RECENT NUMBER OF RETURNED JEWS
In July this year, there were one thousand sixty Jews who returned to Palestine.
WORLD CONVENTION OF JEWISH YOUTHS
A world convention of Jewish youths was held in Paris recently. Eight languages were used, and many problems were discussed. This time, sixty persons attended. They hope to have the next convention in 1929 on a larger scale.
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY
Although the new Hebrew University in Jerusalem has only sixty students, the funding of the school is on a solid financial foundation, and the school organization is fairly satisfactory. The school itself is the highest expression of Jewish nationalism.
MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS IN PALESTINE
A Jewish silk factory in Vienna is about to open up a silk farm in Palestine.
Palestine will soon have its own coins.
HEBREW CONVENTION
At the end of June this year, there was a Jewish convention in Buffalo in the United States. We will quote the report of the New York Report:
This was the twenty-ninth convention. The most open demonstration of their meeting was their mass congregation at the concert hall with two thousand in attendance. Most of them are delegates to the convention and local Jews from Buffalo. The meeting was held on Sunday evening, and the hall was adorned with Zionist decorations, which filled the ceiling and the four walls with blue and white colors. These two colors are a symbol of Palestine.
Their leader, David Yellin, gave a speech in Hebrew. While he was speaking, the audience would applaud intermittently. This showed their appreciation of his words. Yellin described the changes that had taken place in the Jewish land within the past six years, that wars had turned Palestine into a rubble, and that other factors had caused the Palestinian population to dwindle to forty thousand. But now they are beginning to walk out of these tribulations, and a young and strong colony is being formed, with a population of more than one hundred fifty thousand and growing faster year by year. Yellin also said,
In my opinion, our work toward the Hebrew language and in Palestine during the past six years exceeds that of the last thirty years. Now the time is near; through this material and spiritual growth, the Palestinian Jews are able to attain a strength undreamed of ten years ago and to build up a Jewish nation with five hundred thousand Jews closely knitted together....I send you greetings on behalf of the Congress of our Jewish homeland. This homeland is advancing day by day before our eyes, and its hidden life is being made manifest...These three days as I sat together with you, I felt like I was sitting together with all the Israelites in the holy city. Your faith has been strengthened through your contact with each other and with your leaders. You have set your minds to make the coming year shine with splendor, so that the work done in Palestine in previous years would be pale by comparison. You should press on as you have resolved to do, and perhaps you will receive more than you have hoped for.
After reading this speech, we can see how earnest were his words and how full of life they are! The Jews have high hopes indeed. According to the prophecies in the Bible, the Jews will be revived before Christ comes back again, and they will return to their homeland and will prosper. When Christ comes, they will receive Him as the Messiah. In observing the vigorous and prospering condition of the Jews, we have to admit that the recovery of the nation of Israel must be a reality before our eyes. The fig tree has indeed sprouted, and summer is near. "So also you, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors" (Matt. 24:33).
(Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 07: The Christian (5), Chapter 6, by Watchman Nee)
