The Rev. Herbert Danby (1889-1953): Hebrew Scholar, Zionist, Christian Missionary

Abstract

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 presented a challenge to both the hierarchy and laity of the Anglican Church. Some Anglicans were supportive of Jewish aspirations for ‘‘the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people;’’ others were troubled by them. The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, the Rt. Rev. Rennie Miles MacInnes, charged with revitalizing Anglican life in the Holy City, was an opponent of Zionism. His sympathies lay with the Arabs of Palestine, and more particularly with the Christians among them. For the Zionist movement, the Balfour Declaration, and General Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem later in the same year, were momentous occasions. These events revitalized the worldwide Zionist movement and allowed the renewed growth of the Yishuv. British victory affirmed the view articulated in 1914 by Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann that the future of Zionism was entwined with the fortunes of the British Empire. Both the empire and Jewish nationalism would benefit from the relationship. Weizmann wrote that ‘‘England which would be instrumental in the redemption of Israel would derive an enormous benefit from it . . .’’ During the first years of the British occupation of Palestine Bishop MacInnes, of St. Georges Cathedral, the Anglican seat in Jerusalem, often expressed his opposition to Zionism. This opposition was noted in the Jewish newspapers of Palestine and was the cause of considerable tension between the Zionist rank and file and the clergy and laity of the Anglican Church. In 1919, faced with the complexities of inter-communal relations in the Holy City, MacInnes sought to employ an Anglican cleric who was familiar with the Jewish tradition and who could serve as a much-needed interlocutor with the city’s various Jewish communities.