 This
city along the coastal strip, located 12 kilometers east of Tel Aviv,
considered “the mother of the moshavot”, is the first of the Jewish
settlements in Palestine. A small group of pious people decided to leave
Jerusalem where they lived within the constraints of the subsidies from
communities in the Diaspora. They establish an association – Geulat
Ha’aretz or the Redemption of the Land and advocate the return to working
the fields as a condition for the regeneration of the Jewish community
in Palestine: “Without cultivating the bond with the land”, they declared,
“Israel will not be able to subsist in the world.“
A despondent
land
For a long time, they looked
for lands to purchase, until the day they arrived to survey the land
along the Yarkon:
A despondent land
The founders of Petah Tikvah left Jerusalem in search
of land on which to settle. One summer morning in 1878, a group made
up of David Guttman, Yoel Moshe Saloman, Joshua Stampfer, Zorah Barnett
and a number of other people inspected the Amelebesh lands in the
environs of Jaffa. They traversed the length and breadth of that large
area until they arrived at an old, partially destroyed fortress, the
fortress of Antipatris, where they found natural springs gushing quietly
into a large stream covered with reeds and surrounded by trees and
bushes. The earth was black, rich and abundantly covered with grass.
When these pioneers of the (future) yishuv saw this place, the flowing
spring waters and the Yarkon River, they were very excited and decided
to purchase the whole area and establish a settlement there. But later,
when they entered the village, they were shocked to see the afflicted
fellahin, blind and jaundiced, and were very discouraged… For greater
assurance, they turned to Dr. Mazorika, the famous Greek doctor of
that period, and invited him to come with them to check the climatic
conditions of the Amelebesh region.
When they returned with the doctor,
they again saw the depressing site of the skeletal bodies, the faces
as yellow as parchment, groping along the walls to find their way
in broad daylight or being led by another person, possessing only
one eye or one and a half eyes, which were constantly tearing or discharging
pus. At a certain point, Dr. Mazorika left the group to climb up to
the top of a ruined house where he stood immobile, surveying the horizon
and scanning the skies. The three founding settlers stood at a distance
wit pounding hearts and bated breaths. Bewildered, they wondered what
the strange behavior of the doctor meant. After approximately half
an hour, the doctor descended from his strange observation post and
turning to them said: “There is a general rule by which one can definitely
decide whether this or any other place is fit for human habitation
or whether a person should stay as far away from it as possible. During
the time that I was standing on high, I was scanning the skies to
see if there were any birds flying, yet I did not observe even one
in this entire, blue, open expanse. Nevertheless, we are in a sunny
area and there are seeds of grains scattered everywhere and worms
and all kinds of insects – certainly tasty food for the birds… Surely,
the air in this place must be so foul and destructive that even the
birds do not dare to come near. This is a deadly place” With that,
the doctor concluded his investigation and left.
The three settlers stood there immobile.
Guttman, who at that moment felt that the world had collapsed all
around him, decided in his heart not to listen to the Greek and to
proceed with the purchase of the property. But as he looked at his
dejected comrades who stood with their heads lowered, their eyes fixed
to the ground, he dared not openly express his audacious thoughts
and continued to remain silent. They dared not look at each other.
After a few moments of silence, Salomon suddenly murmured: “Even so!
Let us try!” Stampfer expressed his support. As soon as they had they
uttered these words, Guttman embraced his two comrades and burst into
tears, moved to his depths by their words. At that point, the other
two could not contain themselves and they too began to weep.
A. Yaari, Zichronot Eretz Israel
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