18

Ottoman Jerusalem, 1517-1917

In 1517 control of Jerusalem was seized from the Mamlukes by the Ottomans. This new Muslim dynasty produced thirty-six sultans who ruled over the Holy City for four hundred years, right into the twentieth century.

The Ottomans were originally a group of nomadic Turks that settled in central Asia to escape the Mongol expansion in the Far East. Having converted to Sunni Islam, they became a warrior dynasty that swiftly carved out an empire for themselves under the leadership of their founder and first sultan, Osman (1259-1326). His name is the Turkish form of the Arabic Uthman, the third caliph who succeeded the prophet Muhammad. It is from a distorted form of the founder's name that we derive the name of the dynasty and the empire, Ottoman. 1

In 1326 the Ottomans firmly established their empire when they conquered the city of Bursa in Anatolia. By 1389 they had added the Balkans to their domain, all at Byzantine expense. Then they besieged the Byzantine capital itself, and in 1453 Constantinople fell. The Ottomans appropriated the former Byzantine capital for their own, renaming it Istanbul (Turkish, "The City"). The beautiful Church of the Hagia Sophia, built in Constantinople by Justinian in 537, was turned into a mosque (it is now a museum).

Without Christian enemies to fight in the east, the Ottomans trained their cannon and muskets on regions held by their fellow Muslims. They smashed a Mamluke army north of Aleppo, in Syria, in 1516 and became masters of all of Syria-Palestine. In a battle near Cairo, the Ottomans put an end to the Mamluke Empire. With Egypt under his control, Sultan Selim I, "the Grim," (1512-1520) proclaimed himself leader of the entire Muslim world and moved his capital from Cairo to Istanbul. On 30 December 1516, Selim returned to Palestine and rode into Jerusalem at the head of his cavalry. 2

The inhabitants of Jerusalem joyously welcomed the new sultan as he rode into the city, scattering coins to the cheering crowds and immediately gaining their approbation. Unfortunately, during the earliest years of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem remained as neglected as it had been under the Mamlukes. Despite the well-established status of Jerusalem as Islam's most important city after Mecca and Medina, Selim I did not designate it a district capital. Jerusalem remained a provincial town under the jurisdiction of the district capital of Damascus. In fact, Selim accorded Jerusalem no greater status than any other town of Palestine. When the sultan received the key to the city of Jerusalem, he did so not when he first took possession of it but later, in Gaza, along with the keys of other towns and cities in the Holy Land. 3

The sultan appointed a governor, or pasha, to administer the day-to-day affairs of Jerusalem. The pasha had his headquarters at the Jawiliyya, the building in the northwest corner of the Haram esh-Sharif where the Antonia Fortress had stood fifteen hundred years earlier. Since 1427 this building had been the residence of the ruler of the city. From there he governed, reinforced by a small garrison and thirty cannon stationed at the Citadel. 4

Suleiman's Reforms

Selim was followed by his son, perhaps the greatest of the Ottoman sultans, Suleiman I (1520-1566). In the west he was known as "the Magnificent"; his own people called him Suleiman "the Lawgiver." During his long reign, Suleiman accomplished much. He led armies into Hungary, stormed the walls of Vienna, invaded Persia, and conquered Baghdad. He revised the legal system of the Ottoman Empire and built prolifically in all his domains. He restored many Islamic shrines throughout his empire and guided it to an apex of cultural development.

Suleiman took a personal interest in Jerusalem. His most important accomplishment in the Holy City was the rebuilding of the city's walls, which had been left in ruins since 1219, some three hundred years. According to tradition, Suleiman had a dream in which he saw that he would be devoured by lions unless he rebuilt the wall around the city to protect its inhabitants. That is why the sultan had images of lions placed in the wall above St. Stephen's Gate (also called Lion's Gate), to perpetuate his name and the story of his dream. In truth, the Turks viewed Jerusalem's reconstructed walls as a strategic necessity. They feared that the Mamlukes might try to reconquer Palestine and the Holy City. The new walls also afforded protection against other marauders.

Suleiman began reconstruction of the walls in 1537. Archaeological studies show that the Turkish builders followed the line of the previous city wall, using whatever building materials they could find—anything from the finely hewn and bevelled stones of the Herodian period to the ordinary building blocks of earlier periods. Suleiman's workers restored two of the city's ancient gates, now called Damascus and Jaffa. Apparently, during this time the Golden Gate and the Triple Gate in the Temple Mount wall were sealed. A traditional tale relates that Suleiman feared a Christian Messiah would try to enter through the Golden Gate, so he had it blocked up.

There were few places in the empire where fortifications were built and embellished on such a grand scale as they were in Jerusalem. 5 Most of the famous gates and the crenelated walls that still surround the Old City date from the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. The walls themselves are magnificent, and only one mistake was made during their construction. According to legend, the sultan's architects failed to extend the southern wall far enough to bring David's traditional tomb on Mount Zion within the perimeter of the city. Pleased with the reconstructed wall in general but angered over the omission, Suleiman ordered the architects beheaded and then buried with full honors just inside Jaffa Gate. 6

Suleiman also made improvements to the city's water system. The aqueducts from Solomon's Pools were repaired, and six fountains using water from these aqueducts were built in the city. In 1536 the Sultan's Pool was constructed. The improvement of the city's water system also made possible the creation of public gardens in Jerusalem. 7

Finally, the great sultan repaired or refurbished important buildings inside Jerusalem. The most celebrated was the Dome of the Rock. To this day, the name of Suleiman and the date of a.h. 935 (A.D. 1528) can be seen inscribed on the lower windows of the shrine.

Suleiman's achievements were applauded by Muslim and Jew alike. The Jewish chronicler Joseph ha-Kohen recorded this approval: "In that year . . . God aroused the spirit of Suleiman king of Greece . . . and Persia and he set out to build the walls of Jerusalem the holy city in the land of Judah. And he sent officials who built its walls and set up its gates as in former times and its towers as in bygone days. And his fame spread throughout the land for he wrought a great deed. And they did also extend the tunnel into the town lest the people thirst for water. May God remember him favorably." 8

Decline Sets In

It is not hard to believe that God's hand was upon Suleiman, for Jerusalem not only prospered but reached unprecedented heights during his rule. The effects of that prosperity were seen all the way into the twentieth century. But the prosperity itself was short-lived as less able and less interested sultans succeeded Suleiman. During the reign of his son, Selim II (1566-1574), the sewage and water systems were neglected, roads deteriorated, and the number of Jerusalem's inhabitants declined. The Ottoman administration was no longer concerned about the development and maintenance of the city. 9

Despotic governors of Jerusalem caused further decline by extorting money from the city's citizens. Having obtained their positions by bribery, the governors spent their terms of office recovering their initial outlay and adding as much profit to their personal coffers as they could manage. A reliable method to accomplish that goal was tax farming: anything collected beyond governmental requirements could be kept by the collector or other petty officials. And there was always something to be kept.

This enervating drain on the resources of the citizens resulted in a steady decline of Jerusalem's population. By 1677 there were no more than fifteen thousand inhabitants of Jerusalem. For all intents and purposes we can say that the Holy City ceased to develop from the mid seventeenth century to the mid nineteenth century. The only building that took place during these two centuries was the renovation of structures on the Haram esh-Sharif, which was carried out for religious reasons. The pilgrim literature of the period describes Jerusalem as a ghost town, depressing and filthy, many of its sections lying in ruins or turned into deserted fields, its houses neglected and disintegrating. 10

The weakness of the Ottoman administration in Jerusalem led to the power and wealth becoming concentrated in the hands of such local families as the Nashashibis, the Husseinis, the Alamis, the Khalidis, and a few others. They held government offices, handed them down from father to son, and got wealthier in the process. By contrast, the lesser ranks of society, both Muslims and Jews, slowly but surely descended deeper and deeper into the mire of poverty.

One modern scholar believes that the Ottoman period was a profound tragedy in another way for Arabic-speaking peoples of the Near East. From the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, western Europeans were experiencing the cultural creativity of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, with new explorations being carried out, scientific discoveries being made, and liberal political movements prompting the formation of modern democratic states. While these revolutionary changes were occurring in the West, the Arab east under the Ottoman sultans "sank more deeply into ignorance and apathy." The author of the foregoing concludes with this stinging rebuke: "Beyond their skill in the military arts, it is difficult to find any political, cultural, or religious achievement that can be credited to the Turks. Through the four hundred years of their rule, the sole preoccupations of the Sublime Porte, as the Turkish government was called, were to maintain peaceful order and to collect taxes. The vast empire was organized for no other purposes, as we can see by the way in which Palestine and Jerusalem were treated." 11

Though we cannot concur completely with such sweeping criticism, especially considering Suleiman, it does represent the general tenor of the times. Well into the nineteenth century, the streets of Jerusalem were narrow and unpaved and its buildings dilapidated. Much of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed by fire in 1808. And in 1825 the city was ravaged by a Bedouin revolt. 12

Despite the undesirable circumstances, Jews continued to visit Jerusalem and a few settled there, despite the many difficulties. Jews throughout the world looked with longing toward the Holy City, hoping someday to live in the city of their forefathers. They continued to end their prayers and liturgical ceremonies with the words: "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Restoration and Redemption

In 1831 a powerful rebellion rocked the Ottoman Empire, led by the brilliant viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali. He moved his powerful army into Syria-Palestine after being slighted by the government in Istanbul. For nine years (1831-1840), Palestine was ruled by Ali's stepson, Ibrahim Pasha, and Jerusalem's fortunes improved dramatically. Tax farming was abolished, a centralized administrative system supervised material improvements in the city, and Christians as well as Jews were given more freedom. Christians were permitted to run for election to the Jerusalem town council. Jews could pray at the Western Wall without special governmental permission and could repair their synagogues, particularly the four Sephardic synagogues, which had been built in the Jewish Quarter and were known collectively as the Jochanan ben Zakkai Synagogue. 13 For the first time in centuries, the rights to life and property were guaranteed to all inhabitants of the region. 14

These developments were watched by three groups of people with resentment, fear, or foreboding. The Muslims were incensed that Christians were put on the same level with themselves. The Ottoman government in Istanbul feared that they might be toppled by Muhammad Ali. And the European powers feared that if the Ottomans were replaced, the resulting upset in the balance of power would have dire consequences on world stability. In 1840 a coalition led by Britain forced the Egyptian leaders to withdraw from the region, but it was a very different Palestine and a very different Jerusalem the Egyptians vacated compared to the ones they had conquered in 1831. Economic prosperity and safety, Jewish immigration, Christian missionary activity, travel, pilgrimage, tourism, and political equality were all on the increase. The Ottoman government was forced to take a new look at an old and long-neglected country, especially its holiest city—Jerusalem. 15

It is not just coincidence that at the same time Jerusalem was being transformed from within, the Lord was moving to transform it from without. After centuries of spiritual decline, his true Church and the fulness of the Priesthood, which includes the keys of the gathering of Israel, were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the very year that Muhammad Ali and his stepson brought Palestine under their sway and began to restore Jerusalem through political power, God began to teach of and bring about Jerusalem's restoration through divine power. In 1831, the Lord, speaking through the Prophet Joseph Smith, urged: "Let them, therefore, who are among the Gentiles flee unto Zion. And let them who be of Judah flee unto Jerusalem, unto the mountains of the Lord's house" (D&C 133:12-13). Not only was this return of Judah to Jerusalem made possible by the reforms of Muhammad Ali, but it began while Jerusalem was under his control.

The significance of Jerusalem as a starting point for the gathering of Israel was on Joseph Smith's mind from the time the Church was first organized in 1830, just after he had fully encountered the doctrine while translating the Book of Mormon. When twenty-six-year-old Orson Hyde was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the Prophet in 1831, he was given a special blessing: "In due time thou shalt go to Jerusalem, the land of thy fathers, and be a watchman unto the House of Israel; and by thy hands shall the Most High do a great work, which shall prepare the way and greatly facilitate the gathering of that people." 16

A few years later, in Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph Smith emphasized the importance the Church attached to the doctrine of the gathering of Israel to their lands of inheritance, beginning at Jerusalem. He wrote in 1836: "One of the most important points in the faith of the Church of the Latter-day Saints . . . is the gathering of Israel . . . that happy time when Jacob shall go up to the house of the Lord, to worship Him in spirit and in truth, to live in holiness . . . when it shall . . . be said . . . the Lord lives that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He has driven them. That day is one, all important to all men." 17 Later that same year, on March 27, during the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet included in his dedicatory prayer the supplication that "Jerusalem, from this hour, may begin to be redeemed" (D&C 109:62; emphasis added).

According to Joseph Smith, what he said in that dedicatory prayer was first given to him by revelation (see D&C 109 headnote). In fact, Joseph's petition began to be fulfilled very soon. One week later, on 3 April 1836, the Lord, along with the ancient prophet Moses, appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and "committed unto [them] the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth" (D&C 110:11). And in 1836 the Jewish population of Jerusalem began to increase significantly, so that by 1837 the Jews had become the largest ethnic group in the Holy City for the first time in eighteen centuries. Latter-day Saint sociologist Spencer J. Condie has shown that a number of interesting occurrences converged to bring this about. 18

In 1836, while Jerusalem was under the control of Ibrahim Pasha, the property of the Jewish Quarter was finally redeemed from creditors. Once that section of the city was financially secure, its population grew more quickly. Also in 1836 Rabbi Abraham Zoref traveled to Egypt to see Viceroy Muhammad Ali and requested permission to build another synagogue in the Holy City. As an exception to policy, permission was granted. In 1837 an earthquake in the Galilee caused many Jews to flee to Jerusalem. "Although there was far greater absolute growth in the decades following 1840, the Jewish population growth between 1835 and 1840 represents the greatest proportional growth rate [in Jerusalem] during any five-year period in modern history." 19 It would appear that in addition to Joseph Smith, Muhammad Ali and Ibrahim Pasha were also partners with God in helping to bring about the fulfillment of prophecy. Their effective governance as well as their benevolence should not be forgotten.

Orson Hyde and Jerusalem's Restoration

In April 1840 the blessing and prophecy pronounced upon Orson Hyde nine years earlier about a pilgrimage to Jerusalem was fulfilled when he, now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, left his family and friends in Nauvoo, Illinois, for a "quite peculiar and extraordinary mission" to Jerusalem. 20 During the April 1840 conference of the Church at Nauvoo, Elder Hyde was assigned to go to Jerusalem and dedicate the land of Palestine for the return of Judah and the house of Israel. Credentials were given him, specifically outlining his mission:

Be it known that we, the constituted authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, assembled in Conference at Nauvoo, Hancock county, and state of Illinois, on the sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty, considering an important event at hand, an event involving the interest and fate of the Gentile nations throughout the world—from the signs of the times and from declarations contained in the oracles of God, we are forced to come to this conclusion. The Jewish nations have been scattered abroad among the Gentiles for a long period; and in our estimation, the time of the commencement of their return to the Holy Land has already arrived. . . . [We] have, by the counsel of the Holy Spirit, appointed Elder Orson Hyde, . . . to be our Agent and Representative. 21

Elder Hyde was not surprised in April 1840 by his new assignment, for while he was contemplating his future labors in the kingdom in early March of that year, a "vision of the Lord, like clouds of light, burst into [his] view," and he foresaw the details of his mission to the Holy Land. 22 He said:

The cities of London, Amsterdam, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, all appeared in succession before me, and the Spirit said unto me, "Here are many of the children of Abraham whom I will gather to the land that I gave to their fathers; and here also is the field of your labors. . . . Go ye forth to the cities which have been shown you, and declare these words unto Judah, and say, "blow ye the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defensed cities. Set up the standard toward Zion—retire, stay not, for I will bring evil from the north and a great destruction. The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way—he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate, and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished—that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand doubly for all her sins. Let your warning voice be heard among the Gentiles as you pass; and call yet upon them in my name for aid and assistance. With you it mattereth not whether it be little or much; but to me it belongeth to show favor unto them who show favor unto you." 23

Several points are significant. In his vision, Elder Hyde was told to secure the assistance of the Gentiles in aiding his mission to benefit Jerusalem—that is, he was to seek material support from non-Jews for his journey to inaugurate the return of Judah to their ancestral home. That immediately recalls the promise of Gentile help with the gathering of Israel recorded in the Book of Mormon (see 2 Ne. 10:8-10).

Orson Hyde did not set out on a personal pilgrimage to the Holy Land to retrace the footsteps of Jesus, to seek personal fulfillment, or to "find himself," although his odyssey did become an intensely personal experience. Rather, Orson Hyde was sent as the Lord's official advocate for Abraham's posterity. He ministered under the direction of his prophet-leader, knowing his journey was backed by divine authority. He returned again and again in his writings and speeches to his mandate; without divine sanction, his journey to Jerusalem would have been empty of meaning. 24 His was very different from the rationale of other nineteenth-century American and European pilgrims, colonists, travelers, missionaries, and scholars who went to Jerusalem. For example, the American scholar and explorer Edward Robinson went to the Holy Land to uncover the truth of Israel's past and to correct misreadings of scripture. Philip Schaff, eminent German-American theologian and Christian historian, went to the Holy Land seeking comfort in a personal crisis. Others went for spiritual enlightenment or simply to retrace the footsteps of Jesus. Prominent millenarian Horatius Bonar spoke of the magnetic power possessed by the Holy Land. William Jowett, Pliny Fisk, Jonas King, and other Christian missionaries went to Palestine believing in the restoration of a Jewish Holy Land, but their program included proselyting the Jews, who then entered the new Israel by way of Christian baptism. 25

Orson Hyde was sent to Jerusalem bearing a message of peace, pardon, and concern without insistence on the immediate need for Jews or Muslims to convert to Christianity. That is certainly amazing, if not unique, among Christian religious experiences in the Holy Land of the early nineteenth century. The message he carried from the Lord to Israel, especially the Jews, was to gather to escape destruction from the Gentiles: "Assemble yourselves. . . . Retire [into your defenced cities] . . . stay not. . . . The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way—he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate, and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant." Yet at the same time he was warning Judah, Elder Hyde was told to comfort her: "Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her . . . that her iniquity is pardoned." 26

Could the destruction to be enacted by the Gentiles include the horrors experienced by the Jews in the twentieth century? Could Orson Hyde, sent to Jerusalem holding keys of gathering, restoration, and redemption, have been saying that the horrors and struggles of the future could be avoided if the Jews heeded the prophetic voice of warning and began immediately to gather to Jerusalem? Could the devastation and atrocities of later decades have been avoided if Israel had listened to a prophet's voice then and there? Given that the Lord has always warned his children of impending destruction (2 Ne. 25:9), such possibilities are not improbable.

The forgotten pilgrim to the Holy Land in early Mormon history was Elder John E. Page, the apostle assigned to accompany Orson Hyde on his mission to Jerusalem. He is less known than Orson Hyde because he failed to complete his assignment, despite encouragement from the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Prophet reiterated to both of them the significance of their undertaking:

It is a great and important mission. . . . Although it appears great at present, yet you have but just begun to realize the greatness, the extent and glory of the same. If there is anything calculated to interest the mind of the Saints, to awaken in them the finest sensibilities, and arouse them to enterprise and exertion, surely it is the great and precious promises made by our heavenly Father to the children of Abraham; and those engaged in seeking the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah, cannot fail to enjoy the Spirit of the Lord and have the choicest blessings of heaven rest upon them in copious effusions. 27

Hyde left for Liverpool; Page stayed behind even though he was financially the better off of the two. Another LDS apostle, George A. Smith, attempted to persuade Page not to let Hyde go to Jerusalem alone, but Page rejected the proposal. 28 A young LDS missionary named George J. Adams did accompany Hyde to England, where he became a fervent proponent of the gathering of the Jews and of the downfall of the contemporary political order. After a time, Adams returned to the United States to prepare for the Second Coming. He left the LDS Church and became the leader of the Church of the Messiah and head of the Palestine Emigration Association, hoping to go to the Holy Land to witness firsthand the imminent and glorious events of Christ's return. In 1866 Adams escorted a group to Palestine, but once they settled in Jaffa, he ran off with their money and left them to fend for themselves. 29

Elder Hyde sought for and received help from Gentile benefactors, just as his vision of March 1841 had instructed. He addressed a group of people at Philadelphia and spoke of the difficult financial circumstances he was in and the nature of the mission he had been sent to perform. As he was shaking hands at the close of his address, a stranger slipped him a purse of money, with only one request: that Elder Hyde remember him in the prayer he offered when he stood upon the Mount of Olives. 30 This the apostle did; in his dedicatory prayer he importuned God, "Do Thou bless the stranger in Philadelphia . . . let blessings come upon him from an unexpected quarter, and let his basket be filled, and his storehouse abound with plenty." In addition to the riches of the earth, Elder Hyde also asked the Lord to bless the stranger with the riches of eternity. 31

Orson Hyde's journey from Frankfurt to Jerusalem brought him many trials and much suffering. He was exposed to danger, hunger, and disease. While he was in Beirut, a battle was fought within view of the city, and some eight hundred persons were killed. American ministers and missionaries received notice from Ottoman officials that they would have no protection and must leave the country. In a letter to Parley P. Pratt, Elder Hyde closed with, "You will hear from me again at the first opportunity, if the Arabs don't kill me." For days he lived entirely on snails because there was nothing else to eat. 32

On his way by ship from Beirut to Jaffa, about 1:00 a.m. Elder Hyde and others saw a bright glistening sword with a beautiful hilt etched in the sky, grasped by an extended arm and hand. The sight raised the hair on Orson's head and his flesh tingled; the Arabs on board fell to the deck, crying loudly, "Allah! Allah! Allah!" He took this to be one of the signs in the heavens that had been promised him. 33

Hyde disembarked at Jaffa, traveled overland to Jerusalem, and entered Jerusalem by the west gate (Jaffa Gate), as did most pilgrims in the early nineteenth century. 34 Once in the Holy City, he visited the sites in and around it, and his meditations upon the scenes of the city's history caused such a welling up of deep emotions that they were "spent only in a profuse shower of tears." His accommodations while in Jerusalem were the "Latin Convent," probably the Franciscan Convent of St. Savior. 35

One year and six months after he had left Nauvoo, on a Sunday morning, 24 October 1841, before dawn, Orson Hyde walked eastward out of the city of Jerusalem, crossed the Kidron Valley, and ascended the Mount of Olives, where he sat in solemn silence and wrote his dedicatory prayer. Then he offered the prayer vocally. Elder Hyde asked the Lord to remove the barrenness and sterility of the land, to let springs of living water moisten the thirsty soil. He prayed for the return of the Jews and the assistance of kings and queens to help them (again an allusion to Old Testament and Book of Mormon teachings). Finally, the apostle reminded the Lord that he had fulfilled the mission assigned him and closed by ascribing honor and glory to God and the Lamb forever. 36 He erected a pile of stones as a monument and witness to the deed performed that day. (See Appendix 4 for the text of Elder Hyde's prayer.)

While sailing back to England, Orson Hyde wrote to the editor of the Church's British newspaper, Millennial Star, describing the details of his journey and predicting the future role of England in helping to bring about the results for which he had worked and prayed those many months. His letters, along with other reflections, were published in a pamphlet by the Church in England entitled, A Voice from Jerusalem; or, a Sketch of the Travels and Ministry of Elder Orson Hyde. His predictions proved accurate.

Official British involvement in Jerusalem had already begun in 1838 with the establishment of a consulate there. Other nations followed suit: France, Prussia, and Sardinia-Piedmont set up consulates in 1843, Austria in 1852, Spain in 1854, the United States and Russia in 1858, and Mexico in 1865. In fact, the first building constructed outside the walls of the Old City was the summer house of British consul James Finn, in the early 1850s.Unofficially, the British consulate soon began to perform the role long predicted of them—that of "nursing fathers, and . . . nursing mothers" (Isa. 49:23; 2 Ne. 10:8-9). Being exiles from other countries, Jewish immigrants generally held passports valid only for one year; after twelve months in Palestine, they forfeited citizenship in their homeland, and the Ottoman Empire refused to grant them new citizenship in Palestine. In 1839, British Foreign Secretary Palmerston instructed the consulate in Jerusalem "to protect the Jews generally" and to serve "as their advocate." 37

Britain's intense interaction with the Jews culminated in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration on 2 November 1917. It stated that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." 38 Unfortunately, this declaration created problems because, a year before, Arab leaders had been given the impression that they would be rewarded with the leadership of an independent Arab nation in return for aiding the British war effort. 39

After Orson Hyde

Interest in the gathering of Israel, especially the Jews, to their homeland continued among Church leaders after the return of Orson Hyde to America. By 1845 it was not just a tenet of Mormonism; it was a commandment to Jews throughout the world and a warning to Gentile rulers. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles issued a special proclamation in 1845 addressed "To all the Kings of the World": "We further testify, that the Jews among all nations are hereby commanded, in the name of the Messiah, to prepare, to return to Jerusalem in Palestine; and to rebuild that city and temple unto the Lord: And also to organize and establish their own political government, under their own rulers, judges, and governors in that country. For be it known unto them that we now hold the keys of the priesthood and kingdom which is soon to be restored unto them." 40

This bold Proclamation evinced a tone of tremendous anticipation, clearly delineating God's designs for three groups of people: the Gentiles, the remnant of Israel in America, and the Jews in Palestine, particularly Jerusalem: "A great, a glorious, and a mighty work is yet to be achieved, in spreading the truth and kingdom among the Gentiles—in restoring, organizing, instructing and establishing the Jews—in gathering, instructing, relieving, civilizing, educating and administering salvation to the remnant of Israel on this continent; in building Jerusalem in Palestine; . . . that the whole Church of the Saints, both Gentile, Jew and Israel, may be prepared as a bride, for the coming of the Lord." 41

Between 1845 and 1872, Church leaders focused their energies on solidifying the position of "American Israel," that is, in strengthening the Church after the death of Joseph Smith and the great trek to Utah. Nevertheless, they expressed profound interest in seeing the will of the Great Elohim fulfilled regarding the gathering of the Jews to Jerusalem. Many Jews did emigrate to the Holy City during this period—a development watched with resentment by Jerusalem's Muslims. Their consolation was that even though they were outnumbered, Muslim notables still dominated the town council, which had only token representation from the Jewish and Christian communities. 42

By 1860 so many newcomers had arrived in Jerusalem that the city had to expand outside its walls. Building activity greatly intensified from the early 1860s until the outbreak of World War I and radically changed the appearance of the city. The first residential quarter built outside the city walls in 1860 was Mishkenot Sha'ananim, also called Yemin Moshe. It was constructed on land purchased by Moses Montefiore. At its center and intended to provide a livelihood for the inhabitants was a windmill, which is still visible today west of the Old City and opposite the Armenian Quarter. This new residential quarter was a second center of Jewish life in the "New City" of Jerusalem. 43

As the Spirit of the Lord worked upon Israel's branch of Abraham's posterity, Ishmael's branch was also affected. The Muslim community of Jerusalem tripled from approximately four thousand at the beginning of the nineteenth century to about twelve thousand near the century's end. Muslims also expanded outside Jerusalem's walls, north of Damascus Gate and Herod's Gate. Here one is reminded of the Jewish maxim that all the righteous, not just the Jewish people, have a share in the world to come. Will all the righteous of Abraham's posterity have a share in the Holy Land? One notes the singular condition imposed by Jehovah for any of Abraham's posterity to receive an inheritance of land: "The Lord appeared unto me [Abraham], and said unto me: Arise, and take Lot with thee; for I have purposed to take thee away out of Haran, and to make of thee a minister to bear my name in a strange land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession, when they hearken to my voice" (Abr. 2: 6; emphasis added).

Many other neighborhoods and colonies sprang up during the last four decades of nineteenth-century Jerusalem. The paving of the Jerusalem-Jaffa road, the setting up of the first telegraph between Jerusalem and Beirut (and from there to all of Europe via Constan-tinople), the opening of the Suez Canal (1869), the improvement of maritime ports—all brought Europeans, both Jews and Christians, to Jerusalem in greater numbers. In 1860 the Palestine Pravoslavic Society started building a complex that included a church, a hospital, and hostels to house religious and consular missions. Today it is known as the Russian Compound. In 1872 the German Colony was established. In 1874 the construction of Mea She'arim, Jerusalem's ultraorthodox, or Hassidic, neighborhood was begun. Planned by architect Conrad Schick, it had attached houses built around the perimeter of a courtyard. It was completed in 1881. 44

Many foreign Christian powers scrambled to build buildings as symbols of influence and power in the Holy City. Bidding for sites became highly competitive, and the European Christians were the ones able to pay top prices for the most desirable sites. Frequently hilltops were selected to afford wonderful views and make the buildings all the more dominant on the Jerusalem landscape. The Notre Dame Hospice, a massive building, was begun in 1884 across from the New Gate; the Augusta Victoria Sanatorium (now hospital) was constructed in heavy German Romanesque style on the crest of the Mount of Olives (east of the present site of Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center); the Dormition Abbey and Church was built on Mount Zion. These institutions were a result of the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Jerusalem in 1898 as part of a campaign to encourage German nationalistic sentiment. 45

To a city lacking some of the most basic facilities, the Europeans brought improvements ranging from medical care to postage stamps. The Ottoman rulers did little to encourage such development. In a book written in 1878, British consul James Finn quoted a local Arab, whose sentiments probably reflected the attitude of other Jerusalem inhabitants: "Now Jerusalem is the Jewel after which all Europeans are greedy; why should we facilitate access to the prize they aim at?" 46

The presence of certain foreigners in Jerusalem during the last half of the nineteenth century proved a great blessing to scholars interested in the early history and archaeology of the Holy City. Systematic investigation of the remains of ancient Jerusalem dates from the early 1850s and includes some of the greatest names associated with the archaeology of the Holy City. We marvel today at the detailed reports and exact drawings made by such researchers as Charles Wilson, explorer of the Temple Mount/Haram esh-Sharif from 1863 to 1868 and discoverer of Wilson's Arch; Charles Warren, who investigated the Gihon Spring, Hezekiah's Tunnel, and other structures from 1867 to 1870; and Conrad Schick, who is especially known for his documentation of gates and tombs. These are only three of many who have profoundly influenced the physical study of Jerusalem over the decades. 47

An Apostolic Rededication

In October 1872 another apostolic mission was organized by the Church to rededicate the Holy Land for Judah's return, to ask the Lord again for blessings upon the land, and to beseech him speedily to gather to it his ancient covenant people. George A. Smith, first counselor to President Brigham Young, headed the delegation. He was assisted by two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Lorenzo Snow and Albert Carrington, as well as Feramorz Little, Paul A. Schettler (a German Jew who had converted to the Church), and Thomas W. Jennings. The group included two women, Eliza R. Snow and Clara Little. The travelers received the following commission from President Brigham Young: "When you go to the land of Palestine, we wish you to dedicate and consecrate that land to the Lord, that it may be blessed with fruitfulness, preparatory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment of prophecy, and the accomplishment of the purposes of our Heavenly Father." 48

The journey of the group to the Holy Land and back home took eight months. Along the way, they visited sites in Europe and Egypt. Having set sail for England on 6 November 1872, the party finally arrived at Jaffa on 23 February 1873, where they were conducted to the Turkish customs officer, who "examined only one passport, and passed [them through]," according to the account of George A. Smith. At Jaffa the group saw several people connected with the failed scheme of the apostate George J. Adams. On Monday, 24 February, the party started out for Jerusalem on horseback. They pitched camp near Jaffa Gate on the afternoon of 25 February 1873. President Smith noted that it was at Jaffa Gate where "most of the business in Jerusalem is done." 49

The principal record of the travels of the Smith party contains fascinating details about the culture of Palestine and Jerusalem in the nineteenth century, especially about pilgrimages, and the modern reader may see that some things have not changed appreciably in the more than one hundred years since. Like Orson Hyde before them, the little band of Latter-day Saint pilgrims visited many of the traditional holy places and found swarms of beggars at most of the sites they visited. They also noted that "travelers in Palestine suffer greatly from the sun, but [they] were early in the season—two weeks earlier than travelers generally set out for Jerusalem." President Smith said the hill country around Jerusalem looked like "one immense limestone quarry." At Bethlehem, the group visited the Greek Church of the Nativity to see the spot where Christ was said to have been born, marked by a now-famous silver star. Despite the many beggars and hawkers of goods who had imposed themselves on the holy sites, the Latter-day Saints were thrilled to walk where Jesus had walked nearly nineteen hundred years before. 50

The climax of the journey for the Smith party came on Sunday, 2 March 1873, while the party was on the Mount of Olives. There President Smith again dedicated the Holy Land for the return of Israel.

Cloudy, breezy, cool. Our dragoman packed one tent, stools, table etc. on a mule, and we rode to the Mount of Olives, where the tent was pitched and all assembled within it between 9 & 10 a.m., except sister Claire S. Little, who remained in camp. Meeting was opened by prayer by Albert Carrington, in his prayer dedicating the ground, tent, and the land of Israel generally. Thomas W. Jennings then took position as watchman outside, he and bro. Carrington not having robes with them. I, Bros. Lorenzo Snow, Paul A. Schettler, and Feramorz Little, and Sister E. R. Snow being duly prepared, Bro. Snow offered prayer in which the same dedicatory sentiments were contained. After the requisite preliminaries, I was mouth, remembering the general interest of Zion, and dedicating this land, praying that it might become fertile, and the early and latter rains descend upon it, and the prophecies and promises unto Abraham and the prophets be fulfilled here in the own due time of the Lord. After the preliminaries again, Bro. Snow was mouth, remembering the interests of Israel, and again I was mouth, and afterwards dismissed the meeting at 10:34 a.m. 51

From President Smith's account it appears that the tent which the group was in that day served as a temple or tabernacle, protecting them from "profane eyes." The Holy Land and the Holy City were dedicated by those who wore special robes. For George A. Smith and others, the land of Israel was imbued with a special quality of holiness. To Eliza R. Snow, the dedication of the Holy Land was the profound spiritual experience of the tour, "realizing as I did that we were worshipping on the summit of the sacred Mount." 52

Bearing a letter of introduction from the rabbi of the Jewish Congregation at San Francisco, George A. Smith called upon Abraham Askenasi, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem. A venerable man, tall, heavy set, and wearing a flowing beard, he was pleased by President Smith's visit and showed him the synagogue. Later he and several Jewish elders visited President Smith, who wrote of the experience to Brigham Young: "March 4, at 10 a.m. We received a visit from Abram Askenasi, Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem; we understand he is selected by the Turkish sultan, and has received some titular orders from him. They [Askenasi and party] express a firm faith in the redemption of Israel and the return of the ten tribes. . . . The interview was very pleasant and interesting, and the Rabbi and three of their principal men who accompanied him appear to be men of intelligence." 53

After visiting the Garden of Gethsemane and other spots made sacred by the presence of Jesus centuries earlier, the group left for Damascus on 5 March and arrived at Beirut on 21 March. George A. Smith was relieved that so long a journey on horseback had ended without mishap for a man of his age and weight (three hundred pounds). During their month-long sojourn, they were often asked if they were planning to settle in the Holy Land. Smith replied that they were not, but he could take a thousand Mormons, dam up the Jordan River, and make several thousand acres very productive. 54

Back home in Salt Lake City, President Smith delivered an account of his group's journey to a large crowd assembled in the Tabernacle on 22 June 1873. He expressed sentiments similar to those his predecessor, Orson Hyde, had uttered years before. He, too, was on the Lord's errand, not a personal journey but an "institutional journey" empowered by a special mandate and authority from God. In fact he said that from a personal standpoint very little was, at present, inviting about the country. But the group all believed in their hearts that Zion was moving onward and upward and that no power could stay her progress. When they were on the Mount of Olives, with faces bowed toward Jerusalem, they felt the day was not far distant when Israel would gather and those lands would teem with a people who would worship God and keep his commandments, that the bounties and blessings of eternity would be poured out in abundance upon that desert land, and that all prophecies concerning the restoration of the house of Israel would be fulfilled. 55

Besides the dedicatory prayers offered by Orson Hyde and George A. Smith (and company), Elders Anthon H. Lund and Ferdinand F. Hintze (first president of the Turkish Mission) dedicated the land on the Mount of Olives, 8 May 1898. Altogether there were ten dedications of the Holy Land by nine latter-day apostles from 1841 through 1933. Always they were for the benefit of Abraham's posterity, the return of the Jews, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. 56

Zionism

By 1873 almost everything was in place for the Lord's designs to be accomplished. The Holy City and the Holy Land had been dedicated. A proclamation commanding the Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem had been issued (1845). Jerusalem was being redeemed economically and domestically. Another major occurrence signaled the increase of Jewish interest in Jerusalem. That was the rise of Zionism.

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, anti-Semitism grew violent. Five million Jews in Russia were restricted to an area known as the Pale of Settlement. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, Russia's rulers used the unpopular Jews as a scapegoat for the country's problems. Local authorities and the Tsar's ministers encouraged savage pogroms, the periodic destruction of Jewish communities. In France in the 1890s, patriots led a popular attack on the French army captain, Alfred Dreyfus, who was a Jew. Other Jews, such as the Viennese journalist Theodor Herzl, reacted forcefully. They asked: If anti-Semitism could occur in the most civilized and sophisticated of countries, how could the Jews thrive in any place except their own country?

In 1896 Herzl published his history-making book, The Jewish State. The following year he organized a conference of 206 delegates to form the World Zionist Organization. Zionism was officially born. The Zionists looked back to the model of ancient Israel, when Mount Zion had been the fortress of Jerusalem. They began working toward reestablishing Jerusalem as the capital of their own free and independent nation. In the meantime, the Ottoman Empire limped along as the "sick man of Europe," until it was displaced in Palestine by Great Britain at the end of World War I.

On 9 December 1917 a British force reached the gates of Jerusalem. Two days later the chief of the British Expeditionary Force for the whole Near East, Sir Edmund Allenby, arrived in Jerusalem to take command of the Holy City. As an expression of reverence for the city where Abraham, Jesus, and Muhammad had walked, General Allenby dismounted his horse and walked on foot through Jaffa Gate. On top of the Herodian Citadel, he encouraged "every person [to] pursue his lawful business without fear of interruption." 57 Allenby made good on his promise of physical safety; however, he could not foresee the difficulties that would ensue a few years later as a result of seemingly contradictory promises made by his government to Jews and Arabs.

Early Missionaries in the Holy Land

Before 1886, Church leaders encouraged missionary efforts on the part of those who traveled to Jerusalem to dedicate the Holy Land, but such encouragement was always in connection with the Gentile nations that Church representatives encountered on their way to or from Palestine. Mention of proselyting in the Holy Land itself or among the Jews was either absent or ambiguous.

In the spring of 1886 two Church leaders, Francis M. Lyman and Joseph Tanner, traveled to Palestine from Constantinople. In Haifa they visited the German colonies that had been established about 1870 by devout Templers who had come to Palestine to await the Second Coming of the Lord. Tanner, impressed by the thrift and orderliness of the Germans, wrote to Daniel H. Wells, president of the LDS European Mission, suggesting the possibility of creating a branch of the Church among the German colonists. He believed that would be a stepping-stone to missionary work among the Arabs. 58 He did not discuss the Jews.

President Wells approved the transfer of Elder Jacob Spori to Palestine from Constantinople, where the latter had been proselyting since December 1884. He was chosen because he could speak both German and French, owing to his Swiss background. Joseph Tanner asked him how he felt about the hardships he would surely encounter. Spori happily recounted a dream he had in which he was told to begin his efforts at Haifa. He told of seeing a man in a blacksmith shop who was prepared to receive him and the message he had to deliver. Spori said that if he saw the man again, he would know him. 59

Elder Spori landed in Haifa not long afterwards and made his way to the street he had seen in his vision. A blacksmith with a short, coal-black beard ran out of his shop and enthusiastically told Spori that he had seen him in a dream the night before and wanted to hear his message. The man's name was Johan Georg Grau. He listened to the gospel message and was baptized on 29 August 1886 in Acre Bay. A month later Georg baptized his wife, Magdalena, and both became enthusiastic professors of the Latter-day Saint faith to their friends and neighbors. 60

The conversions of Grau and his wife marked the beginning of a branch of the Church that grew to twenty-five converts over the next six years: nineteen Germans, three Arabs, two Russians, and one Austrian. In the summer of 1888, Church leader Ferdinand F. Hintze visited Haifa and found the branch in good order, ably led by Elder Georg Grau. Grau emigrated to Utah for a few years after his wife's death but returned to Palestine in the late 1890s as a missionary. At one point the idea of a Mormon colony near Jerusalem modeled after the German and American colonies was proposed, but the idea was dropped. 61

Jacob Spori labored in Palestine, teaching mainly German groups in the Haifa area but also in Jaffa and Jerusalem. The German leaders in Jerusalem listened to his message with patience, and the Templer Society in the Holy City treated him with kindness and spoke of George A. Smith with esteem. Having served the Church well, Spori was finally released as a missionary. He sailed back to Constantinople in 1887 and on to the United States in March 1888.

Elder Joseph Tanner labored about one year in Palestine and was the means of converting fourteen people—nine Germans, four Russians, and one Arab. Three of those converts lived in Jaffa, and the rest in Haifa. Tanner was followed by others who carried on the work of proselyting and strengthening the members of the Church in Jaffa and Haifa during the closing years of the nineteenth century. In 1903, because of political unrest in the area, the Haifa Branch, the only unit of the Church in the Holy Land, was closed; all missionary work in Palestine ceased. Six years later the Turkish Mission was also closed, and for about twelve years no American representatives of the Church labored in the Near East. 62

The political unrest that kept LDS missionaries out of the Near East at the beginning of the twentieth century also signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. In 1908 a group of Ottoman military officers called the Young Turks forced Sultan Abdul-Hamid II to restore a constitution that guaranteed parliamentary government throughout the empire. It had been adopted in 1876 but had been suspended after only one year. In 1922 a Turkish military hero named Mustafa Kemal (later called Kemal Ataturk) headed a nationalist movement that led to the abolishment of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Once the Ottoman government was dissolved, Jerusalem's fate lay in the hands of western powers. But as the events of the nineteenth century demonstrated, the Holy City was always under the watchful eye of her real king, the Lord.

Notes

^1. Peterson, Abraham Divided, 245, note.

^2. Klein and Klein, Temple beyond Time, 167.

^3. Bahat, Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, 118.

^4. Bahat, Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, 118.

^5. Bahat, Carta's Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, 64.

^6. Vilnay, Legends of Jerusalem, 208.

^7. Encyclopedia Judaica, 9:1434.

^8. Cited in Encyclopedia Judaica, 9:1433.

^9. Bahat, Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, 120.

^10. Bahat, Carta's Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, 67.

^11. Idinopulos, Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed, 264.

^12. Bahat, Carta's Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, 67.

^13. Bahat, Carta's Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, 66. The complex of four synagogues built in the Jewish Quarter became the center of Spanish-Jewish life in Jerusalem. Those Jews had come to Jerusalem after their expulsion from Spain in 1492.

^14. Idinopulos, Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed, 267-68.

^15. Idinopulos, Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed, 271.

^16. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, 469.

^17. Smith, History of the Church, 2:357.

^18. Condie, "Pivotal Year." His thesis is confirmed by Tal, Whose Jerusalem? 94.

^19. Condie, "Pivotal Year."

^20. From Parley P. Pratt's introduction to Hyde, Voice from Jerusalem, 2.

^21. Smith, History of the Church, 4:112-13.

^22. Smith, History of the Church, 4:375.

^23. Smith, History of the Church, 4:376.

^24. Smith, History of the Church, 4:372-79.

^25. See the summary in Epperson, Mormons and Jews, 158-63.

^26. Hyde, Voice from Jerusalem, 2-3.

^27. Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 163.

^28. Smith, History of the Church, 4:372.

^29. Holmes, Forerunners, 27-36.

^30. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, 471.

^31. Smith, History of the Church, 4:458.

^32. In Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, 472.

^33. Hyde, Sketch, 24.

^34. Hyde, Voice from Jerusalem, 7.

^35. Epperson, Mormons and Jews, 169.

^36. For the complete text, see Smith, History of the Church, 4:456-59.

^37. Blumberg, Zion Before Zionism, 113.

^38. In Regan, Israel and the Arabs, 11.

^39. Idinopulos, Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed, 273.

^40. Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, 1:254.

^41. Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, 1:254.

^42. Idinopulos, Jerusalem Blessed, Jerusalem Cursed, 270.

^43. Bahat, Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, 122-23.

^44. Bahat, Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem, 122-23.

^45. Pullam, "Great Building Race," 23.

^46. Pullam, "Great Building Race," 21.

^47. See Geva, Ancient Jerusalem Revealed, 1; and the same author's excellent list and summary in New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations, 2:801.

^48. Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 18.

^49. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 16:92.

^50. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 16:93-98. See further excerpts from President Smith's discourse in Appendix 5.

^51. In Pusey, Builders of the Kingdom, 120-21.

^52. Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 30. See also Millennial Star, 35:200-201.

^53. Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 24. See also "Mormons' Kinship with the Jews," Jerusalem Post, 2 July 1975, 5.

^54. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 16:100.

^55. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 16:101-2. See also Appendix 5.

^56. For additional information on these dedications of the land, see Berrett and Ogden, Discovering the World of the Bible, 43-44, 159.

^57. In Gray, History of Jerusalem, 289.

^58. Baldridge, Grafting In, 5. See also Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 36.

^59. Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 36.

^60. Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 37.

^61. Baldridge, Grafting In, 6.

^62. Barrett, "Story of the Mormons in the Holy Land," 37; Baldridge, Grafting In, 6.