berlin who had helped him in the past and perhaps might help again. But Ben Yehuda did not hesitate long. That same day he sent a message to Ephrayim Cohen, director of all German-supported schools in Palestine, that he wanted to see him at once. He received a curt reply. Mr. Cohen did not care to confer with Mr. Ben Yehuda. Angered, Ben Yehuda went to see Mr. Cohen. He was told that 3*5 Tongue of the Prophets he was not at home. He tramped the streets and finally found the director. The conference took place on a public highway. "I demand/ 3 said Ben Yehuda in a voice that had none of its habitual softness, "that you go immediately to Berlin and get this decision reversed. We will not allow anyone to dictate how the schools of Israel are to be run!" Ephrayim Cohen tried to calm his opponent: "I am sorry, but I have no influence in Berlin." Ben Yehuda lost his temper. "You can send word to Berlin that Ben Yehuda says blood will flow on the steps of the technical school in Haifa if this order is not changed at once! Things will happen which the entire world will hear about!" "But, Mr. Ben Yehuda, would it change your mind if I told you that this order comes from the very top?" "What do you mean, the very top 3 ?" "The German Kaiser has intimated that it would be most agree able to him if German were made the official language of all schools in Palestine." "And who is the Kaiser to us? Why must we sacrifice everything to satisfy one of his whims? This is war, Ephrayim Cohen ! War, I tell you ! We shall keep the technical school closed if they insist on German. No one will enter that building except over my dead body! Unless you go to Berlin, the war will start immediately. Decide now !" At this point Ephrayim Cohen left Ben Yehuda to carry on his tirade to a crowd which had gathered. Ephrayim Cohen did not go to Berlin. The war did start im mediately. No blood was spilled. No shots were fired. But in some ways it was as dramatic a war as the one which would be fought years later for the existence of the Jewish state. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the scholar, was the commander on his side. David Yellin, one of his earliest followers, came back from Vienna and took an active part in the fight. The Ben Yehuda home on Abyssinian Street became general headquarters. Councils of war were held long into the night. Teachers from the various schools gathered there for strategy meet- 316 Language War ings. Jerusalem was tense, knowing that the "rebels" were facing powerful opposition this time. Finally the teachers voted to abandon their classrooms, close the schools, and enlist their pupils in the fight. Ephrayim Cohen was left alone in his empty buildings. The children and their instructors paraded through the streets shouting in Hebrew, "Down with the Germans," and "Hebrew must live." A marching song was composed with a martial air and militant Hebrew words. The revolt spread to Jaffa, then to the settlements. More and more schools were closed because pupils and teachers had walked out, swearing to return only after the fight had been won. From Judea and Galilee came many teachers to confer at GHQ. Ephrayim Cohen sent for Dr. Paul Nathan, who had been re sponsible for stopping the Berlin contributions to the dictionary. Dr. Nathan was having a vacation in Egypt but hurried to Jerusalem for conferences. Ben Yehuda sent him. an ultimatum that he had a choice between surrender or interminable war. There was no reply. Finally the war council authorized Mrs. Ben Yehuda to confer with Dr. Nathan, thinking she might be able to hold her temper better than anyone else. The meeting lasted for hours. Finally Dr. Nathan said: "Maybe Mrs. Ben Yehuda ignores the fact that her husband s dictionary is in jeopardy. Has she no longer any interest in it?" "And if I have, what should I do?" "Persuade your husband to withdraw from this fight at once." "He would be stoned to death if he turned traitor to the language he believes in, and rightly so !" "Then woe to the Jews of Palestine and woe to the dictionary!" As Hemda walked home she saw a crowd of students around a bonfire in the street in front of the German consulate. Several hours later the elderly German consul, Dr, Schmidt, ap peared at the Ben Yehuda home. There were tears in his eyes as he told his close friend, the lexicographer, that Jewish children had been burning their German schoolbooks in front of his office and had shouted at him when he tried to stop them : "We shall never need German schoolbooks again!" Tongue of the Prophets Dr. Nathan quit Palestine without capitulating. The technical school in Haifa remained closed. So did all the other German institu tions. Meanwhile, under Ben Yehuda s guidance, "emergency 55 schools were opened in which all the instruction was in Hebrew. In some wooden boxes had to be used for seats. As in any civil war, families were divided; friends fought each other; those who tried to remain neutral were criticized by everyone else. About this time there came to Jerusalem the American Ambas sador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, whose son a generation later would play such a dominant role in raising funds for Israel. He was disturbed at the chaos he found and decided to try to make peace between the two camps. Instead of calling a meeting, which everyone might have refused to attend, he saw to it that members of all factions were invited to a banquet to be given in his honor, Among the guests were many Christians and Moslems who had taken sides. Ambassador Morgenthau, in the address of the evening, spoke of the need for love and peace, not only among brothers, but among Jews, Christians, and Moslems. His oratory was effective. It served as oil to quiet the sea of seeth ing emotions. After that the agitation gradually subsided. Compromises were worked out. Neither side won a clear-cut victory, but the German schools eventually were reopened and Hebrew was not dropped from the curriculum. Ben Yehuda returned to his study, picked up his pen, and resumed work on his dictionary, strangely refreshed by his activities as the battle-front commander in what Jewish history thereafter would refer to as the "War of the Languages." Despite the bitterness engendered by the War of the Languages, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, when his fourth volume was completed, dedi cated it to the committee in Berlin. Hemda thought this was carrying fair play too far. But her 318 Language War husband pointed out that without the help of the Jews in Berlin the dictionary never could have progressed this far. "Let us give to Caesar what is Caesar s due F 5 Volume Four was in many respects better than the others. It was richer in quotations. One critic said that reading Volume Four was like "taking a guided excursion through the ages." Volume Four also showed the value of all the traveling the Ben Yehudas had done. It did more than the previous three together to establish Ben Yehuda s reputation as a thorough scholar. The most tangible recognition came from the Zionist Organiza tion, which, at the goading of Professor Warburg, voted Ben Yehuda an award of one thousand marks per year. This was especially wel come, because Baron Rothschild at this time cut his subsidy exactly in half as a gesture of his disapproval of Ben Yehuda s "Zionism." When last in London Ben Yehuda had found traces in the British Museum of many words which would be