Old Yishuv

For the entire Jewish Yishuv, seeYishuv.

TheOld Yishuv(Hebrew:היישוב הישן,haYishuv haYashan) were the Jewish communities of theregion of Palestineduring theOttoman period,up to the onset ofZionist aliyahwaves, and the consolidation of theNew Yishuvby the end ofWorld War I.Unlike the New Yishuv, characterized bysecularandZionistideologies promoting labor and self-sufficiency, the Old Yishuv primarily consisted ofreligious Jewswho relied on external donations (halukka) for support.

The Old Yishuv evolved following a significant decline in Jewish communities across the Land of Israel during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and was composed of three clusters. Firstly,Ladino-speakingSephardic Jewishcommunities settled in the region during the lateMamlukand early Ottoman periods, alongsideArabic-speakingMusta'arabicommunities, who had already been living there since before the coming of Islam and had been culturally and linguisticallyArabized.Secondly,Ashkenazi Jewsimmigrated from Europe in the 18th and early 19th centuries, forming another group. Lastly, a third wave of Yishuv members arrived in the late 19th century,hailing from Europe,North Africa,Yemen,Persia,and theCaucasus.These migrations gave rise to two distinct communities within the Old Yishuv—theSephardim(includingMusta'arabim) and theAskhenazim.

Apart from the Old Yishuv centres in theFour Holy Cities,namelyJerusalem,Hebron,TiberiasandSafed,smaller communities also existed inJaffa,Haifa,Peki'in,Acre,NablusandShfaram.Petah Tikva,although established in 1878 by the Old Yishuv, nevertheless was also supported by the arriving Zionists.

The "Old Yishuv" term was coined by members of the "New Yishuv"in the late 19th century. Today, scholars generally concur that the term" Old Yishuv "does not strictly denote chronology or demographics, as many communities classified under this term arrived in the latter half of the 19th century. By the late Ottoman period, distinctions between the Old Yishuv and New Yishuv became blurred, particularly in urban neighborhoods and agricultural settlements.In the late 19th century, the Old Yishuv comprised 0.3% of the world's Jews, representing 2–5% of thepopulation of the Palestine region.The establishment ofRishon LeZion,the firstmoshavafounded byHovevei Zionin 1882, could be considered the true beginning of the "New Yishuv".

Background

While a vibrant Jewish center had continued to exist inthe Galileefollowing theJewish–Roman wars,its importance was reduced with increasedByzantinepersecutions and the abolition of theSanhedrinin the early 5th century. Jewish communities of thesouthern Levantunder Byzantine rule fell into a final decline in the early 7th century, and with theJewish revolt against HeracliusandMuslim conquest of Syria,the Jewish population had greatly reduced in numbers.

In early Middle Ages, the Jewish communities of southernBilad al-Sham(Southern Syria), living asdhimmisunder Muslim rule, were dispersed among the key cities of the military districts ofJund FilastinandJund al-Urdunn,with a number of poor Jewish villages existing in the Galilee and Judea.

Despite temporary revival, theThirdandFourth Fitnas(Arab Muslim civil wars) drove many non-Muslims out of the country, with no evidence of mass conversions, except forSamaritans.

TheCrusaderperiod marked the most serious decline, lasting through the 12th century.Maimonidestraveled fromSpaintoMoroccoandEgypt,and stayed in theHoly Land,probably sometime between 1165 and 1167, before settling in Egypt.He had then become a personal physician ofSaladin,escorting him throughout his war campaigns against theKingdom of Jerusalem.

Following the Crusaders' defeat and theconquest of Jerusalem,he urged Saladin to allow the resettlement of the Jews in the city, and several hundred of the long-existing Jewish community ofAshkelonresettled Jerusalem. Small Jewish communities were also existent at the time in Gaza and in desolate villages throughout upper and lower Galilee.

Theimmigrationof a group of 300 Jews headed by theTosafistsfromEnglandandFrancein 1211struggled very hard upon arrival in the region, as they had no financial support and no prospect of making a living. The vast majority of the settlers were wiped out by theCrusaders,who arrived in 1219, and the few survivors were allowed to live only inAcre.Their descendants blended with the original Jewish residents, calledMustarabimorMaghrebim,but more preciselyMashriqes(Murishkes).

TheMamluk period(1260–1517) saw an increase in the Jewish population, especially in the Galilee, but theBlack Deathepidemicshad cut the country's demographics by at least one-third. Safed and Jerusalem were the major populated Jewish urban areas, replacing Tiberias, Acre and Tyre.

In 1260, RabbiYechiel of Parisarrived in Eretz Yisrael, at the time part ofMamluk Empire,along with his son and a large group of followers, settling in Acre.There he established theTalmudic academyMidrash haGadol d'Paris.He is believed to have died there between 1265 and 1268, and is buried near Haifa, atMount Carmel.Nahmanidesarrived in 1267 and settled in Acre as well.

In 1488, whenObadiah of Bertinoroarrived in the Mamluk domain of Syria and sent back letters regularly to his father in Italy,many in thediasporacame to regard living in Mamluk Syria as feasible.

History

Revival

Photograph ofSephardi Jewsin 19th century taken from 1899 bookViews from Palestine and its Jewish colonies.

As early as 1360 whenLouis I of Hungaryhad issued a decree of expulsion, Jews sought refuge in Ottoman lands.

In 1492 and again in 1498, when theSephardic Jewswereexpelled from SpainandPortugalrespectively, some took it as a call from heaven to migrate to theLand of Israel,which changed hands from Mamluks to Ottomans after thesecond Ottoman–Mamluk war.Joseph Nasi,with the financial backing and influence of his aunt,Gracia Mendes Nasi,succeeded in resettlingTiberiasandSafedin 1561 with Sephardic Jews, many of them formerAnusim.

By the 16th century,Safed had become a center ofKabbalah,inhabited by important rabbis and scholars. Among them were RabbisYakov bi Rav,Moses ben Jacob Cordovero,Yosef Karo,Abraham ben Eliezer HaleviandIsaac Luria.At this time there was a small community in Jerusalem headed by RabbiLevi ibn Havivalso known as theMahralbach.In 1620 RabbiYeshaye Horowitz,theShelah Hakadosh,arrived from Prague.

Galilee, which had become the most important Jewish center, didn't last. By the early 17th century, theMa'anDruzes initiated a power struggle, which led to serious instability in Mount Lebanon and the Galilee, eroding the Jewish communities. Economic shifts also led to negative demographic movement, and the Galilean Jewish population greatly declined.

Finally, in 1660,Tiberias and Safed were laid in ruinsby Ottoman-aligned Druze warlords during theDruze power struggle of 1658–1667,and the remaining Jews fled as far as Jerusalem. Though Jews returned to Safed in 1662, it became a majority-Muslim center of the OttomanSafed Sanjak.

Judah HeHasid

In 1700,Judah HeHasid,amaggidofShedlitz,Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthmadealiyahand settled in Jerusalem.A group of over 1500Ashkenazi Jewscame with him, although some sources claim only 300 actually arrived.At that time, the Jewish population of theOld City of Jerusalemwas primarilySephardic:200 Ashkenazi Jews compared with a Sephardi community of 1000. The Ashkenazi immigrants heeded the call of Judah HeHasid, who went from town to town advocating a return to theLand of Israelto redeem its soil. Almost a third of the group died of hardship and illness during the long journey. Upon their arrival in the Holy Land, they immediately went to Jerusalem. Within days, Judah HeHasid died. The survivors borrowed money from local Arabs for the construction of asynagoguebut soon ran out of funds and borrowed more money at very high rates of interest.In 1720, when they were unable to repay their debts, Arab creditors broke into the synagogue, set it on fire, and destroyed their homes. The Jews fled the city and over the next century, any Jew dressed in Ashkenazi garb was a target of attack.Some of the Ashkenazi Jews who remained began to dress like Sephardic Jews. One known example isAbraham Gershon of Kitov.

Hasidim and Perushim

In the 18th century, groups ofHasidimandPerushimsettled in Eretz Yisrael, Ottoman Southern Syria at the time. In 1764 Rabbi Nachman ofHorodenka,a disciple andfather-in-lawof theBaal Shem Tovsettled inTiberias.According to "Aliyos to Eretz Yisrael," he was already in Southern Syria in 1750.

In 1777, the Hasidic leaders RabbiMenachem Mendel of Vitebskand Rabbi Avraham ofKaliski,disciples of the maggidDov Ber of Mezeritch,settled in the area.Misnagdimbegan arriving in 1780. Most of them settled in Safed or Tiberias, but a few established an Ashkenazi Jewish community in Jerusalem, rebuilding the ruins of theHurva Synagogue,the destroyed synagogue of Judah HeHasid.

Starting in 1830, about twenty disciples ofMoses Sofersettled in Southern Syria, almost all of them in Jerusalem.

Ibrahim Pasha's rule

Further information:Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833)

Jewish workers inKerem Avrahamneighborhood of Jerusalem in the mid-19th century

From 1831 to 1840, Syria fell under the rule of the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali of Egypt and his son Ibrahim Pasha, who effectively extended the Egyptian domination to Damascus, driving the Ottomans north. Throughout the period a series of events greatly disturbed the demographic composition of the country, being the stage for the1834 Syrian Peasant revoltsand the1838 Druze Revolt,which caused a great impact upon the Old Yishuv.

The greatest damage in lives and property was extended upon the Jewish communities of Safed and Hebron. In addition, theGalilee earthquake of 1837destroyed Safed, killed thousands of its residents, and contributed to the reconstitution of Jerusalem as the main center of the Old Yishuv.

Generally tolerant to the minorities, Ibrahim Pasha promoted the Jewish and Christian communities ofSouthern Syria,but overall his turbulent period of rule is considered probably the worst stage for the development of the Old Yishuv.

Restored Ottoman rule

Funeral services for a Rabbi, Jerusalem, 1903

With the restoration of the Ottoman rule in 1840 with British and French intervention, the region began experiencing a serious rise in the population, rising from just 250,000 in 1840 to 600,000 by the end of the 19th century. Though most of the increase was Muslim, also the Jewish community gradually rose in numbers.

A number of new Jewish communities were established in the late 19th century, includingMishkenot Sha'ananim,which was built by British Jewish banker and philanthropistSir Moses Montefiorein 1860 as an almshouse, paid for by the estate of an American Jewish businessman fromNew Orleans,Judah Touro;andPetah Tikva,established in 1878.

Economy

Halukka

Many of the immigrant Jews at this time were elderly and immigrated to die in the Holy Land, whereas most in the Old Yishuv had lived for centuries in the four Holy cities of Safed, Hebron, Jerusalem, and Tiberias. These Jews were devoted to prayer and the study of Torah,Talmud,orKabbalah,and had no independent source of living.

As those Jews fulfilled the Talmudic commandment of God that the Jewish people must live in the Land of Israel to incite the coming of the Messiah, and, in part as they prayed for the welfare of theJewish diaspora.The system of Jewish charity calledhalukka"distribution" evolved to support them.

As a living population, the religious Jews of the Old Yishuv helped the Diaspora maintain a stronger, deeper connection to the Land of Israel. In exchange, the Diaspora provided communities with financial support which was the economic succor of the residents of the Old Yishuv. Jews in the Diaspora observed Jewish religious traditions of the613 commandmentsandtzedakah(charitable giving or actions). Many of the arrivals were noted Torah scholars whose communities felt honored to be represented and sent themma'amodot"stipends" regularly. Thekollelnetwork was established many years prior in Jewish communities around the globe to financially support one another while under the civic authority and care of the governments of the countries in which Jews lived.

Money for this purpose was raised in Jewish communities around the world for distribution among the various kollels that were correspondingly established (by country or community of origin) in the Old Yishuv, especially in Jerusalem. From the 13th century until the beginning of the 20th century, Jewish communities of the Old Yishuv dispatched emissaries (shlihimormeshullahim) to raise money in for sustenance.

Thehalukkasystem, which promoted dependence on charity, was harshly criticized in later years as being ineffectual, especially whenZionismarose in Europe (1830s–1880s). This period saw a shift from traditional forms of charity towards efforts of "self-help" and productivity both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora.

Etrog export

An IsraelietrogorGreek citron,withpitamandgartel(ridge around the center)

The export ofetrogswas also a source of income for the Old Yishuv. This predated theLovers of Zionidea of the return to the land and Jewish farming, before whichetrogs(citrons) for use asSukkotwere cultivated exclusively by Arab peasants and then merchandized by the Jews.

According toJacob Saphir,the etrog business was monopolized by the Sephardic kollel even before 1835. They had contracted with the Arabic growers ofUmm al-Fahmfor their entire progeny ofBalady citron.In the 1840s they were also instrumental in the introduction of the Greek citron, which was already cultivated in Jewish-owned farms.

In the 1870s the Sephardim switched to the Greek variety, and the Ashkenazi Salant partners took over the Balady business. After a little while, controversy erupted regarding itskashrutstatus.

RabbiChaim Elozor Wax,president ofKupath Rabbi Meir Baal Haness,a kollel of Warsaw, was instrumental in making the etrogs saleable in Ashkenazi Jewish communities inEurope.He planted thousands of trees in a donated orchard nearTiberiasand turned the proceeds over to the Warsaw kollel.

Agricultural settlement

Generally the Old Yishuv did not participate in the creation of agricultural communities, which was begun in earnest by the immigrants that arrived from Eastern Europe beginning in the 1870s and 1880s,largely associated with theHovevei Zion.Towards this end, Hovevei Zion members, including the philanthropist Isaac Leib Goldberg, purchased land from the Ottoman government and local inhabitants.

Although there was some earlier support from religious Jews in Europe such as RabbiZvi Hirsh KalischerofThorn—who published his views inDrishat Zion—Hovevei Zion encountered significant opposition from the religious community, which for example insisted on the adoption of ancient and ineffective Biblical farming rules.

Food

In the Jewish communities of the Old Yishuv, bread was baked at home. People would buy flour in bulk or take their own wheat to be milled into the flour to bake bread in brick or mud ovens.

Small commercial bakeries were set up in the mid-19th century.Wheat flour was used to makechallahand biscuits, ordinary bread and cooking. Because of its scarcity, bread that had dried was made into a pudding known asboyos de pan.

Milk was usually reserved for pregnant women or the sick.Almond milkwas often used as a substitute.Labnehor sour milk was sometimes purchased from Arab peasants.Sephardimkept soft cheese in tins of salt water to preserve it.

In the 1870s, meat was rare and eaten onShabbatandfestivals,but became more available towards the end of the 19th century; however, chicken remained a luxury item. Meat was primarily beef, but goat and lamb were eaten, particularly in the spring. Almost every part of the animal was used.

Fresh fish was a rare and expensive food in Jerusalem, particularly in the winter. Saltedcodwas soaked and then prepared for both weekdays and Sabbath meals. Sephardim also had a preference for fish calledgrattoand forsardines.Another fish that was available wasbouri(grey mullet).

Even until the end of the 19th century, bothAshkenazimand Sephardim in Jerusalem stored large quantities of foodstuffs for the winter. In Sephardi households, these included rice, flour, lentils, beans, olives and cheese. Ashkenazim stored wine, spirits, olives, sesame oil and wheat.

At the end of the summer, large quantities of eggs were packed inslaked limefor the winter. Most Sephardic and Ashkenazi families would also buy large quantities of grapes to make wine. Olives were also pickled and Sephardim pickled eggplants, too.

See also

• History of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel
• History of Zionism
• Palestinian Jews
• Mea Shearim
• Yemin Moshe
• Mishkenot Sha'ananim
• Edah HaChareidis
• Yehoshua Leib Diskin
• Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
• Jacob Israël de Haan
• Monsohn Family of Jerusalem

Bibliography

• Parfitt, Tudor (1987) The Jews in Palestine, 1800–1882. Royal Historical Society studies in history (52). Woodbridge: Published for the Royal Historical Society by Boydell.
• Blau, Moshe,Al Chomothecha Yerushalaimעל חומותיך ירושלים,Hebrew,Bnei Brak (1968)
• Rabbi Gedalya,Shaali Shelom Yerushalaim,Hebrew,Berlin (1726)- memoir of a participant in the Aliyah of Rabbi Yehuda Hasid
• Rossoff, DovidWhere Heaven Touches Earth: Jewish Life in Jerusalem from Medieval Times to the Present,Guardian Press, Jerusalem, 6th Ed., (2004)ISBN0-87306-879-3
• Sofer, Yoseph Moshe,Moro DeAroh Yisroelמרא דארעא ישראל,Hebrew,Jerusalem (2003)
• Szold, Henrietta,Recent Jewish Progress in PalestineinAmerican Jewish Year Book(1915–16)
• Yehoshua, Yakov,Ha’bayit ve Ha’rechov b’Yerushalayim Ha’yeshana(Home and Street in Old Jerusalem),Hebrew,Jerusalem, Rubin Mass (1961)
• Ha-LevanonVol. 11 no 42,Hebrew,Mainz, 1875
• Ha-LevanonVol. 11 no 43,Hebrew,Mainz, 1875

External links

• Old Yishuv Court Museum.
• Conflict in Zion, by: Michael Toben, Dr. Dov GoldflamArchived2008-11-22 at theWayback Machine
• The Contribution of the Old Yishuv to the Revival of the Hebrew Language
• Israeli Judaism
• Herzog Hospital & the Rivlin familyArchived2007-10-11 at theWayback Machine