THE FIRST MASONIC LODGE IN THE HOLY LAND

Introduction 

          In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt and, after conquering the kingdom of the Nile, moved northward through Palestine, overrunning Gaza, Jaffa and Ramla, until his progress was finally blocked at the foot of Acre’s fortified walls. He was defeated, however, less by the force of arms than by the plague that decimated his troops. Curiously, Napoleon did not occupy Jerusalem.

          Although Napoleon himself was not known to be a mason  [1] , many of his officers were,  and it is not unreasonable to assume that travelling military lodges may have worked in Palestine at the time. However, these, if they had in fact existed, could not be counted as local lodges.

           The first documented masonic lodge to be established in the Holy Land dates from 1873, established at the initiative of an American Mason, M.W. Bro. Robert Morris. The story of this lodge, its membership and its brief existence, constitute an absorbing chapter of early Freemasonry in the Near East, at a time when the Ottoman Empire was in decline and the European great powers spread their influence in its extensive territories, enjoying the privileges granted by the regime of “Capitulations.”

 Robert Morris

           Robert Morris (better known as Rob Morris) was born as Robert Peckham in Boston, USA on August 31, 1818. His parents separated when he was three years old. He lived with his father in New York, until his father’s death in 1825, when he was adopted by John Morris. Upon coming of age, he changed his name legally to Robert Morris and at the age of 23 he married Charlotte Mendenhall in Shelby County, Tennessee. [2] In 1843 the Morris family moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where Robert and Charlotte had five children, though two died at birth and the oldest, born in 1859, died at the age of 18.

           Morris was initiated on 3 March 1846 in Oxford Lodge N° 33, and raised a Master Mason on 3 July of the same year. At the time he was President of Mount Sylvan Academy. He served as Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi in 1849 and 1850. He took the higher degrees of the York Rite in 1848 and 1851, and the Scottish Rite degrees in 1854.     

           He served as Worshipful Master of Neville Lodge N° 200 in Moscow, Kentucky in 1855, and in 1856 he was elected Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, becoming Grand Master three years later (in 1859). As Grand Master he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, remaining there until 1860, when he moved again, going to live in La Grange, Kentucky.

          Morris collected a library of over 1,200 books, many of which were destroyed in a fire on 8 November 1861. The remaining books and papers were acquired by the Grand Lodge of New York in 1870, and they formed the start of its library.

           Charlotte became a faithful assistant to Morris in his various activities, and they both arrived at the decision that a way should be found to allow women to take active part in Freemasonry. The result was the creation of the Order of the Eastern Star. The first Supreme Constellation was founded in 1855 in New York and Morris presided it with the title “Very Enlightened Great Luminary.”

           Between 1860 and 1865 Robert Morris worked to promote a project that he called the “Conservators of Symbolic Masonry”, attempting to introduce a uniform masonic ritual throughout the United States. The idea was logical, but Morris did not take into account the ingrained conservatism of the Masonic “establishment”, which jealously preserved the independence of each individual Grand Lodge. His initiative met stubborn opposition and nothing came out of it. Possibly, the dislocations brought about by the American Civil War (1861-65) contributed to the failure of the project.

           In 1865 Morris met Robert Macoy in New York and together they wrote and published the rituals for the “Eastern Star”. Later, while Morris travelled to the Near East, he transferred his authority in the Eastern Star to Macoy, who proceeded to found a Grand Chapter and appointed deputies in all parts of the United States. The Eastern Star rituals used today are the work of Macoy.

          In 1868, Morris travelled to the Near East, visiting Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, looking for archeological sites with Masonic connections. This was not such a far-fetched idea, as it may appear to us today. Archeology was still in an embryonic stage. The first archeological exploration in Palestine had started only one year earlier, in 1867. The great archeological discoveries in Egypt were still to take place in the future, but in 1854 the great library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal had been discovered in the ruins of Nineveh, creating great expectation. In 1854 an American explorer, Dr. Barclay, had rediscovered the entrance to King Solomon’s Quarries in Jerusalem.

           Morris arrived at Liverpool on 17 February 1868, and immediately continued to Jaffa. The Governor of Joppa (today Jaffa) was Noureddin Effendi, member of Amitiי Clיmente Lodge of Paris (under the Grand Orient), and Chevalier du Soleil (Knight of the Sun - 29^th Degree)  in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Noureddin was interested in establishing a lodge in Jaffa, where Morris found another four Masons, all members of a Christian group from Maine, USA, who had come in 1866 to settle in to the Holy Land and await the second coming of the Saviour. [3] The  group eventually dispersed, and only nine remained in Jaffa at the time, four of them masons: G. J. Adams, founder of the sect, Rolla Floyd, Toombs and Walker.

           Morris, inspired by his enthusiasm at the historical opportunity to bring (or, in his opinion, return,) Freemasonry to the Holy land, decided to assemble the local masons and some other Freemasons then visiting the Holy Land, to conduct a meeting in the ancient cave under the wall of Jerusalem’s old city.

 King Solomon’s Quarries

           Beneath the old city of Jerusalem there is a large cavern used in ancient times as a quarry. Flavius Josephus already mentioned its existence and called it “Royal Cavern” (The Jewish War, Book 5, chapt. 4). During the Arab conquest, the cave was used as a storage room for cotton, and it was then known by the name “Magharat el-Kittan” (The cotton cave). The opening of the cave is at the base of the wall of the Old City, some 100 meters north of Damascus Gate and near King Herod’s Gate. The entrance was probably sealed by Suleiman the Magnificent, when he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in the 16^th century, to prevent an enemy from breaking into the city from below. This is one of the most extensive caves in Israel, measuring about 220 meters in length and some 900 meters in circumference. The apparent discrepancy between these figures is due to the irregular shape of the cave’s contour, broken by many small chambers excavated along its periphery.

           The cave was forgotten for 300 years, until rediscovered accidentally in 1854 by Dr. Barclay, an American explorer.

           The cavern is also known in Hebrew by the name “Mearat Zidkiyahu” (Zedekiah’s Cave). This refers to the Jewish legend associating the cave to the last king of Judah, during the time when the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, in the summer of 587 BC.  The king, according to that tradition, escaped through the cave, which runs against the facts related in the Bible (Kings II, Chap. 25, 4-5 and Jeremiah, Chap. 52, 7-8) where it is clear that the attempted escape was by breaking through the southeast wall of the city, in the direction of Jericho.

           The cave is divided into chambers separated by broad columns left by the quarriers to support the roof. In the inner chambers, traces of the technique used by the workers can be discerned. Broad slits were hewn along the wall and dry wooden wedges were driven into them. Water was then poured over the wedges until the expanding wood cracked the stone along the slits. This primitive method of quarrying is quite effective and it is still used in many parts of the world.

           As the quarry inside the cave is quite close to the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) and to the City of David, very large blocks of stone could have been transported there. The limestone, when exposed to natural daylight and the elements becomes harder. Obviously, it would have been simpler to use this quarry in building the Jerusalem Temple, rather than hauling heavy stones uphill from Jaffa.

           An interesting point raised by Bro. William C. Blaine, [4] is that because of the cavern’s depth, about 90 meters below ground, the sound of tools could not have been heard at the construction site of King Solomon’s Temple, on the Temple Mount. This would explain verse 6:7 in I Kings: “In building the Temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the Temple site while it was being built.”

           Another legend is that inside the cave are buried the treasures of the Temple, hidden by the priests when the Roman armies under Titus laid siege and later sacked the city. [5]

 The “Reclamation” Moot Lodge

           Here is how Morris describes the first Masonic meetings he organized in the Holy Land. The first two cannot be considered regular lodge meetings, but were rather preliminary rehearsals for the third, held in Solomon’s Quarries: 

“While in Jerusalem, I held two Masonic meetings in a room at the Mediterranean Hotel, near the Damascus Gate, in which assemblies several officers of the British war-ships lying at Joppa were present; also the venerable brother Petermann, Prussian Consul, and Captain Charles Warren, R.E., who is in charge of the explorations, as named before [the archeological and topological survey of the Holy Land]...

 The names of these brethren are here given:

Lindesay Goodrich, Zetland Lodge 515, Malta.

John Oxland, R.N., St. Auburn Lodge 954, Davenport, England.

Edward Gladstone, Phoenix Lodge [N° 257], Portsmouth, England.

Rev. J. Every, Fidelity Lodge 1042, England. P.P. Grand Chaplain, Eastern Archipelago, Singapore.

 All of the above connected with HMS Lord Clyde, now lying in the port of Joppa.

 Charles Warren, Past Master of Lodge of Friendship 278, Gibraltar.

Henry Petermann, Royal York of Berlin, Prussia, initiated in 1826, member of the Fourth Degree (Ober Meister).

 One of the most agreeable episodes in my visit here was an assemblage of Freemasons in the vast quarries that underlie the northeastern quarter of the city of Jerusalem, and the opening of a Moot Lodge there: this event occurred on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 13.

 A description of these enormous caverns seems necessary as a preface to the subject. The entrance is under the city walls on the north, a short distance east of the Damascus Gate. This opening was first discovered about ten years ago, by Dr. J. T. Barclay, author of the celebrated work The City of the Great King, to which I have more than once referred. At that time, the entrance was extremely difficult of access, but when the Prince of Wales was here, a few years since, it was made easier. In fact, the matter of entering and traversing the entire quarries is now one of the lightest and pleasantest parts of a traveller’s business in Jerusalem.

 ... Outside of the walls a space of several hundred feet in width and a quarter of a mile in horizontal depth has been quarried to the depth of twenty-five to fifty feet; while adjoining those excavations on the south, and immediately under the city, there is a cavern, as already intimated, of equal extent. This is termed by the natives the Cotton Megara, by us the great Jerusalem Quarry, and it is here that we opened our Moot Lodge.

 Entering with a good supply of candles, we pushed southward as far into the quarry as we could penetrate, and found a chamber happily adapted to a Masonic purpose. It was a pit in the ancient cuttings, about eighteen feet square. On the east and west, convenient shelves had been left by the original workmen, which answered for seats. An upright stone in the center, long used by guides to set their candles upon, served us for an Altar. About ten feet above the master’s station there was an immense opening in the wall, which led, for aught I know, to the original site of the Temple of Solomon. We were perfectly tyled by silence, secrecy, and darkness, and in the awful depths of that quarry, a quarter of a mile from its opening, we felt, as we never had before, how impressive is a place which none but the All-seeing Eye can penetrate.

 Laying my pocket Bible open on the central stone, three burning candles throwing their lustre upon it, and the trowel, square, etc. resting near by, a few opening remarks were made by myself, to the effect that never, so far as I knew, had a Freemasons’ lodge been formed in Jerusalem since the departure of the Crusading hosts more than seven hundred years ago; that an effort was now making to introduce Freemasonry into this, the mother-country of its birth; that a few of us, brethren, providentially thrown together, desired to seal our friendship by the associations peculiar to a Masonic lodge; that for this purpose, and to break the long stillness of these ancient quarries by Masonic utterances, we had now assembled, and would proceed to open a Moot Lodge, under the title of Reclamation Lodge of Jerusalem. This we now proceeded to do, in a systematic manner. A prayer was offered, echoing strangely from that stony rock that had heard no such sounds for centuries, and the other ceremonies proceeded.

 Remarks were offered, very feeling and appropriate, by the venerable Henry Petermann, Prussian Consul at Jerusalem, a member of Royal York Lodge at Berlin, a Mason of many years’ experience. Brother Peterman [sic] is the deputy of this Grand Lodge to the Lodges of Palestine. He is a gentleman of great learning and the highest social standing, speaking eight languages with fluency. He expressed his opinion, in the plainest terms, that the times were propitious for reinstating the Masonic institutions in the Holy Land.

 Brother Petermann was followed by Brother Captain Charles Warren, R.E. [Royal Engineers], a member of Friendship Lodge N° 278 of Gibraltar, the learned and zealous officer who has charge of the excavations going on here under the patronage of the Palestine Exploration Fund. This gentleman, in some extremely happy observations, expressed his pleasure at this meeting....

 He was followed by my assistant [David W. Thomson], who excelled himself in clear and forcible expressions of the importance of Freemasonry, just now, in a land of jarring nationalities and religions such as this is....

 We separated; and endeavoring to return to the entrance through the devious and interminable passages of that enormous cavern, lost our way, and came nigh being compelled to remain there until our friends would search for us, the next day.

 Then, when we deemed ourselves lost and looked for a long night in the Great Quarry, we groped for the wall like the blind; we groped as if we had no eyes; we stumbled (Isaiah lix. 10). However, by good fortune, the evil was spared us, and we reached the City Gate before it was closed at sunset.”

           In another part of his book, Morris discloses that the ceremony he conducted was a Secret Monitor degree, one of the side degrees sometimes performed to honor a Mason.

          The following day, most of the men taking part in the ceremony left town, some going to Jaffa, and others to the Jordan valley. [6]

           Dr. Henry Petermann had been initiated in 1825 in Frederick William Lodge, belonging to the Royal York Grand Lodge of Friendship in Berlin. [7] About the year 1840 he advanced to the Fourth Degree, called “Degree of Knowledge” or “of Sr. Andrew”. Professor Petermann was a well-known Orientalist, a linguist specializing in ancient languages, and at the time of the meeting he had forty years of experience in Freemasonry. He served in Jerusalem only for a year or so, and during his period the Consulate expanded its scope, representing the “North Germany Alliance”. Petermann actively protected the Jewish settlers who came under his jurisdiction. [8]

           Sir Charles Warren is, of course, well known to all members of Quatuor Coronati, having been the first Master of the lodge. He arrived in Jaffa on a stormy day in 1867, having been appointed by the “Palestine Exploration Fund” to continue the topographical study of Jerusalem started by Captain Charles Wilson in 1864. While conducting his excavations near the Western Wall of the Temple enclosure, Warren found a chamber on November 20, 1867, which he believed to be a Masonic Hall. Its walls were of finely chiseled stones, “its pilasters have capitals in the corners, and its entrances have lintels and door jambs.”  [9] Later archeologists have dismissed Warren’s conjecture. He left Jerusalem in 1870, never to return.

           As for David W. Thomson, he served as companion and assistant to Morris throughout his journey. He was a Past Grand Chaplain in the Grand Lodge of Illinois.

           The Royal Navy vessel “Lord Clyde” was a newly-built frigate armed with at least 18 guns (some sources claim a larger number). At the time, she was the flagship of the British fleet in the Mediterranean, with a crew of four hundred seamen. [10]

 Royal Solomon Mother Lodge N° 293

           Robert Morris returned to the United States decided to establish in Jerusalem, the legendary birthplace of Masonry, a regular Masonic lodge. However, his standing in United States Freemasonry was undermined because of his involvement in the creation of the “Conservators” and the “Eastern Star”. One after the other, his petition was successively rejected by the Grand Lodges of Kentucky, England, Scotland, Ireland, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio.

           At last, his personal friend  William Mercer Wilson, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada since its foundation in 1855, granted his wish, and a charter was duly issued on 17 February 1873 for “Royal Solomon Mother Lodge” N° 293, to work “In Jerusalem and surroundings”.  The inclusion of the words “Mother Lodge” raises a question, whether it represented an intention to allow the lodge to establish “daughter lodges” in the Holy Land, or it simply accorded the lodge the status of “Mother Lodge” of world Freemasonry. The first assumption appears to be the most plausible.

           An extract of the minutes from the 18^th Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Canada, held in Montreal in 1873, reads as follows [page 346 - “Report of the Most Worshipful Grand Master Bro. Mercer Wilson”]: 

“Feb. 17, 1873, The Royal Solomon Mother Lodge, held at Jerusalem, Palestine (warranted).

In the month of February last a petition was presented to me, signed by our distinguished and Most Worshipful Bro. Robert Morris, L.L.D., and by M.W. Bro. Alex A. Stevenson, both Past Grand Masters of this Grand Lodge, by Albert G. Mackey, John Scott, DeWitt C. Cregier, John Sheville, Rolla Floyd, Robert Macoy, and many of the most eminent members of our fraternity on this continent, praying that this Grand Lodge would grant them the requisite authority and constitute the said Brethren into a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, under the title and denomination of “The Royal Solomon Mother Lodge” to meet at the City of Jerusalem or adjacent places in Palestine. Regarding this as a very high compliment paid to our Grand Lodge, and approving most heartily of a scheme which had for its object the revival of Masonic Light in that grand old East which was the seat of its birth, and from which its brilliant rays had been transmitted to every quarter of the globe, I gave the matter my most favourable consideration; and after consulting with as many of the Grand Lodge Officers as I conveniently could, I instructed the Grand Secretary to prepare the necessary authority (a copy of this document will be found in the appendix hereto). I trust that my action in this matter will meet the approval of Grand Lodge, and I would now suggest for your consideration the propriety of marking the lively interest which I think you must feel in this event, by forwarding to our distant offshoot the Three Great Lights of Masonry, together with the collars and jewels and clothing required by the officers of our new Lodge. 

The appendix that follows has the following content: 

William M. Wilson, Grand Master.

To all and every our Right Worshipful, Worshipful and Loving Brethren:

          We, William Mercer Wilson, Esq. &c. &c. &c., of Simcoe, in the Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Canada, send greeting:

          Know Ye - that We, by the authority and under the sanction of the Grand Lodge of Canada, vested in us for that purpose, and at the humble petition of our right trusty and well beloved brethren, Robert Morris, John Sheville, Rolla Floyd, Richard Beardsley, Charles Netter, Peter Bergheim, Robert Macoy, James M. Howry, C.W. Nash, George D. Norris, A.T. Metcalf, Alexander A. Stevenson, Chauncey M. Hatch, Martin H. Rice, John W. Rison, A.J. Wheeler, John Scott, Albert G. Mackey, John H. Brown and DeWitt C. Cregier, do hereby constitute the said brethren into a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, under the title or denomination of the Royal Solomon Mother Lodge, N° 293; and said Lodge to meet at the city of Jerusalem, or adjacent places in Palestine, on the first Wednesday of every month; empowering them, in the said Lodge, when duly congregated, to make, pass and raise Freemasons according to the ancient custom of the craft in all ages and nations, throughout the known world. And further, at the said petition, and of the great trust and confidence reposed in every one of the above named brethren, we hereby appoint the said Robert Morris to be the first Worshipful Master, and said John Sheville to be the First Senior Warden, and the said Rolla Floyd to be the First Junior Warden, for opening and holding the said Lodge, and until such time as another Master shall be regularly elected and installed; strictly charging that every member who shall be elected to preside over the said Lodge, and who must previously have duly served as Warden in a warranted Lodge, shall be installed in ancient form and according to the laws of the Grand Lodge, that he may therefore be fully invested with the dignities and powers of his office. And we do require you, the said Robert Morris, to take special care that all and every one of the said brethren are or have been regularly made Masons, and that you and they and all the other members of the said Lodge do observe, perform and keep the laws, rules and orders contained in the Book of Constitution, and all others who may from time to time be made by our Grand Lodge, or transmitted by us or our successors, Grand Masters, or by our Deputy Grand Master for the time being. And we do enjoin you to make such by-laws for the government of your Lodge as shall to the majority of the members appear proper and necessary, the same not being contrary to or inconsistent with the general laws and regulations of the craft, a copy whereof you are to transmit to us. And we do require you to cause all such by-laws and regulations and also an account of the proceedings in your Lodge, to be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose. And you are in no wise to omit to send to us or our successors, Grand Masters, or to our Deputy Grand Master for the time being, in form and manner directed by the Book of Constitution, at least one in every year, a list of the members of your Lodge, and the manners and descriptions of all Masons initiated therein and brethren who shall have joined the same, with the fees and moneys payable thereon, it being our will and intention that this, our warrant of constitution, shall continue in force so long only as you shall conform to the laws and regulations of our Grand Lodge. And you, the said Robert Morris, are further required, as soon as conveniently may be, to send us an account in writing of what shall be done by virtue of these presents.

Given under our hands and the seal of the Grand Lodge of Hamilton, the 17^th February, A.L. 5873, A.D. 1873.  [11]                   

          Robert Morris was elated, and in an enthusiastic communication he sent to his friend William Mercer he wrote that “Every Master Mason who is a member of the American Holy Land Exploration, is ex-officio an honorary life-member, without further dues or fees, of this Oriental Lodge and shall be thus enrolled.”

           One of the signers of the petition, Charles Netter (1826-1882) was one of the founders of the Alliance Israelite Universelle (1860), and founder and Director of the Mikve Israel agricultural school, in 1870. This was the first institution to teach modern agricultural methods in Palestine.

           According to the minutes of the lodge, the first meeting was held on 7 May 1873 in King Solomon’s Quarries in Jerusalem, with the attendance of Brothers John Sheville, Senior Warden; Rolla Floyd, Junior Warden; C.F.Tyrwhitt Drake, Acting Secretary, and George May Powell, Samuel Bergheim, James Hilpern and Peter Bergheim. Although the entry in the minutes book was signed with the name Rob Morris, this is obviously not his signature, so it appears that Morris did not return to Palestine to serve as Master of the lodge and to instruct the local brethren on how to manage a lodge. John Sheville conducted the ceremony and continued acting as Worshipful Master for the next meeting, when Rolla Floyd was appointed in his place.

           Following are the minutes of the first meeting of the lodge (one or two pages are missing from the book): 

          “This lodge was organized by the Revd. Brother John Sheville on the 7^th day of May 1873, a warrant having been given for that purpose by the Grand Lodge of Canada. The ceremony was performed in the place known as “King Solomon's quarries” underneath the City of Jerusalem. 

          The following Brethren being present.

          Bro.   J. Sheville,                       Senior Warden

            “      R. Floyd,                        Junior      “

            “      C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake       acting secretary

            “      George May Powell

            “      Sam Bergheim

            “      James Hilpern &

            “      Peter Bergheim         

            Bro. Drake acting Secretary read the Charter for said Lodge, after which Bro. John Sheville declared & proclaimed, in the name of the Gr\ Lodge of Canada, Royal Solomon Mother Lodge [a rectangle is inserted in the place of the word lodge] at Jerusalem N° 293 to be duly constituted and regularly established and opened in the Entered Apprentice Degree.

            The following preamble and resolutions were then read and on motion unanimously adopted. 

            Whereas: The members of “The American Holy Land Exploration” have incurred the expenses of the organization of this Lodge, and have sent to us from America a Masonic Brother of large attainments that we may set out upon our course as a Lodge in a rightful and constitutional manner, and Whereas That Society has already set on foot measures for purchasing the ground and erecting a suitable Hall in Jerusalem for the permanent honor and benefit of the Order here, thus evincing a spirit of enterprise and self sacrifice which could only come from the members of such a Fraternity as ours, therefore. 

            Resolved, That all Master Masons in good standing whose names have been or may hereafter be forwarded to us through the Secretary of “The American Holy Land Exploration”, or who may at the present time be avouched to us by the associate Secretary of the Exploration and Senior Warden of this Lodge, Brother John Sheville, be and the same are hereby made and constituted Honorary Life Members of the Royal Solomon Mother Lodge of Jerusalem N° 293, with the Masonic rank which they respectively bear in the order in their own jurisdiction. 

            And it is hereby made the duty of the Secretary of this Lodge to commence a Roll of Honor in which shall be inscribed each Honorary Member to the end that they may be duly recognized here and elsewhere in their relation to this Lodge. 

            Resolved: That the Secretary be instructed to draft a form of Certificate of Honorary Membership in the various languages most in use among masons here and submit it for the consideration of the Lodge. 

          (signed) Rob. Morris, W. M.

                       Royal Solomon Mother Lodge  293

            A petition for the mysteries of Freemasonry was then read from Mr. Moses Hornstein, when on motion the petition was received and referred to a Committee of three consisting of Bros. Peter Bergheim, James Murat Hilpern and Samuel Bergheim.

            The Lodge was then called from labor to refreshment until 8.30 P.M. Thursday the 8^th inst.

           (signed)  John Sheville, W.M. p.t. (signed) F. Tyrwhitt Drake, Sec. p.t.”. 

Following the meeting, a report was sent to Wilson, in the following terms: 

                                                          Jerusalem, May 19^th, 1873

          M.W. Wilson, Esq.

          G. M. of the Grand Lodge of Canada.

          Dear Sir and M.W. Bro.!

            I have the honor to report to you that “Royal Solomon Mother Lodge at Jerusalem” N°   293, was regularly constituted on Wednesday the 7^st inst.

                   Fraternally & truly yours,

                             John Sheville

          P.S. By direction of Bro. Morris I enclose you an Olive leaf plucked from one of the trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. - J.S.

           The lodge urgently required to increase its membership, and this led to an accelerated process for the admittance of the petitioner. On the next meeting, on May 8^th 1873 (i.e. the very next day), Hornstein was balloted and initiated in the First Degree. The Lodge also appointed a committee of three, consisting of Peter Bergheim, Rolla Floyd and John Sheville, to draft By-laws for the Lodge. The following day, on May 9^th, Hornstein was “raised” [sic] to the Fellow Craft Degree, and one day later, on the 10^th, he was raised to the “Third or Sublime Degree of Master Mason”. Present at the meeting was a visitor: Brother Loutfalla Hajgi. No mention is made of the Lodge from whence he came, but from the name we can assume he was coming from Persia (today Iran). In that same meeting, the following Officers were appointed:

           Bro.   Rolla Floyd,                    W.M.

            “      Peter Bergheim,               Treasurer

            “      Sam Bergheim                 Secretary

            “      James Murat Hilpern        S.D.

            “      Moses Hornstein             J.D.

          “A vote was unanimously adopted that the above should discharge their duties in their appointed offices until the regular meeting for installation of officers.” John Sheville again signed as W.M. p.t.

          The minutes show that the brethren had little knowledge of Masonry, and later minutes indicate they were always waiting for the arrival of visitors from Canada or the United States to assist and advise them. A letter received by the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Canada on 22 June 1876 outlines the problems that the lodge was experiencing, and requested that the promises made in the past be honored. [12]

           Another source, [13]  mentions among the founders the name of William Habib Hayat (or Hyatt or Kayat), son of the British Consul in Jaffa, Jacob Assad Hayat. The father died in 1862 and William took his father’s place during 10 years. In 1872, William Hayat moved to Jerusalem, where he remained the rest of his days. He was educated in England and it is probable that he joined Freemasonry there. Although his name does not appear in the list of founders, we know that he was Master of the lodge in 1889, and it is claimed he served in that office for four years.

           The lodge also appears in some references under its name in Arabic: “Suleiman el-Moloki”.

           The lodge is mentioned several times in the yearbooks of the Grand Lodge of Canada. In the year 1875 it was decided to release the lodge from payment of dues, apparently because of the difficulty in transferring funds abroad and the lodge’s precarious financial situation.

           In 1877, the report of Grand Master J. K. Ken to the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge, held at St. Catherines, mentioned the “trying circumstances” in which the lodge was placed, and after expressing the hope that “their trials and difficulties will soon pass away, and that they may speedily enter upon a more prosperous era,”  a recommendation was made to send to the lodge a set of Officers’ Collars and Jewels, suitable engraved.

           In 1882, the Grand Master James Mofat reported to the Annual Communication held at London, Ontario, that no correspondence had been received from the lodge for some years. He further mentions meeting in England several Masons who had visited the lodge with great pleasure; however, “not one was aware that the Charter under which they work was granted by the Grand Lodge of Canada.”

           This presumably indicated that the Charter was not being displayed in the lodge, as required by the Constitution. The Grand Master further complains about the lack of communication from the lodge, in particular considering the great number of tourists visiting it, and the need to verify the regularity of its proceedings. Therefore, the Grand Master proposes the appointment of a District Deputy Grand Master.

          It appears that members of the lodge were also involved in the discovery of an ancient subterranean tomb dating from the Second Temple period in the fields of Kfar Shoresh (Saris). On the walls of the cave were painted two human figures with raised hands, and the brethren believed that perhaps they represented one of the signs connected with Hiram’s legend.

           A report published in The Masonic Sun of Toronto, February 5, 1898, informed that the lodge had only about twenty-four members. “They have no regular hall, but hold their meetings in the parlors of the Howard Hotel; the proprietor, Bro. Howard, being one of their efficient members. In 1896, according to the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Canada for 1897, W. Bro. W. H. Kayat was the W.M., and Bro. Kalil Saadeh, M.D., the Secretary. A good many of the members are connected with the British Legation.          

“This lodge has held several of its communications in ‘King Solomon’s Quarries’ under the city, which we will briefly describe. 

“The entrance to the quarries, which was discovered as late as 1852, is on the north side of the city, a short distance east of the Damascus Gate. It is a comparatively small opening, cut in the natural rock which forms the foundation of that portion of the wall of the city. It is protected by a heavy door and guarded by Turkish soldiers, as the Government officials are very suspicious of visitors. It requires a pass accompanied by a liberal supply of money to gain admission. It is said to be a most wonderful sight, and an experience never to be forgotten by any who have been fortunate enough to take part with Mother Solomon Lodge at the special meetings held in these quarries.”

           The Howard Hotel, according to an advertisement appearing in the weekly newspaper Hazvi on 21 Shevet 1896, was located opposite the Jaffa Gate. It could “accommodate 125 first-class travellers” and offered “hot and cold baths ready at all times”. “Howard’s Hotel at Jaffa offers in all respects equal advantages.” The advertisement was signed by “The Proprietor: M. Le Chevalier Alexander Howard”, about whom we shall have more to say.

           The lodge received its diplomas from the Grand Lodge of Canada. A diploma dated 15 August 1888, written in English and Latin, reads as follows: 

THE GRAND LODGE OF ANCIENT FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF CANADA

RICHARD THOMAS WALKEM, D.C.

GRAND MASTER

           To All Our Worshipful and Loving BRETHREN Greeting

           These are to certify that our Brother Jacob Litwinsky who has signed his name in the margin hereof was regularly received into Free Masonry on the 26 day of April A.L. 5887 in the Royal Solomon Mother Lodge N° 293 was advanced to the second Degree on the 13 day of May  A.L. 5887 in the above named Lodge and was admitted to the Third Degree on the 31 day of May A.L. 5887 in the same Lodge and that he is duly registered in the Books of this Grand Lodge accordingly.

           In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the seal of the Grand Lodge at Hamilton the 15 day of August A.L. 5888, A.D. 1888.

           [signed] J.J. Mason, Grand Secretary.

          Before receiving the official diploma from the Grand Lodge, the lodge issued a Provisional Certificate, such as the following, dated April 8, 1887:  [14] 

          I.T.N.O.T.G.A.O.T.U

          ROYAL SOLOMON MOTHER LODGE N° 203

          JERUSALEM

          OF GRAND LODGE OF CANADA

          PROVISIONAL CERTIFICATE

          GRANTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BOOK OF          CONSTITUTIONS CERTIFICATES: PARAGRAPH 6, PAGE 74

           TO ALL whom it may concern, This is to certify that 

          Brother Joseph Amazalac

           Who has signed his name in the Margine [sic] hereof was regularly received into FREE MASONRY on the 29 day of January A.L. 5884 and was admitted to the Second Degree on the 5 day of February A.L. 5884 in the ROYAL SOLOMON MOTHER LODGE, N° 293, JERUSALEM, and that he is duly registered in the Books of this Lodge also raised to the 3^rd degree 23 Feb. 5885.

           This provisional certificate is to be valid until a CERTIFICATE  from the GRAND LODGE OF CANADA can be obtained. 

          In Testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names and affixed the Seal of this Lodge 

          In JERUSALEM the 8^th day of April A.L. 5887 A.D. 1887.

          (signed                      Seal                   (signed)

          Ed. Ungar                                          William Elsy [?]

          Secretary                                            W.M.

Alexander Howard

           Alexander Howard was a distinguished Jaffa personality in the second half of the 19^th century. His real name was Iskander Awad, a Christian Arab originally from Beirut (then part of Syria) who had anglicized his name.

           That was the time when Thomas Cook  began to organize his first conducted tours to the Orient. In a history of his Eastern Tours,  [15] Thomas Cook relates that he made his first visit to the Middle East in 1867. In September he started from Italy, sailing from there to Constantinople, and following the Syrian coast to Smyrna, Beirut, Jaffa and on to Egypt.   

“At Beyrout I made the acquaintance of the late Mrs. Thompson, the founder of the Beyrout and Lebanon Schools... While at the Hotel d’Orient, Cairo, I was applied to by Alexander Howard, and his then partner Abdullah Joseph, to give them at least a portion of my future work... I consented to give him a trial and to this day ALEXANDER HOWARD has been my faithful and approved Dragoman.” 

          Cook takes pains to reinforce his claim of being original in designing his tours, not following in the steps of any others. This point made him refuse at first Howard’s entreaties, but finally, when Howard promised never again to work for another party, he consented in taking him on a trial basis.

           The Dragoman was an interpreter and man of all-trades employed by foreigners traveling in the Near East in the time of the Ottoman Empire. This is how Thomas Cook described his functions:  

“The Dragoman is the contracting party for the supply of all that is necessary for the convenience and comfort of the traveller. Horses, mules, tents, and tent equipments, cooking arrangements, provisions of all kinds, table service, servants of every class; in a word, all that is necessary for a locomotive hotel has to be provided by this functionary. He must, moreover, be a man of intelligence, much local information, and great energy; and combines with these qualifications, urbanity and good temper are essential for the comfort of the travellers.” 

          Already in May of 1869, Cook’s  “Advertiser” informed its customers that “Our first camp was under the management of Alexander Howard of Beyrout, and consisted of nine tents for sleeping, a kitchen and cooking stoves, and a large saloon tent for dining twenty-five persons. The sleeping apartments were furnished with iron bedsteads, wool mattresses, and abundant bed linen, the floors being covered with principally new carpets... This division, and about 30 muleteers and servants, started from Beyrout, taking the shore route by Sidon, Tyre, Acre, Carmel, Cesarea, the Plains of Sharon, Ramleh, etc. to Jerusalem.” 

          A second group landed at Jaffa and started there the Palestine tour, arriving at Jerusalem by the shorter route in two days. The average of Palestine traveling was about 7 ½ hours daily, and the distance covered over roads and stony mountain tracks could not exceed from 25 to 30 miles [40 to 48 km] a day.  

On August 9, 1973, the following was communicated:  

          “THE PALESTINE ARRANGEMENTS will be entirely

          committed to our Palestine Contractor and Director,

          ALEXANDER HOWARD of Beyrout, who has command

          of the best horses and mules in Syria; has the largest

          supply of tents and camping provisions of all kinds;

          can command any amount of the best personal service;

          and is, in every way, one of the most efficient of Eastern

          Dragoman Contractors ”.

          Cook further assuaged the fears of prospective travelers, promising that “the Dragoman Contractor will give at Jerusalem either Hotel or Tent Accommodation, in accordance with the desires of the travellers; but none will be compelled by lack of camp accommodation to go into convents or inadequately furnished homes.” 

          This advise was important, taking into consideration the deplorable condition of local accommodations. The American journalist John Franklin Swift, noted that in the Ramle caravanserai, one quarter of the area was devoted to humans, the rest to horses and mules.  [16] 

          In October of the same year, Howard’s responsibilities expanded: 

“Messrs. Cook & Son have much pleasure in announcing that their Representative for Egypt, Syria and Palestine, MR. ALEXANDER HOWARD, OF BEYROUT, will again act on their behalf during this season.”  [Cook’s Excursionist & Tourist Advertiser, October 21, 1873] 

          A typical tour, offered in November of 1873, was described as follows in “Cook’s Excursionist & Tourist Advertiser”: 

          From London to Paris, Turin, Venice, Trieste, Alexandria, Cairo, the pyramids, the Nile up to the first cataract and back, Ismailia, Port Said, Jaffa, thirty days in Palestine, Smyrna, Ephesus, Constantinople, Athens, Corfu, Brindisi, Naples, Rome, Florence, Turin, Paris and London. 105 days of travel altogether. First class all the way: £170.- per person.  

          A further notice informed that “Mr. Howard has taken the entire contract for our Eastern Tours.” Evidently, Brother Howard was an able organizer. He made the arrangements for landing at Jaffa. Since there was no wharf available, movement from ship to shore was by boat. The last few meters were traversed on the shoulders of porters. This is how William Thackeray, the novelist, described the experience: 

          “I think these fellows frightened the ladies more than the rocks and the surf, but the poor creatures were obliged to submit and, trembling, were accommodated somehow upon the mahogany backs of these ruffians, carried through the shallows and flung up to a ledge before the city gate.”  [17] 

          Howard also contracted the services of Rolla Floyd (about whom we have already heard) to await the arrival of the travelers and to convey them to Jerusalem, being owner of the first “chariot” (stagecoach) in Palestine. Cook commented that “Mr. Floyd has lived many years in Palestine, being one of the first and the last of the American colony at Jaffa.” 

          In Jerusalem, the tourists were lodged at either the Mediterranean or the Damascus Hotel, both under the management of the Hauser brothers. As we have seen before, the Mediterranean Hotel, near the Damascus Gate, was the place of assembly of a group of Masons under the leadership of Robert Morris when he visited Jerusalem in 1868. 

          In 1874 Howard extended his field of operations, taking under his charge also the Italian tours for Thomas Cook & Son.         

          Howard built in Jaffa his own home, on the street bearing his name. He decorated the entrance to his house with an ornate marble frieze, depicting curtains hanging from an arch, and over it is a square niche topped with a triangle, in a shape somehow resembling a masonic apron. Within the niche there is an inscription in Hebrew: “Shalom al Israel” (Peace be on Israel). Below, on the archivolt, a further inscription repeats the message in Arabic, and the owner’s name in French: “Le Chevalier Howard” and the date: 1892. The inscription has puzzled local historians. Why would a Christian Arab decorate his home with a blessing upon Israel? What was the origin of his knighthood? [18] 

          The answer is very simple. Howard was a Mason, and he had received the 18^th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, becoming Knight of the Rose-Croix. One of the mottoes of that degree is the equivalent of the Hebrew words he engraved over the door of his house.  

          Howard’s home also served as meeting place for the waves of Jewish immigrants who came to the Holy Land at the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th centuries. Around 1890 it became the headquarters of the Central Committee of the “Hovevei Zion” (Lovers of Zion), an organization of Russian Jews that promoted immigration to Palestine. The local Director was Zeev Tiomkin, known as “King of the Jews” among local Arabs.  

          Cook’s 1875 advertisement for “personally-conducted parties to Jerusalem, leaving London November 20^th, 1975,” informed prospective clients that “Mr. Rolla Floyd is stationed in Jaffa to assist travellers and to carry out the arrangements of Thos. Cook & Son, and of Alexander Howard, their sole contractor for Eastern Tours.” 

          The next year, however, it appears that Rolla Floyd took over the business, because Cook’s publicity for that year’s tour proclaimed him as their exclusive manager for the coming season. A special paragraph on “New and Improved Arrangements for Palestine Tours” makes clear that the relations between Thomas Cook and Howard had soured. Nothing is known of what became of Alexander Howard afterwards. 

          The interest in touring the Holy Land, however, did not abate. A sign of this can be found in the fact that Baedeker’s Guide to Palestine came out in 1876. 

The End of Royal Solomon Mother Lodge 

          The lodge did not operate in a regular fashion, and it appears that masons coming from irregular or unrecognized bodies (such as lodges functioning under the Grand Orient of France or the Grand Lodge of Egypt) were admitted without question. We’ll recall that after the Grand Orient of France decided in 1877, among other innovations,  to eliminate the requirement of a belief in God for initiation, other Grand Lodges broke relations with it, declaring it an irregular body.  

          On August 1902, acting on the instructions of the Grand Master Richard B. Hungerford,  the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Canada, in the Province of Ontario, asked the return of the Warrant, books, papers, seal and other effects of the lodge. This was not executed. 

          In the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Canada for 1907 the following was included in the report of the Grand Master, James H. Burritt: 

“The letter of the late Grand Secretary was not complied with. Complaint was made this year that the lodge was still working and continuing improper actions. Thereupon I wrote the Master of said lodge on the 25^th March 1907 repeating the direction given by the late Grand Secretary, to return the Warrant, etc. to the Grand Secretary at once. I also cancelled the Warrant of the lodge, and so notified the Master, and directed that all the members of the lodge would thenceforth be unaffiliated Masons. I also issued a circular in the following words and instructed the Grand Secretary to send one to each Grand Jurisdiction in fraternal relationship with our Grand Lodge, which he reports he has done.” 

          This was followed by a copy of the circular, repeating the information just described, and dated March 25, 1907. 

          The Grand Master ended this part of his report with the following words:         

“Up to the present time nothing has been heard from the Master nor any officer of the Lodge, and it may be necessary, in the interest of Masonry in that land and the honor of Grand Lodge, for my successor to cause proceedings to be taken to recover our property, and if necessary and advisable to proceed against the Master, at least, and so I recommend.” 

          However, nothing further is mentioned in the Grand Lodge communications, so we must assume that nothing was done to implement the Grand Master’s recommendation. It appears the lodge continued in activity for several years.

           In 1884, Rev. Henry R. Coleman published in Louisville, KY, Light from the East - Travels and Researches in Bible Lands.  Coleman was Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. On page 53 of his book, Coleman relates: 

“Up the narrow lanes of ancient Joppa, bedecked with many a curious arch and architectural ornament, lanes so steep that in many places they are ascended by steps, I follow my servant to the Jerusalem Hotel, half a mile from the shore. The city is perfumed with odors of the orange and lemon orchards of the vicinity, absorbing and drowning the vile smells, otherwise insupportable, of the city. 

My first delivery of letters in Holy Land is to Bro. Rolla Floyd, Past Master of the Royal Solomon Lodge at Jerusalem. Of this well-known gentleman the best description I have seen is in a Boston paper, communicated by an American traveler: 

‘Then he’ll do it,’  exclaimed the man to whom I had said that we had engaged Rolla Floyd to accompany us from Damascus to Jaffa. ‘You have been fortunate in securing that mysterious man. His name is worth a hundred rifles against any tribe in Syria.”         

Mr. Rolla Floyd was one of a colony of Americans who left the pine forests of Maine in the United States some fifteen years ago to settle in the Holy Land, there to be ready to greet the Blessed Redeemer at His second coming. But dissension arose among them; they were looked upon with hate and suspicion equally by Jews, Arabs and Mohammedans. They lost their lands near Jaffa by a fine point of Turkish law, and through the combined effects of death and ill-luck the members became restless, and of all there only remain in Palestine, so far as I can ascertain, Rolla Floyd and his worthy and amiable wife. 

... Mr. Floyd started the pioneer express of Syria by carrying letters and packages between Jaffa and Jerusalem.”         

... With a memory that seems to be without limit he shortly became master of the Arabic, so that he speaks it with an accurate fluency acquired by but few not born in the desert. In his familiarity with the Bible he is remarkable. I have even seen him quote from memory almost any verse that may be called for between Genesis and Revelations. It is asserted by those who have known him intimately for years that they have never seen him display anger, surprise, or boisterous mirth. Traveling throughout the entire length and breadth of Palestine, and becoming familiar with every lake, hill, valley, cave, stream and mountain mentioned in the Bible, he is to-day unquestionably the best informed in biblical history and topography of any man living. 

Once a month he regularly makes his appearance in Jerusalem and takes his seat in the East as W.M. of the Royal Solomon Mother Lodge, F.A.M., which position he has long held by the unanimous votes of the members. 

On page 178, Coleman wrote:  

The spirit with which he [Floyd] entered upon his work is seen in the following minute, of November 3, 1874: 

‘It was moved by Brother Rolla Floyd, and seconded by Brother Serapion J. Murad, and carried, that all Masons in good standing can, on application to this Lodge, be admitted as Honorary Members of Royal Solomon Lodge, N° 293, by a clear vote of all the members present at a regular Lodge meeting, notice having been given for that purpose, and the said Brother or Brethren having contributed to the funds of the Lodge a sum not less that thirty shillings ($7.50)’. 

Another traveler, Dwight M. Baldwin, made a brief report of his visit to the lodge on 6 March 1895. According to his report, included in a paper submitted at the Fourth Annual Reunion of the Masonic Veterans Association of Minnesota in St. Paul, on January 1896, the lodge met at King Solomon’s Quarries in Jerusalem. The lodge had 24 members, and its usual meeting place was the Howard Hotel. William H. Kyatt was the Master; George M. Cattem (Past master), Senior Warden; J. Lyons, Junior Warden, and C.N. Tudros, Secretary. Baldwin mentions that Kyatt, Catten and Tudros were connected with the British Legation in Jerusalem. 

          The abandoned homes of the American colony in Jaffa were later occupied by a group of Christian German settlers who called themselves “Templars”, though having no connection whatsoever with the Templar Order of the Middle Ages.