I had considerable trouble with the authorities in the matter of providing unleavened bread. However, we surmounted all difficulties, and had an exceedingly jovial first night, helped thereto by the excellent Palestinian wine which we received from Mr. Gluskin, the head of the celebrated wine press of Richon-le-Zion, near Jaffa. The unleavened bread for the battalion, during the eight days of the Feast, cost somewhat more than the ordinary ration would have done, so I requested that the excess should be paid for out of Army Funds. This was refused by the local command in Egypt, so I went to the H.Q. Office, where I saw a Jewish Staff Officer, and told him I had come to get this matter adjusted. He said that, as a matter of fact, he had decided against us himself. I told him that I considered his judgment unfair, because the battalion was a Jewish Battalion, and the Army Council had already promised Kosher food whenever it was possible to obtain it, and it would have been a deadly insult to have forced ordinary bread upon the men during Passover. I therefore said that I would appeal against his decision to a higher authority. He replied, "This will do you no good, for you will get the same reply from G.H.Q." He was mistaken, for I found the Gentile, on this particular occasion, more sympathetic than the Jew, and the extra amount was paid by order of the Q.M.G., Sir Walter Campbell. During our stay at this camp we were reviewed by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, and, towards the end of May, by the Commander-in-Chief, General Allenby. Both these officers expressed themselves as pleased with the smart soldierly appearance and steadiness of the men, the Duke of Connaught remarking that "the men all appeared to be triers." Towards the close of our training at Helmieh, and just as I was beginning to congratulate myself that the battalion was shaping well and would soon be fit for the front, I was staggered by the receipt of a letter from G.H.Q. which aimed a deadly blow at our very existence. It was nothing less than the proposal to break up the battalion and allow the men to join Labour units! This was undoubtedly a clever move on the part of the Staff to rid themselves of the Jewish problem and, at the same time, bring the derision of the world upon the Jew. [Illustration: THE BATTALION ON PARADE] [Illustration: TOMB OF RACHEL, NEAR BETHLEHEM (_See page_ 93)] It put me in a very difficult position, for I felt very keenly that, if the battalion were disbanded and turned over to Labour units, it would throw an indelible stigma on Jewry. I felt that it was my duty to protect the battalion from the disgrace that would attach to it if it could be said that the only Jewish unit raised for war purposes had refused to fight--even for Palestine.