pechkin | Поиск информации об объекте "Jesus Hilfe"

Section V.--BONDS OF UNION.--But these essentials are not the only bonds of union. At present Moravians all over the world are united in three great tasks.

First, they are united in their noble work among the lepers at Jerusalem. It is one of the scandals of modern Christianity that leprosy is still the curse of Palestine; and the only Christians who are trying to remove that curse are the Moravians. At the request of a kind-hearted German lady, Baroness von Keffenbrink-Ascheraden, the first Moravian Missionary went out to Palestine forty years ago (1867). There, outside the walls of Jerusalem, the first hospital for lepers, named Jesus Hilfe, was built; there, for some years, Mr. and Mrs. Tappe laboured almost alone; and then, when the old hospital became too small, the new hospital, which is standing still, was built, at a cost of Ј4,000, on the Jaffa Road. In this work, the Moravians have a twofold object. First, they desire to exterminate leprosy in Palestine; second, as opportunity offers, they speak of Christ to the patients. But the hospital, of course, is managed on the broadest lines. It is open to men of all creeds; there is no religious test of any kind; and if the patient objects to the Gospel it is not forced upon him. At present the hospital has accommodation for about fifty
patients; the annual expense is about Ј4,000; the Managing Committee has its headquarters in Berthelsdorf; each Province of the Moravian Church has a Secretary and Treasurer; the staff consists of a Moravian Missionary, his wife, and five assistant nurses; and all true Moravians are expected to support this holy cause. At this hospital, of course, the Missionary and his assistants come into the closest personal contact with the lepers. They dress their sores; they wash their clothes; they run every risk of infection; and yet not one of the attendants has ever contracted the disease. When Father Damien took the leprosy all England thrilled at the news; and yet if England rose to her duty the black plague of leprosy might soon be a thing of the past.

Вопрос: что это там такое на дерех Яфо, где оно было и как выглядело?

Leprosy among Jews is seldom mentioned in modern medical literature. Zombacco ("Bul. de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris," Oct., 1891) states that the disease is very frequent among the Jews of Constantinople. Buschan, quoting this statement ("Globus," lxvii. 61), argues that the predisposition of the Jews to leprosy is a racial characteristic hereditarily transmitted from the ancient Hebrews to the modern Israelites. In support of this he mentions that the Karaites of Constantinople have not been observed by Zombacco, during his twenty years of medical practise among them, to suffer from leprosy. These Jews Buschan considers Jews only by religion, not by virtue of blood-relationship to the Semites. Ethnically he considers them as derived from the Chazars and other peoples of "Finnic" blood. On the other hand, the Rabbinic Jews of Constantinople, who are derived from "Syro-Arabic Semitic" race, have been often observed by Zombacco to suffer from the disease. He further states that the Mohammedans, Christians, Greeks, Armenians, and other non-Jews in Constantinople are free from it, notwithstanding the fact that they come in contact with the Jews. All this tends to show that the alleged predisposition of the Jews to leprosy is an ethnic trait.

This allegation, based as it is on very scanty evidence, is not confirmed by any other observer. In Russia, where in some provinces leprosy is endemic, the Jews are not observed to be frequently affected, while in some Oriental countries the
evidence available tends to show that, on the contrary, the Jews are peculiarly free from leprosy. Thus, Nicholas Senn, speaking of leprosy in Jerusalem, says: "Most of the lepers are Arabs; and the Jews are singularly free from this disease. . . . Among the 47 inmates [of the Jesus Hilfe Hospital] there is only one Jew. Dr. Einsler, during his long and extensive practise in Jerusalem, has seen only five Jews affected with leprosy; and of these one came from Salonica and of the remainder two from Morocco. It seems that the Jerusalem Jews have in the course of time acquired an immunity from this disease, otwithstanding the increase of poverty and unsanitary surroundings" (N. Senn, "The Hospitals in Jerusalem," in "American Medicine," iv. 509-512).