Menorah · 1923-01-01 · Heft 4 · p. Seite 16

16 MENORAH Tel-Awiw / The Soap Bubble City / Die Stadt auf Sand gebaut A little American Jewish girl who has lived in Palcstinc for scvcral ycars, until now shc is Hebrew-speaking and Palestinian through and through, used lo lisp, before her parents brought her here, ihat shc was Coming "lo build houses". In thosc days, just afler the War, no Jewish houses had been built for ycars, and many hopes symbolized thcmselvcs tluis: to build houses, that pcoplc might live in them, that pcople might work on them. Bchold, the symbol crect. Behold a gorgeous ic'ol, in stonc and Silicate brick and cement, clccoratcd with the Mögen David in vivid colors and with ornate columns. Hundrcds upon hundreds of new Jewish houses, wholc new neighborhoods have sprung up in the pasl two years, bilt by youthful Jewish labor, from the quarry and ihc brick factory lo the last dab of paint. "Sprung up" is the right word. Tel- Aviv, the Jewish cily near Jaffa on the sea, has doubled or trebled in size, likc a "mushroom city" in the States; a "soap-bubble cily" it seems to mc, unsubslantial and impermanenl, if stone and cement can bubble from the earlh. Or is my wish the father of my thought? Whcn I criticised the houses, their crass tastelcssncss, their inharmonious arrangcirenl, the tenement-like strueturcs running down to the sea, and ending in the lawdry casino, as bad as at any American seaside resorl, I was asked whether I feared the houses would eave in. No, I fear ihcy may not eave in. They are, however, as badly buill as they arc tastcless. In the rainy season most of the new roofs leak. The cement over the silicatc brick is not strong. As one young girl expressed it, in describing her new home: "Every time a camel passes outsidc our garden, he knocks a piecc of cement off the wall." Orient and Occident! It is American Jews who arc in some measure rcsponsible for this incongruous growth. Ignorance and not ill-will is to btame. A rieh American farmer once put up a large house. When his friend from the city saw it, he ask*jd: "I J you have an architeel?" "No," answered the farmer. "I am going to send for onc now, to put on the architecturc." If I speak in bitterness, it is because I speak in pain. I, loo, put my hope in houses, and if I look upon the present mushroom growtli as possibly impermanent, it is because I still have that hope. Most of the present builders of houses, from owner to joiner, are as fit for their task as the little girl who came to Palestinc to build houses. Or as I should bc. I did nol come lo Palestinc to build houses, bul to sce and to teil the truth, that thotje who know how to do may know what to do. And to do therc is much. The builders, the Jewish workmen, are Halut/im (pioneers), the most appealing group of intelligent, indepcndent-spiriled young men, sludcnts dressed in bluc overalls, climbing ladders, rivetting slones. Mere, as cvorywhcrc in the land, they overwork and they work badly. Movcd by the same youthful fervor and devolion that sent millions of young men to the battle-field, they are a little proud when, ill with starvation or fever, they arc brought to the Hadassah Hospital. If these young pcople are to stay in our land, they will have to make an adjustment morc in keeping with their gifts and their powers. What and how? I cannol gucss. A morc normal setling must bring a more normal response. And—herc faith comes in—so strong is the Jewish will to Palcstinc, so persistent the purposc of the majorily who arc herc, that only complete desertion by the rest of the Jewish world, or only complete dcstruetion, could keep us from final maslcry of the means of life. The mcans of life! The cause of our bad building is not lack of architecls but lack of wcalth. I have spoken to Jewish and other architects here who arc in agreement with my layman's view that (a) Jewish houses should bc modclcd afler the beautiful Arabic style, with flat roofarch and cupola, suilablc to the climate and environment, and should bc adapted to the needs of bathroom civilization; (b) that red tile roofs ancl Silicate bricks, however cheap, can never bc beautiful in Palcstine. He who knows the bcauty of Palestinian stone, its gray-rose and ercam-rose, connot rcconcilc himsclf to cement. But il is cheapness that conquers; though bad taste has its share. As precious to Palestinc as its ancicnl tombs and holy places is the beauty of its ancient cities. Many a fillhy Arab villagc has beauty for the distanl eye to which no Jewish settlemenl can aspirc. White Hebron, without a single red roof, castcllated and domed ancl minarctlcd againts the sky, fills me with envy and a spiril of rivalry. Few Jews appreciatc that, because unfortunately few of us have a trainccl eye for beauty. Will the bcauty of our own land teach us? Meanwhilc, I should much prefer the temporary canvas houses which onc American planned to bring herc to the cement that I can only hope may be temporary. Now even the cement houses are not being finished. Especially in Tel-Aviv, center of the building boom, many houses stand half built, like ruins, waiting for the financial evisis to pass. Among them is the large new synagog, of massive stonc, which is built by spasms, when the cash appears. There is no money in Tel-Aviv; il has been turned to stone. The Halutzim arc out of work; everyone borrows; notes of credit on the workmcii's cooperative slores arc passed as lender in the shops. Thus Tel-Aviv has its own paper money. No wonder. In a country with almost no industry, whcre Jewish agriculturc is so far largely confined to fruit and wine growing for export, the money paid to builders, teachers, doctors, at last finds its way oul of the country for imporlcd goods or into the hands of the peasant Arab provisioncr who burics it in the ground. For some pcople lo build houses for other pcoplc to live in, whcre therc is no inclustry, is likc the villagc whcre all the folk supported thcmselvcs by taking in each othcr's washing. American Jews who wanl to help Palcstinc wisely must study economic condilions herc without sentimcntality. Bcsidcs the new houses that arc being build in Tel-Aviv, there is a tall weird structuie just outside the lown, not beautiful but vital, where seventy Halutzim are employed in the work of clcctrification of Tel-Aviv and its vicinity both for lighting and inclustry. This is a tiny pari—the only pari for which therc are now funds—of the vast Rutenberg scheme for the clcctrification of Palcstine. Thal scheme has been approved by the British Govcrnmcnl, by non- Jewish engineering journals and sociclies; it has bridged the split in the Zionist Organization of America, so that both factions are now working together for its consummation. Bul the money, which is to bc pure Investment, has not yet been raised. The British conecssion Avil lapse if the money is nol raised within stated time and with it will lapse our most concrete hope for the building of Palcstinc. The Rutenberg scheine to clectrify Palcstine with the watcr-power of ihc lowcr Jordan will employ ihousands of Jews and Arabs, it will supply electric power for industry, for Irrigation and for city lighting. Wc ask Americans to buy trust cerlificatcs or stock—we are still hopeful Palcstinians —ancl so lo help "build houses" in our land in the old sensc of building a perpetual inhcrilance. Wc have loved Palcstine not wisely but too well. Let us love her nol less, but more wisely. /essr'e L. Sarnplcr. Mentioiied in „Tlie Lette Tschuni Benjamina in Samaria t a Vouiij; Farmer" / Fnvätuil in den „Briefen eines jungen Fa