LXIV.

STATISTICS OF THE HOLY LAND

A FOLDED page with which the Addenda (Extracts from some of the reports, letters, and addresses on agriculture in the Holy Land received by Sir Moses Montefiore, F.R.S., etc. etc., during his sojourn there. Translated from the originals, by Dr. L. Loewe) to Lady Montefiore’s Notes from a Private Journal, 1844, concludes, is entitled:――

“A form of the lists giving a statistical account of the Children of _Israel_ dwelling in the Holy Land. In the Year 5599/1839.” _These are the names of the worthy persons fearing God, who resided in the Holy City, in the year_ 5599‒1839.

The form is divided into seventeen columnar sections, headed with the following queries:――

Number in Family――Names――Where born――Age――Date of arrival in the Holy Land――How Situated――Occupation――Married――Single――Names and number of children――Age above 13――Age under 13――Names of Widows――Age――Names of Orphans――Age――Remarks.

Sir Moses, accompanied by his wife, first visited the Holy Land in 1827, and the urgent necessity and vast importance of statistics must have deeply impressed him, for we find that on his second pilgrimage, eleven years later, he caused forms similar to the above, which were also in Hebrew, to be distributed in the Holy Cities of Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, Hebron, and in other towns and villages. The information furnished was signed, countersigned and sealed by the Heads of each _Kahal_.

Forms applicable to synagogues, colleges, schools, and various other institutions were also circulated, requesting particulars as to situation, the names of the ecclesiastical and lay heads, and other officials. The purpose of each organization, its income and expenditure, and a number of other minor details.

This information――collected for thirty-six years 5599‒5635 = 1839‒1875――was compiled and arranged by Dr. Louis Loewe (the life-long friend of Sir Moses, whom he accompanied on thirteen of his missions abroad) and transcribed in fifteen imperial folio volumes, a model of Hebrew calligraphy.

In addition to these particulars of a personal nature, this invaluable thesaurus contains information dealing with land, agriculture, buildings, industries, cotton, oil, fruit-trees, and the condition of the country in general. The volumes are now deposited at the Jews’ College, Queen Square House, London, but form part of the Library of the Judith, Lady Montefiore Theological College of Ramsgate.

A wealth of material lies at the disposal of future historians and statisticians, and it is devoutly to be hoped, that this great work will find its proper resting-place in the Archives of Jerusalem.