Relic from the Holy Land

Aladár Fürst, teacher of the Jewish Boys’ Grammar School of Budapest and co-worker of the Jewish Museum, visited the Holy Land in May 1924 and published his experiences the very same year. In his short report he describes the voyageand the arrival, during which he met East-European immigrants too. In his writings he depicts the everyday life of the Jews in the four holy cities: Jerusalem, Tiberias, Safed and Hebron and writes in detail about the new yishuvim (communities) and the life of the Jewish colonies and schools sponsored by Baron Rothschild. ‘Every Jew, whoever can, shall at least once in his life visit the land “which the LORD, your God, promised to you” in order to evoke holy memories of the beautiful past and seek a role of the present struggles...’ writes Fürst. He himself, apart from his experiences, brought a handful of earth as a souvenir from the sand of the Kidron valley desert, which he later gave to the museum. In 1940 he made aliyah and settled in Tel-Aviv.