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OVER 77 YEARS OF SERVICE
In 1928 James W. (Jim) Davidson, General Commissioner of Rotary
International, a past president of the Calgary, Alberta, Rotary
Club, answered a call from Rotary International to carry the
Rotary ideal to Asia, to the Near East, to southern Asia and to
the Far East. The journey took three years and started in
Istanbul. Jim's wife and daughter accompanied him on his long
odyssey, which covered 12,000 miles and took them to the shores
of the Pacific.
The second stop was Athens and from there the Davidson's
continued to Cairo where on January 2nd 1929, the Cairo club was
founded with 22 charter members, and Clare Martin, manager of
Shell Oil, as President.
Jim Davidson then proceeded to Jerusalem by train to join Dr.
Edward Wicher, a Rotarian from San Anselmo, California, who,
helped by three or four Jerusalem residents, had prepared the
ground for a club in the Holy City. The founding meeting of the
Jerusalem Rotary Club took place on January 22nd 1929 at the St.
John's Hotel in the Old City. The first President was J.W.
Crowfoot, a British archaeologist; the Secretary was Vladamir
Wolfson, manger of Shell Oil. There were 21 charter members,
most of them British officials; in those tense times the club
could not have been founded at all without strong British
support.
 The
charter members of Jerusalem, in 1929
Indeed, it was a remarkable achievement and a credit to Rotary,
that there were both Arab and Jewish members as well. However,
the inclusion of such outstanding scholars as Norman Bentwich,
Canon Danby and Hugo Bergman among the charter members ensured
rapid admission to Rotary International on March 11th, less then
seven weeks after the formal organizational meeting.
The Cairo Rotary Club, founded just 20 days earlier, sponsored
the Jerusalem club and presented it with the Rotary Bell which
has served the club every since.
The Jerusalem Rotary Club began life at a time of sharpened
political tensions, shortly before the Hebron program that left
many Jewish residents dead. The general situation did not
improve. Indeed the five years from 1936 to 1940 where worse
still.
Nevertheless, the Rotary spirit protected relations within the
Jerusalem Rotary Club, and British, Arab and Jewish Rotarians
continued their weekly meetings, providing a haven for harmony
and free discussion. A second club was established in 1933 in
Haifa as a result of Clare Martin's preparatory work.
It was the Jerusalem Club that takes credit for establishing the
third club in Tel Aviv-Yaffo through the efforts of two of its
members, the architect Chaikin and Halabi.
If the general situation was unsettling during those early
years, this was mirrored in the Jerusalem Club's quest for a
permanent home. From its first "home" in 1929, St. John's Hotel
in the Old City, the Club moved to the old Fast Hotel, then to
the new Fast Hotel, the Soldier's Hostel on St. Paul's Road, the
YMCA in Allenby Square, Darouti's Hotel and the King David
Hotel. Finally, in 1953, the Rotary Club moved to its current
home, the Jerusalem YMCA on King David Street.
During the Second World War, the Club continued to meet
regularly and continued to include British, Jewish and Arab
members. In 1944 Lars Lind of the Jerusalem Club was elected
District Governor, the only member of a club in Palestine so
honored during the British Mandate. The Club sustained a
membership of nearly 60 Rotarians throughout the war years.
Elie Eliashar, who was Club President in 1946-47, recalled this
period:
"Jerusalem was geographically one City uniting Old and New,
sacred to Jewish, Christians and Muslims everywhere. the rule
was British but political strife was ripe. The more sacred the
interests, the more difficult it was to find common ground for
meetings and understanding.
"Such a center was the Rotary Club which gathered round the
President's Rotary Bell. Britishers in high government employ,
members of the Consular Corps, Moslems and Christian Arabs and
Jews. Disturbances and riots did not prevent Rotarians from
meeting under most difficult conditions. Once around the tables
at the King David Hotel or the YMCA, all differences were set
aside. Collaboration was intimate and friendly for the good of
Jerusalem and in matters of social welfare, the Club often
serving as a moderator of public opinion."
Following the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948,
contact with other clubs in the 89th District (Egypt, Sudan,
Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria) was impossible, so Rotary
International granted autonomy to the three Israeli clubs in
Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv-Yaffo.
When the Jerusalem Club was established, its meetings were
conducted in English and they still are today. New members from
abroad are drawn to the Club partly because of their lack of
proficiency in Hebrew. As a result, diplomats, international
civil servants and representatives of different religions find a
home at Wednesday lunch meetings at the "Y." Visiting Rotarians
here as tourists or on short term assignments or attending
conferences also find their way to the Club's table knowing that
the guest speaker will address the gathering in English.
The international make-up of the Jerusalem Rotary Club and its
guests, enables the Club to identify partners for joint ventures
in much needed social projects. American Canadian, Dutch,
German, Italian and Swedish Rotary Clubs have participated in a
variety of such projects during the past decade, benefiting
institutions that provide medical equipment to the needy,
integrated education to the handicapped, and support for
Israel-Arab understanding and cooperation.
Help to the community is a central theme in the activities of
the Jerusalem Club, and nothing illustrates this more
effectively than the thirty years of non-stop scholarships for
Jerusalem's needy secondary school students provided through the
Club's Jerusalem Rotary Foundation.
 Centennial Bell in Jerusalem in
2003. RGHF board member Irene Lewitt, second from right. Fourth
from the right is PDG Yael Lazaros, the second woman DG.
(Source: History of the Jerusalem Rotary Club, Benad Avital,
Lucien Harris and Don Edelstein, editors, 1999)
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