Exodus - Leon Uris [132]
Those who came to the Promised Land were of a new breed. They were not refugees like the Rabinsky brothers nor were they of a mind to become merchants. These were youngsters indoctrinated in Zionism and filled with idealism and a determination to redeem the land.
The year 1905 ushered in the Second Aliyah of the exodus.
Chapter Eight
THE NEED FOR IDEALISM in Palestine was satisfied by the coming of the Second Aliyah. These newcomers were not content to be merchants in Jaffa nor did they wish to live off the alms of coreligionists. They were fired with a mission to redeem the land.
They set out in groups for the land the effendis had sold and tried to dry up the swamps. It was terrible work. To many of the old-timers the thought of Jews laboring in the fields like Arabs was unbelievable. In Palestine they had been the overseers. In the Old Country they did not work the land at all. Of all the gifts the Second Aliyah brought with them the greatest, perhaps, was the pronouncement of self-labor and the conquest of labor. Through their chief spokesman, A. D. Gordon, labor was made something dignified. Gordon was an older man and a scholar but he gave up scholarship for the greater task of working the soil with his own hands.
These were stimulating days for Yakov. He went out to another new experimental farm in the Galilee called Sejera. In Sejera the excitement never died as the young Jews of the Second Aliyah got down to work. One day Yakov came into Jaffa to see Jossi and he was filled with excitement over a new idea.
Yakov spoke with that fiery exuberance that was his own. “As you know, the Bedouin tribes use extortion to get our settlements to hire them as guards ... against themselves. Well ... they tried it at Sejera. They came in and made threats of what they’d do unless we hired them ... and we didn’t. And we’ve defended ourselves very well. It was precarious for a while, but we set a trap and killed their leader and they haven’t come back since.
“We have talked it over,” Yakov continued. “If we can defend one settlement we can defend them all. We have made plans to form a roving guard and we want you to take over one of the units.”
A Jewish guard! What an astonishing idea! Jossi was excited but he answered in his usual way: “I will have to think it over.”
“What is there to think over?”
“You are making it too black and white, as usual, Yakov. First of all the Bedouins are not going to give up this important source of income without a fight. Then there are the Turks. They will make it nearly impossible for us to carry arms.”
“I’ll be blunt,” Yakov said. “We wanted you, Jossi, because no one knows the country better and no one has had more experience in dealing with both Arabs and Turks.”
“Oh,” Jossi mocked, “so all of a sudden my dear brother realizes that my years of friendship with the Arabs hasn’t been a complete waste of time.”
“What do you say, Jossi?”
“I say I’ll consider it. Our own farmers may need a lot of convincing to let us guard them. And one thing that really annoys me ... if we carry loaded guns it may be interpreted to mean we are looking for a fight.”
Yakov threw up his hands. “Challenging a fight by defending your own property! After twenty years in Palestine you still think like a ghetto Jew.”
Jossi refused to be rattled. “We came in peace. We have purchased our land legally. We have built our settlements without disturbing anyone. Now if we start to arm, it will be a compromise with the basic idealism of Zionism and don’t pretend there is no risk in that.”
“But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it ... and the Lord wrought a great victory.”
“Still quoting ...”
“You make me sick,” Yakov snapped. “Sure, Jossi ... redeem the land under the magnanimous protection of the Bedouin cutthroats. Very well. I shall tell them my brother is deep in meditation. With or without you the Guardsmen are forming. The unit we want you to command is leaving next week for our base camp.”
“Where?”
“On Mount Canaan.”