Sixtieth Anniversary of Dr. Ettinger on Tisha B’Ab

Jerusalem the capital of mandated Palestine where, under the Mandate of the League of Nations, a Jewish National Home is to be re-established, paused today, the 9th day in the Hebrew month Ab, to observe the 1864th anniversary of the destruction of the Temple by the legions of Rome. Crowds filed by the Western Wall, commonly known as the Wailing Wall, the only remnant of the ancient Temple.

As the lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah were being recited on the pavement in front of the Wailing Wall in ancient and mournful accents, decrying "the glory that has departed", modern Jewish Palestine observed an anniversary which brought into relief the achievements of the Jewish "back to the land" movement during the past three decades and especially during the post-war period in Palestine. The day marked the 60th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Akiba Ettinger, Land Director of the Keren Kayemeth Le Israel, who has made a distinguished record in Jewish agricultural history in Palestine and in other countries.

At his home in Talpioth, a modern suburb near the ancient city. Dr. Ettinger spent a quiet day. Work in Jewish offices and institutions was suspended on account of the fast day. Many of Dr. Ettinger’s friends and admirers called at his home to extend to him heartiest felicitations. Numerous congratulatory messages, including cabled greetings from the United States, were received. In the course of his work in various countries, Dr. Ettinger has been instrumental in training a generation of Jewish agricultural experts and farmers.

Born on Tisha b’Ab in the year 1872 in Vitebsk, Russia, a grand-son of the famous Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Akiba Eiger, Dr. Ettinger was graduated from the Semitic and the Natural Science Departments of the University of St. Petersburg in 1893. He completed his studies in the University of Bonn, Germany, where he received his degree of Agricultural Engineer. In the service of the "Ica", between 1898 to 1913, he was responsible for settling many Jewish families on the land and for fostering among the Jewish masses a deep interest in the "back to the land" movement, in Southern Russia, in Argentine and in Brazil as director general of the Jewish Colonization Association Colonies. Many of his former pupils in Russia are now successful farmers and flower growers in the States of New York and New Jersey.

In 1910, Dr. Ettinger headed the "Ica" expedition to Mesopotamia. During the War, he was active in behalf of the Jewish National Fund in Egypt, Holland and England and took a leading part in the political work prior to the issuance of the Balfort Declaration. Invited by the Zionist Organization to assume the post of director of Jewish colonization work in Palestine in 1913, it was not before 1918 that he actually took charge of the colonization department of the Zionist Executive. During the period of his administration, the acquisition and the colonization of the Valley of Jezreel was completed. Since 1925 he has held the post of Director of the Land Department of the Jewish National Fund in Jerusalem. He is the author of numerous works in several languages on Jewish agricultural and Zionist questions.