Bidspirit auction | (ISRAEL, LAND OF). CYRUS ADLER.

(ISRAEL, LAND OF). CYRUS ADLER.  Memorandum on the Western Wall. Prepared for the Special Commission of the League of Nations on Behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine “Revised Proof Printed as Manuscript.” Printed on recto pages only. Photographic illustrations at end. pp. 91, (16). Lightly browned. Original printed blue wrappers. 8vo. Philadelphia 1930. The status of the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City during the British Mandate was riddled with controversy as both Jew and Arab claimed rights to the site as a place of prayer. Particularly contentious was the desire by Jews to place objects of worship at the site such as a Torah Ark. A build up of tension over these disputed rights culminated in an attack by an Arab mob on the Jews in Jerusalem on August 23rd, 1929. The outbreak of violence spread to other parts of the country and on the following day, the Arabs murdered some seventy Jews in Hebron. In the week of bloody violence that ensued, there were attacks in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Safed. Before the week had ended, large detachments of British troops were brought in, many were arrested (both Jew as well as Arab), before order was restored. In the wake of the violence, a Special Commission of Inquiry was set up by the League of Nations to resolve the “Problem of the Wall.” The present Memorandum, prepared by Cyrus Adler on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, examined the connection of Jews to the site of the Western Wall from an historical context, demonstrating a Jewish worshipful presence there dating back a great many centuries.