What he did for Israel, no Jew could have done

By Jerry Klinger

It‘s an unusual statement, “He did what no Jew could do.”  Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel coined it. She coined it to recognize the special service of Rev. John Stanley Grauel to Israel. Rev. Grauel served as a secret Haganah Agent on the famed Holocaust Refugee ship the Exodus.  Yet, Meir’s simple statement of fact does not apply to Rev. Grauel alone. Unknown, and generally unacknowledged even if known by most Jews, key Christians have been pivotal catalysts to the birth of the Modern State of Israel.  Put another way, if it had not been for these key Christians, Modern Israel would not exist today.

This coming September 28, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein from the Simon Wiesenthal Center; Dr. Michael Oren, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States; Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer, of the Faithful Central Bible Church; Professor Paul Rood of Biola University; and others will gather to remember, to honor, an extraordinary Christian friend of the Jewish people, Reverend William E. Blackstone.  The Multi-Faith Commemoration Ceremony will be held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California from 1-2:30 p.m.

Rev. Blackstone would have been 175 years old October 6.  He passed away 81 years ago.  His legacy remains a living legacy –a reborn Jewish State in its own ancient homeland.  What he did for Israel, no Jew could have done.

William Blackstone was born Oct 6, 1841 in Adams, New York.  When he was 20, he attempted to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War but was rejected for health reasons.  He persisted in wanting to serve the cause of Union and anti-Slavery. 1864, he was successful, enlisting as a Minister with the U.S. Christian Commission and served the strong, the weak and the wounded for the duration of the War.

His life followed a normal path, marrying in 1868 and then relocating to Oak Park, Illinois.  Blackstone made a small fortune in real estate and insurance over the next ten years.  But the search for wealth and a comfortable life style was not satisfying for his religious spirit.

Inspired by his faith, he put his search for wealth aside for the rest of his life and focused on his personal path to God, sharing his vision in a small book, Jesus is Coming. The small book became a guide to faith and prophecy that seemed to be unfolding before millions and millions of people.  The book, reprinted over time into the millions of copies, would be translated into 47 languages.  Blackstone became one of the most famous and important Evangelical spiritual leaders in America.   Fame was never important to him; he remained modest and humble throughout his life, calling himself simply W.E.B. and God’s Little Errand Boy.

The path for W.E.B. was plain. His path was similar to Rev. William Hechler, the key Christian confidant, mentor and close friend of Theodor Herzl.  The path was the fulfillment of imminent prophecy, the restoration of the Jewish people, after 2,000 years, to Palestine.  Blackstone wrote about it, he spoke about it, he preached about it.  He did not know if he would have any opportunity to participate in it or influence it.

Like many Americans of means in the latter half of the 19^th century, influenced by intrepid tourists such as Mark Twain, Blackstone and his family traveled to Europe and the Middle East.  He wanted to see the Holy Land and Jerusalem in particular. In Palestine, he saw the desperate struggle for survival of Jewish agriculturalists, Chovevei Zion (Lover’s of Zion).  They were Russian refugees escaping Russian State sponsored pogroms and terrorism.

Blackstone was horrified as he learned of the murderous, anti-Semitic actions the Czarist state was taking against the 2,000,000 Jews living in Russia.  He knew he could not be quiet.  He knew he had to do something to help the Jews.

November, 1890, Blackstone organized a multi-faith conference in Chicago, The Past, Present and Future of Israel.  It was an event like none that ever been before – for the first time, Rabbis and Christians came together in common purpose for Israel.  The conference led to a course of action spearheaded energetically by Blackstone.

Within months Blackstone created a national petition, a Memorial, that he would personally hand to President Benjamin Harrison in 1891. The Blackstone Memorial stated,

‘What shall be done for the Russian Jews? …. Why not give Palestine back to them again? According to God’s distribution of nations it is their home, an inalienable possession from which they were expelled by force. Under their cultivation it was a remarkably fruitful land, sustaining millions of Israelites, who industriously tilled its hillsides and valleys.  They were agriculturalists and producers as well as a nation of great commercial importance; the center of civilization and religion.”

The Blackstone Memorial was signed by over 400 of America’s prominent government, civic and religious leaders such as John D. Rockefeller, William McKinley, Chief Justice Fuller, Oscar Straus – later Jewish Ambassador to the Ottoman Court under President T. Roosevelt, editors of the Washington Post, New York Times and others.

It was an incredible document of Christian-Jewish humanitarianism and commonality.

Rev. Blackstone presented the Memorial to President Harrison in the White House.  The President appreciatively received the Memorial and turned it over to the State Department for safe keeping. The State Department promptly “lost it.”

However, the Blackstone Memorial was not lost to the public. It had been broadly reprinted in newspapers across the United States, in Europe and globally.

Over the next twenty five years, Rev. Blackstone continued his ministry, relocating to Los Angeles and developing the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, (later Biola University) at which he was named Dean in 1908.  The following year, Blackstone went to China to continue his Evangelizing.

World War I began in 1914.  It was a human catastrophe on a level the world had never seen before.

Two years later, 1916, Nathan Straus, the brother of Oscar Straus, a signatory to the Blackstone Memorial, brought the Memorial effort up to Louis Brandeis. Brandeis was a close personal advisor and friend to President Woodrow Wilson.  The President had controversially nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court.  The nomination was immersed in Senatorial review and anti-Semitic acrimony.

Brandeis was also the head of the American Zionist Movement. He knew of secret discussions within the British War Cabinet that potentially might impact on the future of Zionism.

The War was going poorly for the British in 1916.  They were in desperate need of manpower to fuel the ranks of their depleting armies.  Large numbers of foreign Russian Jewish refugees were living in Britain. Jews around the world refused to fight for Britain against Germany because Britain’s ally was Russia.  No Jew wanted to send their sons to fight and possibly die to help the hated Russian anti-Semites.

The British had been pressured for years to consider a restructured Middle East with a Jewish homeland by Zionists led by Chaim Weizman.  The exigencies of War made the Jewish question real for the British, yet they hesitated. They feared going alone on a Jewish homeland because of possible Arab/Muslim repercussions against Christians.

President Wilson was a religious Presbyterian.  He was also a pragmatic politician and weighed his decisions politically.  Brandeis knew all of this.  He also knew he needed to influence President Wilson to support the British considerations of a future Jewish homeland in the Middle East. Only how?

Nathan Straus gave him the answer. Nathan told Brandeis about the Blackstone Memorial of 1891.  Brandeis immediately grasped the possibility. Brandeis had never heard of Blackstone or the Blackstone Memorial.

In the midst of his confirmation hearings, Brandeis diverted his energy to research the Blackstone Memorial and Rev. Blackstone.  The State Department was contacted but could find nothing. Brandeis personally researched everything he could, compiling 47 pages of hand written notes on the Memorial. He acted decisively.  Brandeis instructed Straus to contact Rev. Blackstone.

Straus wrote to Rev. Blackstone, May 16, 1916:

“Mr. Brandeis is perfectly infatuated with the work that you have done along the lines of Zionism. It would have done your heart good to have heard him assert what a valuable contribution to the cause your document is. In fact he agrees with me that you are the Father of Zionism, as your work antedates Herzl“.

In succeeding correspondence, Brandeis asked Rev. Blackstone if he would create a new Blackstone Memorial specifically for the benefit of President Wilson. Brandeis wanted Blackstone to gather political support that would reassure the President of American backing for a Jewish homeland in Palestine after the War.  He wanted to give the President the political confidence to let the British know that America supported what would later become the Balfour Declaration.

Brandeis knew he could not approach the President on this matter because he was a Jew.  He needed a Christian.

Rev. Blackstone was 75 years old when Brandeis’ call for help came.  Immediately, Blackstone set to work with energy and purpose.  A second Blackstone Memorial was created.  Very importantly for President Wilson, it included an endorsement by the head of the American Presbyterian church.  The Memorial was given to Brandeis and privately shared with President Wilson.

President Wilson agreed to wait for a proper time, a time of Brandeis’ choosing, to make the second Blackstone Memorial public.  Privately, the British War Cabinet was quickly assured of American support for Zionism highest hope, a restored Jewish homeland in Palestine.  The British, knowing that America was behind them, were able to proceed.

The second Blackstone Memorial was never publically presented to the President.  Nov 2, 1917, the British released the Balfour Declaration.

“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

Blackstone had done what no Jew could do.

At the Zionist General Conference in 1916, Louis Brandeis introduced Rev. William E. Blackstone.

“Blackstone is Zionism’s greatest ally outside of its own ranks.”

Until his quiet death in 1935, Rev. Blackstone was honored for his steadfast support for Zionism while remaining an enigma to many Jews – a Christian who believed in God, helping the Jews, and doing the right thing.

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Jerry Klinger is President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation