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.

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dressed in their poor Sabbath best; girls with flowers in their hair or carrying Zionist flags; English officers, Italian officers of a detachment stationed at Tel-Aviv, Arab spectators-all as excited as we. I gave these volunteers some advice which may not have been quite unnecessary. "My friends, that you will be brave I know; but it is not the danger to life and limb which is the most difficult thing for a soldier to endure. Much more difficult are two other troubles of army life monotony and rudeness. You see danger only once a month; but between attacks you must sit for weeks in the trenches, repeating again and again hateful, monotonous routine jobs, without any excitement, without any change and then the sergeant, even your own sergeant, will add uncomplimentary appellations, like 'bloody fools' or its Hebrew equivalent. You must be able to stand this. Not the man who can shoot best is the best soldier. The best soldier is the man who can endure the most. And when the British N.C.O. swears, it does not mean that he is rude. The Englishman is our partner today, and to him, unlike us, life is a game. But perhaps his philosophy is also a useful one. For in sport the average man is more patient and more honest than in everyday life. A merchant may cheat his customer, but he will not cheat at cards. For at games, if not in life, everybody likes to be a gentle-man. And you all remember how, as children, you used to play a game in which the loser had to get a fillip on the tip of his nose. Should anybody hit you on the tip of your nose in the street, you would hit back, but in play you swallow the blow and laugh. That is the Englishman's outlook. Everything is a game, especially war. The sergeant swears at you? It is only a playful fillip; don't be annoyed. You have to founder in deep mud? Regard it as a bad card in a game; have patience. :A bullet, a bomb? It is also a part of the game. I do not believe in their philosophy generally, but in war it is best— play the game like good players, and hold on...." Before I left Tel-Aviv I saw Weizmann. He was excited and somewhat dissatisfied. "You have cleaned out the country," he said to James Rothschild. "Where are we to find workers and teachers and officials?" But later, when the volunteers had to leave to do their military exercises, he attended a grand parade and presenting them with a Jewish flag, made a moving speech; he thanked them in the name of the