26 DOC. 20 IMPRESSIONS ON PALESTINE
My
Impressions
of
Palestine
By
ALBERT EINSTEIN
I
CANNOT
begin these notes
without
expressing my
heartfelt
gratitude
to
those
who
have
shown
so
much
friendship
toward
me
during
my stay
in Palestine.
I
do
not
think
I
shall
ever
forget
the
sincerity
and
warmth of
my
reception-for
they were
to
me an
indica-
tion
of
the
harmony
and healthiness which
reigns
in the
Jewish
life of
Palestine.
No
one
who
has come
into
contact
with
the
Jews
of
Palestine
can
fail
to be inspired by
their
extraordinary
will
to work,
and
their
determination which
no
obstacle
can
withstand. Before that strength
and spirit there
can
be no
question
of
the
success
of the colonization work.
The
Jews
of
Palestine
fall
into
two
classes-the urban
workers and the
village
colonizers.
Among
the achieve-
[2]
ments
of
the
former,
the city
of Tel-Aviv
made
a
singu-
larly
profound impression on
me.
The
rapidity and energylove
which
has
marked the
growth
of
this
town has been so
remarkable,
that
Jews
refer
to
it with
affectionate
irony
as
“Our
Chicago.”
A
remarkable tribute
to
the real
power
of
Palestine
is
the fact that
those Jewish
elements which
have been
resi-
dent in the
country
for
decades
stand distinctly
higher,
both in the matter
of
culture
and
in
their
display
of
energy,
than
those
elements which
have only recently
arrived.
And
among
the
Jewish
“sights'
of Palestine
none
struck
me
more pleasantly
than did the school
of
arts
[3] and
crafts,
Bezalel, and the
Jewish workingmen’s groups.
It
was amazing to
see
the
work
that
had been
accom-
plished by young
workers who, when
they
entered the
country,
could
have been
classified
accurately as
“un-
skilled
labor.“ I
noted that
beside wood,
other building
material
is being produced
in the
country.
But
my
pleasure
was
tempered
somewhat when
I
learned
of thefor
fact that the American
Jews
who lend
money
for build-
ing
purposes
exact
a
high rate
of
interest.
To
me
there
was something
wonderful in the spirit of
self-sacrifice
displayed
by our
workers
on
the
land.
Onetime
who
has actually
seen
these
men at
work
must
bow before
their
unbreakable
will
and
before the determination which
they
show in the
face
of their difficulties-from
debts
[5]
to
malaria.
In
comparison
with
these two
evils the
Arab
question becomes
as
nothing.
And
in
regard
to
the last
I
must
remark
that I
have
myself seen more
than
once
insurance of friendly relations
between
Jewish
and
Arabmust
[6]
workers.
I
believe that
most
of
the
difficulty
comes
from the intellectuals-and,
at that,
not
from the Arab
intellectuals alone.
The
story
of
the
struggle against
malaria constitutes
a
chapter by
itself.
This
is an
evil
which affects
not only
the
rural,
but
also
the urban
population.
During
my
visit
to Spain
some
time
ago,
we
submitted
to
the
Spanish
Jews
a
proposition
that
they
send,
at
their
expense, a
specialist
on
the
subject
of
malaria
to Palestine,
and
thatPalestine
this
specialist
should
carry
on
his
work in
connection
[7]
with
the
work of
the
University in
Jerusalem.
The
malaria
evil
is
still
so
strong
that
one may
say
that it
weakens
our
colonization
work in
Palestine
by some-
thing
like
a
third.
But
the debt
question is particularly
depressing.
Take
for
instance the workers
of
the
colony
of
Deganiah.
[8]
These
splendid
people
groan
under the
weight
of their
debts,
and
must
live in the direst
need
in order not
to
contract
new
ones.
One
man, even
with
moderate
means,
could,
if
he
were largehearted enough,
relieve this
group
of
its
heartbreaking
burden.
The
spirit which
reigns
among
the land
and building workers
is
admirable. They
take boundless
pride
in
their
work, and have
a
feeling
of
profound
love for the
country
and
for
the
little
lo-
cality
in which
they
work.
In
the
matter
of
architectural
taste,
as
displayed
in the
buildings,
in
the towns and
on
the land, there
has been
not
a
little
to
regret.
But
in
this
regard
the
engineer,
Kaufman, has
done
a great
deal
to
bring
good
taste
and [9]
a
of
beauty
into
the
buildings
of Palestine.
To
the
government
considerable credit
must be ac-
[10]
corded for its constructions
of
roads and
paths,
for
its
fight
against
malaria
and,
in
general,
for
its
sanitary
work
as a
whole. Here the
government has
no
light task
before
it.
One
can hardly
find another
country
which,
being so small, is so complicated by
virtue of
the divisions
among
its
own
population as
well
as by
virtue of
the
interest taken in
it
by
the outside world.
The
greatest need
of Palestine
today is
for skilled
labor. No academic
forces
are needed
now.
It
is hoped
that
the
completion
of
the technikum
will
do a great
deal
[11]
toward
meeting
the
need
of the
country
for trained
workmen.
I
am
convinced
that
the
work
in Palestine
will
succeed
in the
sense
that
we
shall create in that
country
a
unified
community which shall be
a
moral and spiritual
center
the
Jewries
of
the
world.
Here,
and
not
in its
eco-
nomic achievement,
lies,
in
my opinion,
the
significance
of this work. Naturally
we
cannot neglect
the
question
or
our
economic
position
in
Palestine, but
we must
at
no
forget
that
all
this
is but
a means to an
end.
To
me
it
seems
of
secondary
importance
that Palestine shall
become economically independent
with
the
greatest
pos-
sible
speed.
I believe that
it
is
of
infinitely
greater
im-
portance
that
Palestine shall
become
a powerful
moral
and spiritual
center
for the whole
of
the
Jewish people.
In
this direction the rebirth of the Hebrew
language
be regarded a splendid
achievement.
Now
must
follow
institutions
for
the
development
of
art
and science.
From
this
point
of
view
we
must regard
as
of
primary-
importance
the
founding
of the
University which,
thanks
largely to
the enthusiastic devotion of the
Jewish
doctors
of
America,
can
begin
its work in
Jerusalem.
The Uni-
[12]
versity already
possesses a
journal of
science
which
is
[13]
produced
with
the
earnest
collaboration
of
Jewish
sci-
entists in
many
fields
and
in
many
countries.
will
not
solve the
Jewish problem,
but-
the
revival
of
Palestine
will
mean
the liberation
and
the
revival
of
the soul
of
the
Jewish
people.
I
count
it
among
my
treasured
experiences
that
I
should have
been
able
to
see
the
country
during this
period
of rebirth
and
reinspiration.
Previous Page Next Page