Rachel Shalit Gordon on the Land Liberated from the Turks

Here's something from the historical archives, the writer of it being a young Jewish woman named Rachel Gordon (née Shalit; 1883-1972; see also here), a future teacher of French in Rehovot who at the time lived in Rishon le Zion, founded in 1882 by chalutzim from the Tsarist Empire.

I would like to have posted it in commemoration of Anzac Day recently, but better late than never.  First, some background. During World War One, Kia Ora Cooee was the official, monthly, magazine for Australian and New Zealand troops serving in Egypt, Palestine, Salonika  and what was then known as Mesopotamia. 

Its 15 September 1918 issue (from which this image, left, of a Digger comes) carried a grateful letter from Rachel Gordon to the Aussies who liberated Eretz Israel from the Turks.

Rachel's letter was printed as an article entitled The New Palestine.  Here it is, below in italics, with no further comment from me:

Sitting in the evening of our Fasting Day on our balcony,  in  the  glory of our eastern moonlight, I   am able to see everything that is happening in the street below.  I try to collect my thoughts and remember Fasting Days that have gone and our present one. When  preparing our future life we always remember the past, and that is how I feel at the present moment.

Many memories come into my mind this evening, of many Fasting Davs that have passed; but I seem to know only about the horrible events this day represents as we were taught such by our  teacher in the school.

Long, long  ago  we had a small land, so small that it was like a fly on the globe, but quite large to contain all our people. In those days we had our kings, our judges, and our prophets, like all other nations; we had our grand Temple in which to pray to God, to bless our King and his people. In  those days  our  people  were happy. 

But then came the time when the wolves that  watch with hungry eyes the weak lamb came forth one day and tore it to pieces.  Our Temple was burnt; our lands  were looted; our people were murdered, and everything of value was taken from them. That was long, long ago. But our people still live with the remembrance of the past represented in this Fasting Day, and bright hopes for the future under our new regime.

Watching now the street below, one sees, besides her own people, British soldiers, and observes the happy way in which they all mingle together and regard each other as all of the one calling, the call of liberty and  justice. I watch all the present life, thinking we must hope now, because these British men bring such hopes into our homes and cheer us up. 

How long have they been here? One, two, three? Ah! yes, I  remember very well, it is seven months since we were freed from the Turkish masters, and all this time the new dawn is fast approaching. Seven months is a long time, but very little, even nothing, when the birth of a new nation is at hand. But can you find anything that is too hard for the British Government ?   

'Tis very difficult to put right the mistakes which others have  made, and to look after minor things whilst occupied with  larger ones. But all this is, it seems, not too hard for the British Government.   Hearing every day the guns, we cannot forget even for one moment that the war is not yet finished; but looking in all the ranks of life below and seeing the great change that has taken place in these few months,we can see plainly   that it is the beginning of a great new life.

Returning to that period of Turkish mastery, one can hardly realise the freedom we enjov when   comparing it with those years of slavery. It seems only a short while since we had to repeatedly pay   that "backsheech" so often demanded from us. 

And now we need not to be afraid when we see a policeman coming, because we do not have to hide everything we have of value. There was nothing the Turks did not need. Every day new orders would be issued.  More "backsheech" was demanded, horses taken from us, all being required to hand over their horses without  pretext. 

It  was  impossible to hide them as the stables would be searched, and all other places where they might be hidden.  At other times, cows, donkeys, carriages, bags, boxes, tins, etc., would be taken, and to protest would bring disaster on the home. Work in the gardens was done under extreme   difficulties without the animals, therefore we were only able to grow a little fruit with so much suffering; and they would even then rob us of that. 

But what is the difference now? In the winter when we must plough in the gardens, and we have not our own horses to work with, the British Government came to help us; they lent us horses to do the necessary work in the gardens; they brought kerosene  for the pumping motors in the orange gardens. 

Before, we could not do anything, because we thought that in the middle of our work they (the   Turks) would come and disarrange everything. So we always found obstacles in our way. Seeing to-day the happy homes around us, it is hard to imagine the suffering they have passed through. When we proposed to build bridges, and roads for the benefit of our horses between the colonies and the large towns, the Turks would demand enormous sums of "backsheech". 

But the British Government have done all this without being asked. Everywhere new roads and   railways have come into being. Under the Turkish rule all money received in gold for our fruits  from  other countries was taken from us and paper money given in exchange, with the large loss on our  part. When the British came into our village we were able to change our money without loss and   no difference was made between gold and paper.

The chief motive of the Turkish Government was to ruin us and neglect our country, while the British Government have done all in their power to help us to develop our trade and country. We are now free to bear our flag through the streets and sing our national songs, which were forbidden under the Turkish military law. A poor man can travel now from one place to another on his donkey, and not be afraid of wandering tribes. Everywhere the reign of the British Government is showing its effect on the country.   

I remember when I  was at school I learned that the Prophet said long ago, that in the end of the days in which the wolf lived together with the lamb, etc: Now I understand what was meant by these words, that a strong Government would come one day  and overthrow the wolves and look after the weak lamb. 

I am  writing  to vou soldier boys to try  and express  my  feelings  to-night  towards you; and   though your  homes are many  miles away, you came here and brought with you hopes for us all.

God bless you all, and my  one wish is  that  you will return to your families so patiently waiting for you. And now victory and happiness to the British and their Allies.

Lord Montgomery's Hebrew Bible & The Jewish Significance Of El Alamein

Western Australian church and war historian Kelvin Crombie  was responsible for the rare find featured in this news report –  a photograph of the Australian 10th Light Horse Regiment entering Jerusalem at the time of the city's liberation from Ottoman control in December 1917.  (Read and see more here)

Kelvin Crombie has just written a new book, and my regular reader Shirlee, of Sydney (undoubtedly familiar to other regular readers for the number of times I have occasion to tip my hat to her!), went along to its New South Wales launch.  The following guest post is the result. (It's Shirlee's second guest post on this blog: the first was her illustrated account earlier this year of her journey to the West Bank; it kindled much interest.)

The Montgomery Bible

 And the Sydney launch of Kelvin Crombie’s new book El Alamein and the Jewish Survival

Shirlee Finn

Little did I realise last Monday November 26th, when I went to State Parliament for the launch of Kelvin Crombie’s new book, El Alamein and the Jewish Survival, that I was in for such a special treat.

I must admit my main interest initially was to see the Tenach – Old Testament, which was presented to Field Marshal Montgomery as an official gift of gratitude for his role in saving the Jewish community in Palestine from the impending conquest by the German-led forces commanded by General Rommel.

Not only was it emotional seeing such a part of the history of Palestine, it was an extremely informative talk about the whole war time history of the region and how grateful the Jews of Mandate Palestine were to the Australian Forces keeping them safe.

The words on the inscription, attached to the Tenach and encased on the cover in silver and mother of pearl are:

"Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, GCB, DSO, the gallant leader of the victorious forces by whose hand God has placed salvation in Zion in the days of El Alamein presented in token of the everlasting gratitude of Palestine Jewry by the Vaad Leumi, General Council of the Jewish Community in Palestine".

During the twenty-four years he lived in Israel Kelvin heard from dozens of older Jewish people about the importance of the battle of El Alamein for the survival of the Jewish people in the land of Israel. One of these was Professor Alex Carmel from Haifa University. In the late 1980s Kelvin and Prof. Carmel together tracked down the Tenach, which the Jewish leadership of Eretz Israel had given to General Montgomery after the victory at El Alamein, at the UK office of CMJ (Churches Ministry among Jewish People). It was hidden away and forgotten.

Recalled Kelvin:

"The parent organisation which owned Christ Church was CMJ, and during its two hundred years of existence had amassed a sizeable collection of artifacts which were mostly tucked away in an attic in their UK headquarters. One artifact, at least as far as this topic is concerned, stood out: the 'Montgomery Bible'. On one occasion in the late 1980's while visiting CMJ's UK office I was joined by an Israeli professor named Alex Carmel.

Alex informed me that once many years before he had been shown a special Bible belonging to General Montgomery On this visit I was determined to discover this special Bible, and finally one staff member recalled seeing it tucked away in a filing cabinet. So we opened the cabinet and there it was. It was a sight to behold — a beautifully made Hebrew Bible, with silver and mother of pearl on the cover."

 Kelvin brought this Bible back to Israel and displayed it in the museum at the Heritage Centre, of Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem, which he had established . He used it when lecturing Israeli groups about Gentile involvement in the restoration of Israel. Most of those gallant soldiers at El Alamein and other battles which fought the Axis (German and Italian) forces in the region were Gentiles – whose very presence hindered the penetration of the Holocaust into the Middle East.

It is currently in Australia in Kevin’s care for the 70th anniversary of the battle of El Alamein, fought in 1942.

Kelvin Crombie grew up in rural Western Australia, listening to stories of the Anzacs from uncles who served in the Middle East in the Australian Army during the Second World War; and also due to various direct Israeli connections such as an Israeli family on a nearby farm; and the Six Day War in 1967.

He subsequently went to Israel in 1979.  This in turn led to him developing a very keen interest in Israel and the Jewish people. He was not a practising Christian and he is not Jewish. He went to Israel in 1979, as he told me, because he was searching. In the process he found his faith in G-d. He met and married his Dutch wife in Israel, where they lived for 24 years and raised their four daughters.

In 1986 Kelvin was asked by to become the guide at Christ Church, the Anglican church in the old City of Jerusalem, hosting thousands of people monthly, including secular Israelis studying the beginning of modern history in Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

As a guide he not only lectured these numerous groups but also had to undertake considerable research. During this research he discovered numerous historical artifacts. These included several large and unique models of Jerusalem as well as the largest portrait of Jerusalem, the 1879 Jerusalem Panorama, a painting, and the very special Montgomery Bible. One model, discovered by Kelvin in 1986, was made in Jerusalem in 1864; it revealed a tunnel going under Christ Church. In that same year, 1986, the tunnel was re-discovered, but not excavated.

Kelvin pioneered the "In the footsteps of the Light Horse" tours, doing his first of over hundred tours to Beersheba in 1988. In 2007 he was one of the main instigators of the re-enactment of the Charge of Beersheba and was the guide for the Light Horse tour. He periodically guided or spoke to Australian diplomatic, military and trade delegations visiting Israel.

He has written five books concerning the history of the period in Israel after 1798, mostly associated with the British and Anzacs, and has co-produced several documentaries on the same subject. His main work on the Anzacs is entitled Anzacs, Empires and Israel's Restoration 1798-1948.

In 1992 Kelvin travelled to El Alamein and together with Allied, German and Italian veterans recalled the 50th anniversary of this battle. Shortly afterwards during a meeting with the then Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, he spoke of his visit to El Alamein. Rabin then spoke quite passionately about the danger that faced the Jewish people in Eretz Israel had the Germans won at El Alamein. A similar attitude was voiced by General Uzi Narkiss (the commander of the Israeli forces who captured Jerusalem in 1967) when Kelvin also interviewed him. It was clear that this sentiment was known by every section of the Jewish community who lived in the land of Israel during that traumatic period.

This present book goes more in-depth on this subject matter than his two previous books relating to the Middle East during the Second World War (Anzacs, Empires and Israel’s Restoration 1798-1948 and Israel) and includes more material from German sources. Apart from providing historical data, it reveals some of the motives behind this Nazi-Muslim agenda for destroying the Jewish communities of the Middle East. This aspect is important as similar forces of evil are still in evidence today.

El Alamein and the Jewish Survival was launched at Christ Church in Jerusalem early in November; in the House of Lords in London that same month, at a meeting convened by the present Viscount Montgomery; this past week in Parliament House in Sydney; and 2nd December at the Friends of Israel Western Australia "Gallipoli to Jerusalem Day" in Perth. It is also planned to have the "Montgomery Bible" on display at these functions.

There is so much more to this very interesting man. Over the years Kelvin has become involved with other ANZAC military heritage and commemoration projects in Israel. He is a participating member of the Association of the Heritage of the First World War and was one of the initiators of the 2007 Ride of Peace and re-enactment of the 1917 Light Horse charge at Beersheba where he guided the seventy-strong group of horsemen.

Kelvin is occasionally asked by the Australian Embassy, the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce, the Australian Army and others (including recently a WA Government delegation) to provide exposure to visiting delegations concerning the ANZAC involvement in the land of Israel.

He has also completed in conjunction with the Hatikvah Film Trust a documentary detailing this entire story entitled "From Exile to Restoration" (in Britain, "The Destiny of Britain", and in USA, "The Cyrus Call").

For further information on his latest book:
Koorong Christian bookshop http://www.koorong.com.au/
Australian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au/shop/
Kelvin Crombie kandlcrombieathotmaildotcom