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to buy John Senior a prayer book. But they only had R.C. ones - & the Bibles, all inlaid with mother of pearl, were not at the cheapest - so I will just write him an AG instead. But I could not resist buying you a present, darling - this time more "joolry". It is a set! - ring, bracelet, necklace, brooch, & earrings - all [ ?] silver wire work, & the stones are Jordan stones which are flat & rather like marble. It was not at all expensive, & I think they are really very pretty, & I do hope that you like them. The worst thing about them is that the fastenings & clasps are so cheap & insecure looking, & I can imagine them coming undone rather easily. I know you never wear earrings - but I am sure you would look very pretty in these. I shall long to hear whether you like them or not. We then went to the Jewish Agency - which has a large & imposing & rather good looking building. I first of all called on a man called [Berlin ?], who seems to be a sort of adjutant to [ ?], in so far as his dealings with the Army are concerned. He is a very pleasant young man, & comes from Liverpool, & has a rather false & snooty wife, who comes from [ ? dock] Park, where Patty & Joe go [racing ?] a great deal. We were shown round the building - which mainly consisted of being shown Herzl's room. Have you heard of him? He was the founder of Zionism, & began his work after the [ ? ?] in Paris, when as a journalist, he was so impressed with the anti Jewish demonstrations, he made up his mind to find a solution for the Jewish people. He began from nothing at all, & founded a
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movement embracing millions, before he died from heart failure at the age of 44. This room is an exact replica of Herzl's room in Vienna, with all his furniture & books & things. He must have been a man of immense personality & drive & capacity for work - he only began to work on Zionism at the age of 36. Then we went off to Shintok's house, & Berlin took us by way of Mount Scopus, which is the highest part of the Mount of Olives. From there we first of all had a gorgeous view of the Dead jSea, 3600 feet below & 25 miles away - & the Moabic Hills beyond. It was a terrific view, as you can well imagine. Then on the other side, from the steps of the Hebrew University, we were able to look down on the city of Jerusalem, & see the whole of it, the old & the new cities - the wall - Golgotha - the garden of Gethsemane - & so on. I am very urgently invited to come back again & really [see underlined] Jerusalem. I am determined to do this as soon as possible. At Shetok's house, the party consisted of his wife, who is a very pleasant & kind homely little woman, who had been to Reading Agricultural College in 1926 - Berlin & his wife - a Dr Werner Senafar, who is something important at the Hebrew University & to do with education in the Jewish Agency. (He & I had already corresponded, as he was Sgt Gergel's guardian) & Ben & myself. They have three children, between the ages of 8 & 12 or so, but they only floated in & out rather shyly. It was a very pleasant lunch & the conversation was general & cheerful & interesting. Shetak is
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an extremely pleasant & interesting man, speaks very lively English - & he is entirely free of airs or self importance, which is very pleasant, considering his position which is akin to a foreign secretary. I was invited, I suppose, as the CO of a Jewish unit - & also I think they want to convert as many Englishmen as possible to Zionism, which you must understand, has nothing at all to do with being a Jew. Lord Balfour & Lloyd George, for example, was & is, ardent Zionists. (grammatically, that sounds awful - but its too late now & I saw it coming & could not avoid it.) I have just this minute heard Churchill's speech on the wireless, following our loss of Singapore. It was a marvellous speech. But this & our lack of progress in the W.I. & the German battle cruisers getting home through the channel, is quite a lot to have to stomach all at once. But I still feel very confident - America has [still ?] to play her part - Russia is doing magnificiently - & we are at last getting onto concentrated lines of action, instead of being so strung out, this should lead to initiative from our side. Just one thing, in case I am posted home darlingI should carry with me a letter saying why, & so I am certain there could be [no underlined] chance of my being whisked off somewhere else as soon as I arrived - or even at all. And now to bed - to pray & hope & think of you & Maxie. All of my everlasting love as always, Your own Harry XXXX
