ABSTRACT
Thus, on that bitter day in the history of Israel, the day destined for tribulation, the ninth of Av, the dragoman of the governor, our brother the minister Joseph Kruger, brought me the news that all our dream of a return of the Jews to their ancestral land was in vain, for an absolute edict had been issued by His Majesty the Sultan himself to close the gates of the country to all Jews from all the dispersion of Israel.
