Throughout the ‘Dispersion’ of nearly 2000 years, the most common phrase among the Jewish People was “HaShana Haba’ah B’YERUSHALAYIM” [Next Year IN JERUSALEM].
The RESULT of all those Persecutions they had to face practically everywhere WAS the desire that developed within the HEARTS of ALL Jewish People to RETURN to their BIBLICAL LAND, as the PRAYER shown above aptly demonstrates. There always HAD BEEN a ‘Remnant’ that continued to “Live in the Land” and also there were those who ‘Returned’ down the centuries. But documentary evidence about them is mainly available, roughly from 1850 onwards.
And many only know or focus on those who returned mostly from Russia and eastern European countries. Yet there have been Jewish People living in Ethiopia for centuries even PRIOR to the ‘Roman Dispersion’, one of whom Philip the Evangelist met as recorded in ACTS Chapter eight, the 5th Book in the New Testament. They call themselves “Beta Israel” [House of Israel]. A group of them left Ethiopia ON FOOT in A D 1862, under the Leadership of Monk Abba Mahari, in order to reach Jerusalem. NONE of them completed the trip but DIED on the way.
‘THAT’ REALLY WAS A MARVELLOUS ILLUSTRATION OF, WHAT HAS BEEN THE “DESIRE OF EVERY JEWISH HEART”, THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES.
When those pioneering Jewish People began ‘Returning to their Land’, that ‘Land’ DID NOT LOOK AT ALL LIKE THE “ISRAEL ONE SEES TODAY”.
A couple of quotes of Mark Twain the American poet, who visited the area in 1867, describe the condition of the LAND then.
“The further we went the hotter the sun got, and the more rocky and bare, ‘repulsive and dreary’ the landscape became…There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country” – 1867 (Mark Twain’s ‘The Innocents Abroad’ London 1881). The statement reflects his general attitude to the ancient land throughout his journey.
“On a blistering summer day, when the Holy Land was still trod by donkeys and camels, eight bedraggled Americans came riding on horseback from Damascus towards Jerusalem. Under Ottoman rule in 1867, Palestine was parched, treeless and desperately poor”. (Highlighting in both quotes added).
Ottoman Turkish Empire controlled the Middle East from 1517 to 1917.
Once they retuned, those Jewish People tackled the arduous task of cultivating the arid land undergoing many difficulties, including the laws imposed by the Turks, ONE of which was a ‘TAX on Trees’.
They also had to contend with various diseases like malaria and typhoid, of which many died.
They lived in what were called “Kibbutzim” (Plural of ‘Kibbutz’, meaning “Gathering” or “Clustering”). There were schools for children and all amenities were taken care of.
Those inhabitants had to take turns in groups, in order to guard their kibbutzim during the night, as they were under CONSTANT ATTACK by the ARABS in the surrounding areas. Both men and women worked side by side, sharing ALL types of duties and responsibilities.
Jewish Leaders from time to time had spoken about making “ALIYAH” [Returning to the Land of Israel], including many Rabbis like Yehuda Aryeh Leon Bibas ,who actually did so in 1852, but died 2 months later and Zvi Hirsch Kalischer etc.
But it gathered momentum with Theodor Herzl’s WORK.
He was born in Vienna, Austria on 2nd May 1860. Initially he studied Law but started his carrier as a Journalist and became a Playwright, Political Activist and somewhat of a Diplomat too. TWO developments are said to have contributed towards his coming to the CONCLUSION that “Jewish People will NEVER be SAFE ANYWHERE except IN THEIR OWN LAND”.
In recent times there have been those who cast doubts as to whether the ‘first incident really influenced’ him. But we have to go by what those who knew Herzl said and NOT by the ‘conclusions’ that some, who had NOT even met him, came to decades later.
As the correspondent for Neue Freie Presse, he was in Paris covering the ‘trial’ of Jewish French Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was accused of ‘spying for Germany’. When Dreyfus was falsely convicted, the French celebrated the ‘verdict’ outside the court house, with shouts of “Death to the Jews”. France at the time was generally considered to be ‘favourable towards Jewish People’. That reaction is considered as ‘One Incident’, whilst the ‘other’ being the conduct of the notoriously Anti-Semitic Karl Leuger, who became the Mayor of Vienna in 1895.
Getting down to action, he organized various meetings in different countries. Initially he had not been that welcomed at least by some of the Jewish People in England.
Finally the Inaugural Meeting of the Zionist Congress was held for 3 days in late August of 1897 in Basel, Switzerland, where Theodor Herzl was appointed as the President.
In the ‘first article’ in this ‘Section’ of this website, entitled ‘Origins of Civilization’ uploaded on 6th of April, details of “What Happened” during and in between the two ‘World Wars’ of the 20th Century and also after the conclusion of the second one are GIVEN. And briefly also HOW the present “State of Israel” came to be Established, along with other States in the Middle East, with the relevant Biblical Prophecies. Therefore wish to request those interested to please refer that article.
Yet it would be appropriate to reiterate that the following countries were ‘Re-established’ or ‘Brought into Existence’ in the years mentioned herewith: Egypt in 1922; Turkey in 1923; Lebanon in 1930: Syria\Levant in 1937.
Once General Edmund Allenby formerly accepted the official ‘Ottoman Turkish surrender’ of Jerusalem from Kamil al-Husayni, who was the Hanafi Mufti of Jerusalem from 1908 to 1918, his main focus became the ultimate defeat of that empire.
Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashimi also known as Sharif Hussein was the ‘Sharif and Emir’ of Mecca from 1908 onwards. He was from the Hashemite Family and started a revolt against the Ottoman Turkish Empire. His second son Abdulla played a key role as the ‘architect and planner’ of his father’s revolt, even personally leading raids on Turkish garrisons. He aligned himself with the British during the WW I. His father Sharif Hussein ‘fell out’ with the British later and consequently did not receive their support when Ibn Saud attacked and in October 1924 was succeeded by his eldest son Ali.
But the British ‘showed their appreciation’ in 1921 by appointing Faisal, the third son of Sharif, as the Ruler of Iraq and Abdulla as the Emir of the British Protectorate of “Trans Jordon”, which after receiving its independence in 1946 came to be known as “The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan” and at present even simply as “Jordon”. The present King Abdulla is his great-grandson.
King Abdulaziz, came to be known as ‘Ibn Saud’ in the West and is the one mentioned above, as attacking Sharif Hussein. After conquering that area, as well as three other regions, he FOUNDED “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” in 1932.
As can be seen, MANY of the ‘Present States’ in the geographical area known as the ‘Middle East’ today, were FORMED by the British and the French, with the tacit support of other ‘Powers’ and EVEN the very Leaders were APPOINTED BY THEM.
Hence the ‘Idea’, that “SOLELY BECAUSE OF ‘what HAPPENED to the Jewish People at the hands of the Natzis’, the PRESENT State of Israel WAS formed” is NOT exactly TRUE, though it definitely contributed towards that.
As shown above, the “Present State of Israel” came into existence ONLY AFTER those OTHER 7 countries were established in the present Middle East.
What is even MORE ‘extraordinary’ is that, ISRAEL IS THE ONLY STATE IN THE ENTIRE Middle East that CAME INTO EXISTENCE BY “Two Thirds (2\3) of the then Membership of the United Nations, CASTING THEIR VOTE, FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL”.
Thereby the ‘TIME’ ARRIVED FOR “WHAT THEY HAD BEEN PRAYING throughout the Dispersion”, TO BE A REALITY.