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The proceedings were begun by Grand Rabbi Abraham Kuk, who pronounced a prayer. Dr. Weizmann declared the University open. Sir Herbert Samuel conveyed the good wishes of the British Government. Then, Lord Balfour arose and, as he did so, some 16,000 feet kept time to some 16,000 gesticulating arms waved by their cheering owners. Minutes passed before the distinguished speaker could speak. The ovation was such that the walls of the amphitheatre and the crowded boughs of nearby trees were endangered. At length−silence.
Lord Balfour spoke in his best Eton and Cambridge manner, dwelt upon the significance of the event in which all were participating and which had brought people from all the earth's cubbyholes. He touched briefly on the history of the surrounding sights and asseverated: "A new epoch has begun within the Palestine which came to an end so many hundred years ago." There followed some remarks on the idea of a Western University run on Western methods in an Eastern country and upon the beauty but questionable utility of the Hebrew language with which the Earl professed himself unacquainted. The speech ended on a Balfourian note: a graceful, tactful, courageous plea for Arab goodwill and cooperation, recalling that, in the 10th Century, the Arab and the Jew had worked in harmony for "the illumination of Europe"−a reference to the Moorish invasions of Spain.
A few days later, Lord Balfour left Jerusalem for a tour of the Esdraelon colonies to the north. Of the Arabs, who had stood quietly aloof during the whole visit, many regretted their stand, for they said they held the Earl in high regard and would have liked to extend their traditional courtesies. But, they pointed out, the only pacific means at their disposal for giving vent to their disapproval of British policy was to follow the course adopted in the hope of awakening sympathy for their cause.
History. The history of the Jewish peoples is to be found largely in the Old Testament; the following is a bare outline:
About 2,000 B.C., Abraham ("father of multitudes") was the Patriarch of the Hebrews ("those from the other side"−they came from Ur in Baby- lonia). Abraham had two sons: Ishmael by Hagar (ancestor of the Ismaelites or Arabians), Isaac by Sarah ("princess"). Isaac married Rebekah and they begat Jacob called Israel, the ancestor of the Jews. His male progeny became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Several hundred years later, Israel became a Theocracy and, later still, a kingdom under Saul of the Benjamin Tribe, annointed by Samuel "the last Judge in Israel." Other kings were David and Solomon, after whom the Kingdom was divided: Kingdom of Israel; Kingdom of Judah, which was at one time captured by Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Jerusalem and carried the Jews into Babylonian captivity. The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Sargon, King of Assyria, in 772 B.C. The Kingdom of Judah came to an end when Titus destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Some 60 years later, the Emperor Hadrian put down a Jewish uprisal, forbade the Jews to enter Jerusalem, ordered the great Dispersal which scattered the Jews throughout creation.