Arriving in Jerusalem     

Einstein

     Taking advantage of his long sea voyage, absent "visits, correspondence, meetings and other inventions of the devil," Einstein took on the mathematics of gravity and electromagnetism. 

   In January 1923, arriving in Jerusalem, Einstein's secular brand of Zionism was tested. He was unmoved by the Wailing Wall, where he wrote, "Obtuse ethnic brethren pray loudly, with their faces turned to the wall, bend their bodies to and fro in a swaying motion. Pitiful sight of people with a past but without a present."

   But he was impressed with Tel Aviv, a "modern Hebrew city stamped out of the ground with lively economic and intellectual life. The accomplishments of the Jews in but a few years in this city excite the highest admiration. What an incredibly lively people our Jews are!"  

   Jericho was "a day of unforgettable magnificence. Extraordinary enchantment of this severe, monumental landscape with its dark, elegant Arabian sons in their rags." 

   Although Palestine, and later the State of Israel, remained a passion for the rest of Einstein's life, his diaries and letters give the impression that Japan interested him more. 

Tomorrow:  It all turns sour

Smithsonian