With the Turks in Palestine
CHAPTER I ZICRON-JACOB Thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been organized as the Zionist Movement led my parents to leave their homes in Roumania and emigrate to Palestine, where they joined a number of other Jewish pioneers in founding Zicron-Jacob--a little village lying just south of Mount Carmel, in that fertile coastal region close to the ancient Plains of Armageddon. Here I was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and harmony of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed stone houses huddled close together for protection against the native Arabs who, at first, menaced the life of the new colony. The village was far more suggestive of Switzerland than of the conventional slovenly villages of the East, mud-built and filthy; for while it was the purpose of our people, in returning to the Holy Land, to foster the Jewish language and the social conditions of the Old Testament as far as possible, there was nothing retrograde in this movement. No time was lost in introducing
fierce and gloomy tone of this _finale_ is relieved by the phrases
given to the three women who foretell Mahomet's triumph, and these
motives are further developed in the third act in the scene where
Mahomet is enjoying his splendor."
The tears rose to Gambara's eyes, and it was only upon controlling his
emotion that he went on.
"Act II. The religion is now established. The Arabs are guarding the
Prophet's tent while he speaks with God (chorus in A minor). Mahomet
appears (a prayer in F). What a majestic and noble strain is this that
forms the bass of the voices, in which I have perhaps enlarged the
borders of melody. It was needful to express the wonderful energy of
this great human movement which created an architecture, a music, a
poetry of its own, a costume and manners. As you listen, you are
walking under the arcades of the Generalife, the carved vaults of the
Alhambra. The runs and trills depict that delicate mauresque
decoration, and the gallant and valorous religion which was destined
to wage war against the gallant and valorous chivalry of Christendom.
A few brass instruments awake in the orchestra, announcing the
Prophet's first triumph (in a broken _cadenza_). The Arabs adore the
Prophet (E flat major), and the Khaled, Amru, and Ali arrive (_tempo
di marcia_). The armies of the faithful have taken many towns and
subjugated the three Arabias. Such a grand recitative!--Mahomet
rewards his generals by presenting them with maidens.
CHAPTER I ZICRON-JACOB Thirty-five years ago, the impulse which has since been organized as the Zionist Movement led my parents to leave their homes in Roumania and emigrate to Palestine, where they joined a number of other Jewish pioneers in founding Zicron-Jacob--a little village lying just south of Mount Carmel, in that fertile coastal region close to the ancient Plains of Armageddon. Here I was born; my childhood was passed here in the peace and harmony of this little agricultural community, with its whitewashed stone houses huddled close together for protection against the native Arabs who, at first, menaced the life of the new colony. The village was far more suggestive of Switzerland than of the conventional slovenly villages of the East, mud-built and filthy; for while it was the purpose of our people, in returning to the Holy Land, to foster the Jewish language and the social conditions of the Old Testament as far as possible, there was nothing retrograde in this movement. No time was lost in introducing