The Story of the Jewish Legion

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Chapter X - The Joy of Hebrew Palestine

IMMEDIATELY on our return to Helmieh, Colonel Patterson formed a "recruiting squad" for Palestine, consisting of officers with a knowledge of Hebrew; at the head of the group he placed Lieutenant Lipsey, with the order: "In one month you must be speaking Hebrew like Isaiah himself." He laughingly added that he had himself learned "Hebrew" in Gallipoli. And indeed, the men of the Zion Mule Corps would often quote some of the gems which fell from his lips, like "Lishtot et hasusim" ("to drink the horses"). But Lipsey's knowledge was sufficient-he was a member of an Orthodox Glasgow family and knew his prayer-book. "Quite enough," said the padre. "All that you need can be found in the Eighteen Benedictions."

Lipsey, however, also taught the men the Hebrew command-terminology, which had been compiled in Platoon 16, and his recruiting squad began its work with gusto. The colonel considered it not a moment too soon: he was convinced that with the Lord of Hosts General Allenby's opinion was of just as little importance as that of Lord Kitchener. And he was right. Shortly before Passover, the second Jewish battalion, commanded by Colonel Margolin and consisting more than half of Americans, arrived. Shortly afterward the "Zionist Commission" came, with Dr. Weizmann at its head and with Captain Ormsby-Gore as official intermediary between the Commission and G.H.O. Major James Rothschild was also a member of the Commission and at the same time an officer in Margolin's battalion. General Allenby had to admit that Whitehall had set its face firmly toward Zionism and a Legion and that there was no help for it. But for a long time the volunteer movement remained "unpopular" and even "dangerous." Friends of the G.H.Q. tendered the Zionist.