http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2012/12/lord-montgomerys-hebrew-bible-jewish.html
Lord Montgomery’s Hebrew Bible & The Jewish Significance Of El Alamein
The Montgomery Bible
And the Sydney launch of Kelvin Crombie’s new book El Alamein and the Jewish Survival
Shirlee Finn
Little did I realise last Monday November 26th, when I went to State Parliament for the launch of Kelvin Crombie’s new book, El Alamein and the Jewish Survival, that I was in for such a special treat.
I must admit my main interest initially was to see the Tenach – Old Testament, which was presented to Field Marshal Montgomery as an official gift of gratitude for his role in saving the Jewish community in Palestine from the impending conquest by the German-led forces commanded by General Rommel.
Not only was it emotional seeing such a part of the history of Palestine, it was an extremely informative talk about the whole war time history of the region and how grateful the Jews of Mandate Palestine were to the Australian Forces keeping them safe.
Western Australian church and war historian Kelvin Crombie was responsible for the rare find featured in this news report – a photograph of the Australian 10th Light Horse Regiment entering Jerusalem at the time of the city’s liberation from Ottoman control in December 1917. (Read and see more here)
Kelvin Crombie has just written a new book, and my regular reader Shirlee, of Sydney (undoubtedly familiar to other regular readers for the number of times I have occasion to tip my hat to her!), went along to its New South Wales launch. The following guest post is the result. (It’s Shirlee’s second guest post on this blog: the first was her illustrated account earlier this year of her journey to the West Bank; it kindled much interest.)
The words on the inscription, attached to the Tenach and encased on the cover in silver and mother of pearl are:
“Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, GCB, DSO, the gallant leader of the victorious forces by whose hand God has placed salvation in Zion in the days of El Alamein presented in token of the everlasting gratitude of Palestine Jewry by the Vaad Leumi, General Council of the Jewish Community in Palestine”.
During the twenty-four years he lived in Israel Kelvin heard from dozens of older Jewish people about the importance of the battle of El Alamein for the survival of the Jewish people in the land of Israel. One of these was Professor Alex Carmel from Haifa University. In the late 1980s Kelvin and Prof. Carmel together tracked down the Tenach, which the Jewish leadership of Eretz Israel had given to General Montgomery after the victory at El Alamein, at the UK office of CMJ (Churches Ministry among Jewish People). It was hidden away and forgotten.