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Today Jews around the world are celebrating Lag B'Omer, the end of a month-long mourning period when traditional Jews refrain from weddings or joyous gatherings. The mourning remembers the thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, a reknowned spiritual leader at the time of the Talmud. They died in a great plague that ended on Lag B'Omer. 
Meron and tomb of Shimon BarYochai(circa 1930)
Dancing at the Meron tomb (Central Zionist Archives,
Harvard Library, 1925)
The tomb on the hill (enlarged)
In Israel, Lag B'Omer is celebrated with bonfires, hikes along nature trails, and gatherings at the tombs of of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the Galilee town of Meron and of Shimon the Just (Hatzaddik) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.Bar Yochai, a student of Rabbi Akiva's, was known for his opposition to the Roman rule in the Land of Israel. He and his son were forced to flee to the Galilee where they hid in a cave for 12 years. Lag B'Omer is the day of his death, but it is actually celebrated in recognition of the Torah teachings he gave over to his students.
Hundreds of thousands of celebrants are expected to visit Shimon Bar Yochai's tomb in Meron by Wednesday night.
Shimon Hatzaddik was a High Priest of the second Temple in Jerusalem for 40 years.
Jewish women praying at the ShimonHatzaddik tomb (Central ZionistArchives, Harvard Library, c. 1930)
Jews gathered at Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb in Sheikh Jarrah,
Jerusalem (Central Zionist Archives, Harvard Library,
c. 1930)
According to Jewish tradition, Shimon clothed himself in his High Priest's vestments to receive Alexander the Great as he marched toward Jerusalem. Alexander stepped from his chariot and bowed to Shimon, who, he said, had appeared to him in a dream predicting his victories.
Children's Lag B'Omer procession
near Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb (1918)
Many traditional Jews who cannot travel to Meron in the Galilee celebrate Lag B'Omer at Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in northern Jerusalem.
Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb today Jewish homes around the tomb had to be evacuated in the 1948 fighting. In recent years Jewish families have returned to the neighborhood.Today's feature is dedicated to M & Y on the occasion of their 45th anniversary
The horrific bloodshed in Syria continues without any restraint. More than 80,000 civilians have been killed, and unknown numbers are missing and wounded. More than one million civilians are refugees.
The minaret of the Great Mosque in Aleppo,
circa 1910. (Library of Congress, American Colony
collection)
With few signs of international action to stop the terrible harm to flesh and blood, we add another reminder here of the catastrophe: the great destruction to the mortar and stone of Syria's magnificent historical heritage. The minaret was built almost 1,000 years ago as part of Aleppo's Great Mosque.
In fighting between President Assad's army and Syrian rebels last week the ancient minaret was destroyed.
The destroyed minaret, photo taken last week by
Associated Press
View other historical features on the ancient cities of Syria- Homs and Hama in Syria
- Tribute to the People of Syria
- Damascus Revolt 1895
- Damascus Revolt 1925
- Ancient Aleppo
A Bedouin family near the Hula Lake. Homes were made from reeds. The
lake was partially drained in the late 1800s. Later Jewish efforts drained the
malarial swamps. (circa 1920)
An Arab street in Haifa, ironically called "al Yahud" (the
Jews) street, according to a note on the picture's back (c 1920)
Among the photographs we received in the "Cigarbox Collection" are several pictures of Arab life in Palestine approximately 100 years ago.
The village of Kalkilya. Enlarging the photo shows a woman
with a jug on her head, suggesting the structure is a well
Days before our formal "opening" of the collection, we continue to provide previews.
Today's pictures come from the Arab communities in Kalkilya, Haifa and the Hula Valley.
Mishmar Ha'emek from the 1920s
(Keren Hayesod)
Clarification
We previously posted this picture from the Cigarbox Collection. Some of the pictures, such as this one, bear a stamp on the back saying "Photo Keren Hayesod." The Central Zionist Archives contains some 50,000 pictures from the organization which was established in 1920.
We discovered this picture in the Harvard Library files, but it was dated "1948-1946." We suggest that the photograph, part of other pictures in the Cigarbox Collection, was taken in 1926, soon after Mishmar Ha'emek's establishment.1View comments
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We continue to scan and research the treasure trove of photographs donated to Israel Daily Picture, pictures taken by the donor's father in the Land of Israel in the first decades of the 20th century. We hope to unveil the collection and the donor's account in his own words in the near future.
The cigarbox collection
Meanwhile, we present two more special pictures and a response to yesterday's picture from Yizraela, an octogenarian from Nahalal, who is an expert on the early days of the community and its photographs.
Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek in the Jezreel Valley (circa 1926) with Mt Tabor in the background.
The community was evacuated briefly during the 1929 Arab riots. In the 1948 war it was attacked by
Arab artillery and aircraft.
Young women doing laundry. A notation on the back of the photo says that they are Yemenites. Are they Jewish? The talit prayer shawl in the tub suggests that they are. (circa 1920) 
The talit
Yizraela Bloch (named for the "Jezreel" Valley where she was born) is the photo archivist of Nahalal. The spry octogenarian was shown yesterday's photo of the children of Nahalal and asked if one of the boys could be Moshe Dayan.
The children of Nahalal and their teacher
She responded: "Moshe Dayan couldn't be one of the children in the picture because you can see the water tower that was built in 1924 in the background. The building in the foreground was the kindergarten and behind it the first grade class room. In 1924 Moshe Dayan would have been older than the kids in the picture." [Dayan was born in 1915.]
Confirming the unique nature of the "Cigarbox collection," Yizraela was very interested in the photograph which she doesn't have in the archive collection. She was also surprised that she didn't know the kindergarten teacher in the photo.
Our special thanks to NSP for interviewing Yizraela.0Add a comment
An avid reader of this site has allowed Israel Daily Picture to become "home" to his incredible collection of pictures of the Land of Israel assembled almost 100 years ago by his father. We received the collection in an old cigarbox this week and are in the process of digitalizing the high resolution pictures, translating German captions, and identifying those pictures without captions.
A book? No, a cigarbox 
The contents of the cigarbox
More on the collection and the generous owner of the collection will be provided soon.
Meanwhile, here are several preview samples:
The children of Nahalal (circa 1920s). It is possible that one of these boys was Moshe Dayan who was born in 1915? .A matzah factory in Haifa. The signs on the left read "For the purpose of the commandment of matzah" --
a reminder to the workers to keep their intentions on the commandment. The signs on the right, in Hebrew and
French, read "No smoking" and "No Spitting"
Smoking and spitting are prohibited 
"For the matzah mitzva" 1View comments
World War II's Jewish history focuses on the terrible Holocaust in Europe with relatively small footnotes about the Nazi persecution of Jews in North Africa, Haj Amin el-Husseini's conspiracies in Berlin, and the Italian air force bombing of Tel Aviv in September 1940.
Italian prisoners of war under British guard arrive by train in Palestine 1940
(Library of Congress)
The Holocaust's genocide could also have included the 500,000 Jews of Palestine if the British army had not stopped German General Rommel's Afrika Korps blitzkrieg across northern Africa in November 1942 in the battle of Alamein. According to the British Independent, German historians discovered that the "Nazis stationed a unit of SS troops in Athens, tasked with following invading frontline troops in Palestine and then rounding up and murdering about 500,000 European Jews who had taken refuge there." The SS would have been aided by Arab collaborators promised by el-Husseini.
POWs lining up for food
Palestine played a different role in 1940, early in the war. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, allied with Germany, ordered his troops stationed in Cyrenaica (Libya) to attack British forces in Egypt and capture the Suez Canal. Out-numbered British and Australian forces blocked the attack and pushed back the Italian army. It was a crushing defeat for Italy, and more than 100,000 soldiers were captured.
POW's food line
Where were the Italian POWs taken?
The American Colony's photographs from the Library of Congress' collection showed that thousands of Italian POWs were taken to Palestine by train, presumably from Egypt.
The photographs were taken at the Wadi Sarer train station in December 1940. The station, inside Israel, is an old Ottoman building that has been abandoned.
Wadi Sarer train station in the background 
POWs on the march
The old train station was a recent photographic subject for photographer Gunther Hartnagel. We have been unable to make contact with Mr. Hartnagel to obtain permission to use his photographs, but they can be viewed here.1View comments
- APR12
Introducing David Blick of Brooklyn, Private in the Jewish Legion, Palestine, April 8, 1918 - March 18, 1920
David Blick was born in Odessa in 1893. In 1913 he left Russia, briefly lived in France, and then moved to the United States. In New York he enlisted in the British army's Jewish Legion and was assigned to the Royal Fusiliers.
Private David Blick, Jewish Legion
We thank Yakov Marks and his wife, Rena Chaya Brownstein Marks, for providing these pictures of her maternal grandfather, David Blick. Yakov noted, "While camped in the
area of Rishon LeZion, David met and later married Rachel Churgin of Yaffo. They were forced to leave Eretz Yisrael by the British."
David and Rachel Blick standing on
what appears to be a boat (in
Haifa harbor?)
Here is David Blicks' autobiographical account that he provided to the Album of the Jewish Legion:I was born in Odessa Russia on February 23, 1896. I attended both a yeshiva and gymnasium in that city. Early in 1913 I left Russia and settled in Paris, France for a year and a half. In July, [1915?] I migrated to United States. For the first three years I lived in the city of Boston and I was an active member of the Poale Zion Party.
Early in 1918 I joined the Jewish Legion and served in Eretz Yisrael with the 39th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. During my service in Israel I met and married my wife Rachel Churgin.
In February 1920 I left Israel first for England and then in the United States. I have lived in the United States since 1920....
Pvt. David Blick's Jewish Legion unit in Eretz Yisrael
More photographs from the Blick/Marks family album
The Royal Fusiliers on the way to action 
Blick's unit. 
David Blick's army discharge papers
Click on pictures to enlarge.
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Dr. Herbert Torrance visits Tiberias residents The University of Dundee medical school in Scotland has posted the photos taken by two missionary doctors who established a hospital in Tiberias. Below is the university's own description:The Torrance collection, which includes thousands of photographs and color slides of Israel, Palestine and medical illnesses, has now been fully updated on our online catalogue. The photographs were taken by David Torrance and his son Herbert Torrance who established a hospital in Tiberius in 1885 which lasted for over a hundred years helping the local communities.
Jewish patient in bed (circa 1930) In recent months we posted several photo essays on the hospital, including incredible pictures dating back over 100 years.But we were intrigued by a Christian Mission -- albeit a hospital -- in the midst of the very traditional Jewish residents of Tiberias.We found an answer on a Hebrew Internet site by Avshalom Shachar called "נופים ותרבויות --Vistas and Cultures."The Jews initially banned [cherem] the hospital, and rabbis prohibited their disciples from being aided in the place because of its missionary nature. However, the outbreak of cholera in the city in 1902 caused hundreds of casualties (including the doctor's wife) and led many Jews to seek out the services of the hospital and Dr. Torrance who, despite his wife's death, continued to treat patients diligently and earned great respect.
When Dr. Torrance died in 1923, the rabbi of Tiberias eulogized him: "Tiberias was blessed with three things: the Sea of Galilee, the Tiberias hot springs, and Dr. Torrance."
Today's posting is dedicated to Dr. A.K. with wishes for a speedy recovery -- Your "Kids"
Jewish and Arab boy, bladder stone cases (1933) 
Muslim, Jew and Christian with bladder stones (1929) 1View comments
The caption on this Wikipedia photo reads "Jewish Legion soldiers at the Western Wall after British conquest, 1917." Was the
photo taken in 1917 after the British captured the city in December, in which case this was a group of Jewish soldiers from various
units, or after June 1918 when the Jewish Legion was first dispatched to Palestine?
The history of the Jewish Legion that fought in Palestine in World War I is relatively unknown.
Jewish soldiers liberating the Kotel 50 years
later (Rubinger, Government Press Office)
Many of the soldiers were recruited from the ranks of the disbanded Zion Mule Corps, Palestinian Jews exiled by the Turks in April 1917 who were recruited in Egypt, or from Diaspora Jewry recruited in Canada and the United States.
As many as 500 Jewish Legion soldiers came from North America, with some sources claiming the majority of them were from Canada. Many of them were originally from Poland or Russia.
The original caption reads "Jewish League Fort Edward Nova Scotia 1918." We
believe the photo was taken on Yom Kippur a year earlier in September 1917,
one month after the "draft" of soldiers for the Jewish Legion began in Canada.
By September 1918 the Jewish Legion was already in Palestine.
Leon Cheifetz, Legionnaire
One Legionnaire was Leon Cheifetz from Montreal who enlisted before the age of 18. Cheifetz assembled an album with dozens of pictures and biographies of many of the Canadians who fought with him.
A group of Jewish Legionnaires in Ben Shemen from
the Cheifetz album
Unfortunately, the huge Library of Congress collection of Palestine pictures has few photographs of the Legionnaires.
The pictures in this series of essays come from various other collections, and we hope to receive more from the descendants of soldiers who served in the Legion.2View comments
- MAR27
More on the Jewish Legion in Palestine, 1917 - 1919, The Virtually Unknown Commander, Lazar Margolin
In our last posting on the Jewish Legion we published this photo of the "Jewish Legion entering a Jewish village in the Land of Israel." We have subsequently discovered more information about the photograph.
Colonel Margolin riding into the Jewish village of Ben Shemen
(Wikipedia, public domain)
The picture shows Colonel Eliezer "Lazar" Margolin riding into Ben Shemen. Margolin, a Russian-Palestinian-Australian, was a decorated officer who succeeded John H. Patterson as the commander of the Jewish Legion.
Margolin was born in Russia in 1874 and moved to a small farm in Rechovot Palestine with his parents when he was 17. He was proficient in Hebrew, Arabic, marksmanship and riding. Years later he was known as a figure who "rides his horse like a Bedouin, and shoots like an Englishman."
Colonel E. Margolin
(Harvard-Central
Zionist Archives)
Margolin's parents died, leaving him destitute. He left for Australia in 1902 to find his fortune but not before he swore on this parents graves that he would be
back to fight the Turkish occupiers. He joined the Australian army in 1911 and fought with valor in Gallipoli (1915) and France (1916-17) where he was wounded. In 1918, Lieutenant-Colonel Margolin took command of the Jewish Legion and participated in the Palestine campaign against the Turks.
February 22, 1918, The 38th battalion of the Jewish Legion
marches in the streets of London before leaving for the
Middle East. British Jews lined the route to cheer.
Just a few months after the Balfour Declaration in November 1917, a Jewish battalion of the Jewish Legion marched in London. Zev Jabotinsky, who had encouraged Margolin to take the command post, described the scene: "Tens of thousands of Jews crowded the streets, the windows, the balconies, the roofs. Blue-white flags were over every shop door; there were women crying for joy and old Jews with fluttering beards murmuring the prayer of thanksgiving: 'Blessed are Thou, O Lord our God, Who hast permitted us to live to see this day."In May 1921, Margolin commanded the "First Jewish Battalion of Judea" police unit, and he faced a terrible challenge (as described in the biography of Margolin's predecessor, Col. David Patterson):[After publication of our first posting on the Jewish Legion in Palestine during World War I, we had several fascinating responses from readers who had old family pictures of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers who served in the Legion. We invite them to scan the photos and send them for publication. Please make sure to provide details with the pictures.]
Colonel Margolin's SOS to British headquarters for arms to defend the Jaffa Jews had been turned down. So, with his approval, fellow Legionnaires broke into the munitions depot, seized weapons, rushed to Jaffa where former Legionnaires joined them, and killed 16 Arabs and drove off hundreds. The Arabs had killed 27 Jews and wounded 106.
The British declared martial law, and Margolin submitted his resignation. High Commissioner Herbert Samuel gave him two choices: to face a court-martial...or to leave Palestine immediately. Margolin chose to leave and returned to Australia.
For more information on Colonel Eliezer Margolin see:
Australian Dictionary of Biography - Eliezer Margolin
An Anzac - Zionist Hero, The Life of Lt. Col. Eliezer Margolin, by Rodney Gouttman3View comments
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Children baking matzah in kindergarten in Palestine. The teacher is in the center and it appears there's a
tiny oven in front of her (Harvard/Central Zionist Archives, circa 1920)0Add a comment
- The British army captured Jerusalem from the Turks in December 1917 and continued their Palestine campaign for another year until the capture of Damascus. Meanwhile, the Jewish Legion, consisting of Jewish volunteers, sat in Cairo chafing at the bit to join the fight in Palestine. They finally joined Allenby's forces in June 1918 and fought against the Turks in the Jordan River Valley.
The Jewish Battalion, a Passover Seder in Jerusalem, 1919. (Harvard, Central Zionist Archives) The photo is signed by
Ya'akov Ben-Dov who moved to Palestine in 1907 from Kiev. He was drafted into the Ottoman army during World War I and
served as a photographer in Jerusalem. Ben-Dov filmed Allenby's entry into Jerusalem in 1917.
The Jewish battalions of the Jewish Legion were manned by volunteers from Palestine, Europe, the United States and Canada, soldiers stirred by the call to action by Zionist leaders Zev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpeldor. Colonel John Henry Patterson, the unit's first commanding officer, described the Legion:
Recruiting poster for Jewish soldiers "The Jewish Legion was the name for five battalions of Jewish volunteers established as the British Army's 38th through 42nd (Service) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. The initial unit, known as the Zion Mule Corps, was formed in 1914-1915 during World War I, when Britain was at war against the Ottoman Turks, as Zionists around the world saw an opportunity to promote the idea of a Jewish National Homeland."
Soldiers from the Jewish Battalion on Passover in Jerusalem. The
caption in the Harvard/Central Zionist Archives lists the date as
1918. The Hebrew inscription behind the soldiers reads "Pesach
Jerusalem 5678" which corresponds to 1917-1918.The photograph of the soldiers sitting in Jerusalem is something of a mystery.It is dated 1918, but the Jewish Legion was still based in Cairo in the spring of 1918. Examining the head gear of the soldiers suggests the group consisted of Jewish fighters from variousunits -- British, Australian cavalry, and Scottish -- who assembled to participate in the Passover seder in Jerusalem prior to the Jewish Legion arriving in Palestine.
16-year-old volunteer Yitzak Jacov Liss
from "Diary of a Young Soldier" by
Jeanne SamuelsMore information on the Jewish Legion is available in We Are Coming, Unafraid: The Jewish Legions and the Promised Land in the First World War by Dr. Michael Keren, professor of Political Science, and Dr. Shlomit Keren, professor of History and Israel Studies, at the University of Calgary. They present personal diaries, letters and memoirs of soldiers who fought in the Jewish Legions. "In the First World War, many small nationalities joined the war in order to ensure self-determination when it was over. This was also the case with the Jewish battalions,” writes Shlomit Keren.
"Jewish Legion enters a Jewish village in the Land of Israel" from
"We Are Coming, Unafraid"Indeed, the Jewish Legion ignited the spirit for the Jewish self-defense forces in Palestine that evolved eventually into the Israel Defense Forces.Read more about Colonel Patterson and the Jewish Legion at The Seven Lives of Colonel Patterson: How an Irish Lion Hunter Led the Jewish Legion to Victory.View a previous posting on Yemenite Passover Seder in Jerusalem4View comments
We noted previously that the American Colony photographers took many pictures of plowing practices of the Arab community in Palestine. The photographers were good Christians, and their pictures were probably meant to show Biblical prohibitions such as animal threshing wheat while muzzled or mismatched animals under a yoke pulling a plow.
"Thou shall not plow with
an ox and an ass together."
לא תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו
Deuteronomy 20 (circa 1890)
-- from an earlier posting
View the earlier feature here.
Recently, we discovered in the medical archives of the Dundee University in Scotland the picture below with the same subjects -- an ox and a donkey pulling a plow. The picture was taken by the head of the Scots Mission Hospital in Tiberias, Herbert Torrance, who was both a doctor and a Christian missionary who undoubtedly also knew his Bible well.
"Plowing with an ox and an ass" (April, 1929, Torrance Collection, University of Dundee) 2View comments
Some 20 years ago, Tel Aviv's Mayor Shlomo Lahat "gave" one of his beaches to Jerusalem's mayor Teddy Kollek. Ostensibly, "Jerusalem Beach" is the closest beach to Jerusalem and those citizens who want to drive the 40 kilometers to swim and splash.
"Solomon's pools becomes a picnic and swimming resort. Group of bathers"
(Library of Congress)
But Jerusalem has had huge swimming pools nearby for 2,000 years, and the photographers of the American Colony filmed the Jerusalem residents who flocked to Solomon's Pools in the 1940s.
Solomon's Pools -- Picnic and Swimming Resort
and here (circa 1940, Library of Congress)
Cars arriving from Jerusalem and concession stand
(Library of Congress)From 1948 until 1967 the area was occupied by Jordan, and Israelis could not travel to Solomon's Pools. The area, of course, was open to local Arab residents.After the Oslo Agreements, Solomon's Pools were granted to the Palestinian Authority. Since the mid-1990s, Jewish groups have been able to visit only with special permission and escort by Israel's army. Foreign tourists can reach the site without restrictions from Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem.After the 1967 War, the area was reopened and Jerusalemites and residents of the local Jewish communities would visit the pools for picnics and to swim. Recommended reading (in Hebrew) סיפורן של אמות המים לירושלים The Story of the Water Supply to Jerusalem from "All About Jerusalem," Israeli Tour Guide Course. Photographs by Tamar Hayardeni and Ron Peled whose comments and photos have appeared in these postings in the past.1View comments
- MAR11
Are You a Fan of Novelist Daniel Silva? Make Sure to Read The Fallen Angel with Our Pictures Nearby
Bestselling novelist Daniel Silva has written a dozen books based on the exploits of Gabriel Allon, a fictional Israeli spy.
His latest page-turner, The Fallen Angel (Harper Collins), takes place in Rome and Jerusalem.
Under the al Aqsa Mosque, behind the sealed
Hulda Gate. Note the staircase that apparently
led to the surface and the Temple plaza
(circa 1927)
Newly-released photo from Israel Archaeological Authority
archives. Stairs and passage under the Temple Mount (circa 1927)
The cave under the "foundation stone" and the Dome
of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Woodcut in explorer
Col. Charles Wilson's book, 1881
Silva's books are always well-researched, and if you've read The Fallen Angel or plan to read it, keep these links containing rare pictures of subterranean Jerusalem close by. On this page is a sampling of the pictures.
View postings and photographs at Israel Daily Picture's
2View comments
Solomon seemed to have had a lot of property around Jerusalem.
Solomon's Pools. The photo from the Library of Congress archives is dated
between 1860 and 1880. No photographer is credited for the photo. The photo
and handwritten caption are similar to photos by Felix Bonfils (1831-1885).
Solomon's Temple, of course, was located on the Temple Mount and was actually built by King Solomon. After its destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, it was covered by rubble, then two versions of the Second Jewish Temple, a Roman pagan shrine, a church and a Muslim shrine.
Around Jerusalem one can see other ancient sites with Solomon's name- Solomon's Quarries,
Solomon's pools, north of Efrat, south of Bethlehem and east of
Route 60. (Google Earth) - Solomon's Prayer Place,
- Solomon's Stables,
- and Solomon's Pools
Other than the First Temple, none of them had any real association with King Solomon.By the time of the Second Temple in the Hasmonean/Roman period, the man-made reservoirs at "Solomon's Pools" south of Jerusalem were vital for providing water for the burgeoning population of Jerusalem and the many tens of thousands who made pilgrimages to Jerusalem on festivals.
The local springs and cisterns in Jerusalem could not possibly provide enough water for all their needs as well as for the sacrificial service and hygiene required in the Temple and the city. The springs to the south could provide a bountiful supply despite their location some 30-40 kilometers away, but a massive engineering project of aqueducts was required to convey the water from near what is today Efrat, south of Bethlehem. The water flowed from pools slightly higher than Jerusalem through the many kilometers of aqueduct built with a relatively tiny 0.08 degree angle of decline!
Solomon's pools (circa 1900) in a rare
colored photochrom pictureClick on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original pictures.
Water from the Biyar Spring
flows into one of Solomon's
Pools (circa 1935)
The water aqueduct system begins some 10 km south of Solomon's Pools at the Arrub Spring, and included a collection pool at the Biyar Spring west of Efrat. From there the water in the aqueduct flowed north to the first of the pools 4.7 kilometers.
Water flowing through the mountains via
ancient aqueduct to Solomon's Pools
(circa 1939)
The pools are massive reservoirs built to hold water from the south and the Eitam spring to the east. The largest is 177 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 15 meters deep. Parts of the ancient aqueduct system are still visible.
Tomorrow: -- Solomon's Pools in the 20th Century0Add a comment
- Solomon's Quarries,
News accounts today report a plague of locusts in Egypt and sightings of locusts along Israel's border.
A fig tree before the locust plague hit (Library of Congress) The same fig tree after the locust plague hit
The photographers of the American Colony in Jerusalem conducted an extensive photographic study of the locust plague of 1915 including the life cycle of the insects, the devastation, and attempts to eradicate.
A year ago we presented here a photo essay on the photo collection. Click here to view the whole article.
The aftermath of the plague 
Team waving flags tries to push a swarm of locusts into a
trap dug into the ground. The Turkish governor demanded
that every man deliver 20 kilo (44 pounds) of locusts
The pictures presented here were hand colored by the American Colony Photographic Dept.
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on the caption to view the original picture.0Add a comment
- MAR4
Congressional Visits to Israel Are Not New. Pictures of a Senate Delegation in 1936, a Critical Year
Republishing this post in honor of the citizen lobbyists meeting with their elected officials during AIPAC's 2013 Policy Conference.
The senators and their wives visit the Temple Mount (1936)
April 1936 was the start of a vicious anti-Semitic and violent "Arab Revolt" in Palestine that would last through 1939. The murderous attacks against Jews, Jewish communities and Jewish property were widespread throughout Palestine. British government offices, banks and railroads were also attacked.
Coming so soon after the 1929 massacres of Jews in Palestine and under the looming shadow of the Nazi threat, the attacks against Palestine's Jews alarmed friends of the Zionist movement. The British Mandate's policies were viewed as biased against the Jews. Rumors of a British threat to suspend Jewish immigration to Palestine were particularly worrisome.
In July 1936, Secretary of State Cordell Hull cabled the U.S. Ambassador to Britain, "It has been brought to the attention of the President by influential Jewish groups in this country that the British Government is contemplating the suspension of Jewish immigration into Palestine. American Jewish leaders fear that such suspension may close the only avenue of escape of German and Polish Jews..."
The senators visiting an empty Western Wall (1936)
Hull instructed the ambassador to assure the British prime minister that he was only reporting on the concern of "influential Jewish circles in the U.S." and "not speaking on behalf" of the U.S. Government.
With such attitudes prevalant in Washington and London, it was little wonder that friends of the Jewish community and the Zionist movement would react. Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst organized and financed a mission of three senators -- Dr. Royal Copeland of New York, Warren Austin of Vermont, and Daniel Hasting from Delaware -- to visit Palestine in August 1936 to "investigate the Palestine situation." [Note: the visit took place several years before the Holocaust and 12 years before Israel's founding.]
On August 11, 1936 Senator Copeland introduced a Senate resolution protesting British policies. The JTA reported:Condemning British proposals to partition Palestine as "outrageous," Senator Royal S. Copeland (Dem., NY) introduced in the Senate today a resolution asking the Senate's "forthright indication of unwillingness to accept modification in the mandate without Senate consent."
Senator Copeland declared that the territory allotted the Jews in the proposed partition was insufficient to maintain even a small number of Jews and that establishment of a small Jewish state might result in a war between the Jews and the Arabs. The Jews are having a "terrible time" in Germany, Poland and Rumania.... At the same time he noted a "distinct animosity" on the part of American consuls abroad in granting visas to Jews, which, he said, showed discrimination.
On August 22, the American consul general in Jerusalem cabled his Secretary of State to report, " A local committee of five representative Americans (leading Zionists) has been formed to meet the [Senate] party on arrival and has planned propaganda visits to Jewish colonies before proceeding [to] Jerusalem... [The] junket is designed to appeal to pro-Jewish propaganda.... The [British] Chief Secretary of the Palestine Government takes position on grounds of safety alone that the party cannot be permitted to tour country. With this I fully concur, particularly in view of present recrudescence of terrorism and especially as Zionists are sponsoring tour."
Postscript: Senator Austin was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1946. On November 29, 1947 the UN approved the partition plan for Palestine, recommending the formation of a Jewish state and an Arab state. On March 18, 1948 President Truman met with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and assured him of the United States' support for Jewish statehood.
Senators visiting Hebrew University's Mt. Scopus amphitheater
On March 19, Amb. Austin announced to the UN Security Council that the United States no longer viewed the partition plan as viable. Truman wrote two days later, "The striped pants conspirators in the State Department had completely balled up the Palestine situation." The White House reversed the position taken by State Department Arabists, and Truman supported the formation of the Jewish state.Hat tip: Y. Medad2View comments
The mirthful festival of Purim will be celebrated in the Jewish world on Sunday. Residents of Jerusalem celebrate "Shushan Purim" on Monday.
What holiday is it? Original caption from the Torrance
collection: "Rabbi Aboulafia blowing a shofar," but the
scroll the rabbi is holding is most certainly the Megillat
Esther read on Purim. The shofar is traditionally blown
on Rosh Hashanna. The Aboulafia family has been
associated with Tiberias for centuries.
We present pictures we found in the Scottish Dundee University Medical Archives, including the mysterious picture of "Rabbi Aboulafia" blowing a shofar and holding what appears to be a Megillat Esther read on Purim.
What an unusual sight! Snow in Tiberias. (Torrence collection)
The Jews of Palestine used to celebrate heartily at the Purim Adloyada ["until they don't know"] festival and parade held in Tel Aviv in the 1920s and 30's.
Some commentators make a crude comparison to Marde Gras partying, but the merriment is based on an ancient rabbinic tradition of Jews imbibing on Purim to the point where they do not know the difference between sobriety and drunkenness, between Mordechai and Haman -- but without losing their wits.
The American Colony's "Book Club"
(1898). Certainly not Purim-related,
but great costumes!
The Purim tale did not take place in Eretz Yisrael, but in Persia. A villain named Haman arose and tried to destroy the Jewish people. Through guile and disguise, Mordechai and Esther were able to thwart Haman's genocidal plans and save the Jewish people. To this day there is a custom to dress up in disguises.See last year's post -- Purim in the Holy Land: Tales of Disguise, Mirth and the Constant Threat of Haman
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to see original photos.View Yaakov Gross' film of the Tel Aviv celebrations in the 1930s here:
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- FEB17
The Flood that Almost Destroyed Tiberias, A Scottish Medical Museum Gives Up Its Photo Secrets
The Galilee town of Tiberius has suffered hard times over its two millennia -- invading armies, plagues, and earthquakes. Yet, it almost always remained a Jewish center for religious study where the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud were compiled.
A main street in Tiberius. The worst flood struck in 1934. This photo is dated
1938. (All pictures are from the University of Dundee's Unlocking the Medicine
Chest, Torrance collection)
But in recent history, probably nothing has devastated Tiberius as much as flash floods, particularly a freak storm and flood that struck the town in May 1934, ostensibly after the Holy Land's rainy season.
Five thousand residents were made homeless by the two days of flooding which led to mud and rock slides that cascaded down on the city, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency report at the time. More than 30 people died.
Vehicles stuck in Tiberias flood (1938)
Also view the newsreel film of the flood below, from the Spielberg Archives at the Hebrew University. It was the first Hebrew language news film.
Clean-up from 1926 flood
Click on pictures to enlarge and on captions to view the original photo.The doctors of the Scots Mission Hospital documented the damage of several of the floods, and their photographs can be found in the University of Dundee medical archives.
Original caption: "Such a mess!" 
The aftermath of a flood
Boy rescued from the mud at the Scots Mission Hospital
Not so lucky. Body of child pulled from
the mud. (Torrence collection, but the
photo was taken by G. Eric Matson of
the American Colony Photographic
Department)
"The Tiberias Catastrophe" (Spielberg Jewish Film Archives)1View comments
In our virtual expedition into the medical archives of the Scottish University of Dundeewe continue to explore pictures of life in Tiberias, the location of the Scots Mission Hospital established in the 1880s.
"Poor Jewish women leaving the hospital after the feast which was given them"
Christmas, 1924. (Torrence Collection, "Unlocking the Medicine
Chest," University of Dundee)
Amidst the pictures of medical cases photographed by Doctors David Watt Torrance and his son Herbert, the hospital's directors, are pictures of the Jews and Arabs of Tiberias. View an 1886 picture of patients here.
All the pictures presented are from the Torrance collection.
David Torrance arrived in a very poor, economic backwater town in the 1880s. Under Ottoman rule, Tiberias had little in the way of employment opportunities or basic hygienic infrastructure.
Orthodox Jews in Tiberias (1927)
Tiberias was nonetheless a center of Jewish life over the centuries, particularly after the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans. It emerged as one of Judaism's holy cities after Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed. Rabbis of the Talmud and Maimonides are buried in Tiberias. And over the last few centuries pious Jewish families and scholars made it their home.
Elderly Jewish couple from Safed (1930)
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Click on captions to view the original pictures.
Hats and Faces: "The Jew on left belongs to Ashkenazi group (from Germany, Russia, Poland etc.) and speaks Yiddish; the other two are Sephardic Jews (Spanish and Portuguese) and speak Arabic and a Spanish patois [Ladino]." (circa 1940) 
Orthodox couple from Tiberias with the Torrances (1925) 
Original caption: "Orthodox Jew wearing phylacterus and
reading from scroll" (circa 1930). See also here
"Orthodox boy on the way to synagogue with talit"
(circa 1930)
From a Scot Mission Hospital fundraising
brochure (circa 1930)
Note fromIsrael Daily Picture'spublisher: Some Jewish readers may object to our publishing photos from the Scots Mission because of its proselytizing activity. We do not get into religious issues. We are thankful for the photographs of Palestine taken by Christian photographers, pictures that establish without any doubt many aspects of Jewish life in the Holy Land 150 years ago. Indeed, we suspect that some of their pictures have not been given the attention warranted precisely because Jewish scholars may have chosen to avoid the works of these photographers or because Middle East scholars chose to overlook pictures of Jewish inhabitants of Palestine.2View comments
- FEB13
Welcome to Tiberias, Home of David W. Torrance, 19th Century Doctor, Missionary, Photographer
Open the digital files of the Scots Missionary Hospital of Tiberias in the University of Dundee medical archives. Skim past the gruesome clinical pictures of patients with anthrax, typhoid, amputations, and deformities. And find the photographic treasures left behind by the father-son team, David Watt Torrance and Herbert Watt Torrance who ran the hospital along the shores of the Sea of Galilee from 1884 until 1959.
Arab and Jewish patients waiting outside of the dispensary of the hospital (1886)
Torrence Collection, "Unlocking the Medicine Chest," University of Dundee
See more on the Torrances here.
Original caption: "General view of the shore of Lake Galilee,
showing people washing clothes and cooking utensils and
drawing water at the same spot." (circa 1910)
The Torrance photos show the primitive conditions in Tiberias which was confined by Ottoman rulers to remain a small walled city until the early 20th century. The town was pillaged and destroyed by marauding armies over the centuries. Earthquakes, plagues, and floods devastated the town.
On the back of the picture of washing at the Sea of Galilee shore appears this notation: "No wonder there were outbreaks of cholera, enteric fever and such diseases! Father [Dr David Torrance] took the 'boilers' from the hospital wash-house into the town so that people could obtain boiled water."
"The old walls and castle of Tiberias" (1890) 
Aerial photo of Tiberias, 1938,
showing expansion of the town
Future features: The great Tiberias flood, and the Jews of Tiberias.
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original photos.
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Several Israel Daily Picture readers responded immediately and identified the man in the picture.
The caption reads "Jew with a Torah." Actually, the man is a
Samaritan priest and the scroll is the Samaritan bible. (Torrance
collection, Medical Archives, University of Dundee)
Yoni wrote: "The 'Jew' with a Torah Scroll is in fact a Samaritan Cohen from Mt. Gerizim, above Shchem (Nablus). They have the 5 books of Moses (Torah) in similar casings as do Sephardi Jews, and therefore the confusion."
[A similar response came from reader BLS.]
We present this picture to introduce a large collection of photographs from the Scottish University of Dundee's medicalarchives and database, entitled "Unlocking the Medicine Chest." Amidst the historical medical records from many Scottish hospitals, clinics, infirmaries and universities is an entry Herbert Watt Torrance, Medical Missionary (1892-1977).
Dr. Herbert Torrance succeeded his father Dr. David Watt Torrance, a Scottish doctor and missionary, who established the Scots Missionary Hospital in Tiberias in the 1880s. The two doctors were dedicated to treating the poor of the Galilee -- Christians, Muslim and Jews. They also documented and photographed the diseases and injuries they encountered such as leprosy, anthrax, typhoid, and deformities, to name a few.
The collection also includes dozens of 100-year-old pictures of the elderly and poor Jews of Tiberias, early photographs of the town, and damage to Tiberias from natural calamities. Watch for these pictures atwww.israeldailypicture.com in the next weeks.
Back to the Samaritans
In case anyone has doubts about the true identity of the Torrance's "Jew," view the pictures of Samaritan priests we have posted here in the past. Note the turbans.
Samaritan priest (American
Colony)
Also note the scrolls' covering and handles. The scroll and chair in the Torrance picture actually provide the best proofs. Compare the shape, the arms, the metal tacks on the upholstery and compare it to the chair in this picture from a Samaritan synagogue. They may be the same chair. 
Samaritan priest (American Colony
collection)
Samaritan synagogue in Shchem
(Library of
Congress collection)
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