In this frontispiece to his pre-Herzlian Zionist manifesto, She’elat ha-Yehudim, Ralph Baer Raphael of Pittsburgh (1856–1903) indicted American Jewry for abandoning Zion. In the poem printed below the image he incorporated a quotation from the High Holiday liturgy and asked, why “is every city built on its hilltop while the City of God [Jerusalem] is degraded to the nethermost depth”? He further complained, “Israel loves his land [only] for the purpose of digging graves.” The accompanying illustration amplified his message visually. The artist depicted an immigrant with a Torah scroll on his shoulder en route to America; he has turned his back on the ruins of Zion and instead the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower East Side tenements await him.

The development of the Zionist movement in America was hindered by various factors, not the least of which was the fact that it had little appeal in a land where Jews felt safe and secure. Not all, however, forsook the cause and this work represents a joint effort by an author, a printer and an engraver to further its aims. The former two were well known as Zionist publicists. 

Artist: Schwarz

Author: Ralph Baer Raphael (Visansky)

Date: 1893

Place: Newark

Printer: Ephraim Deinard

Call Number: B(NS)A108 (Abraham and Deborah Karp Collection)