Old Yishuv

For the entire Jewish Yishuv, see Yishuv

Jews of the Old Yishuv in 1895

Yishuv haYashan (Template:Lang-he) (Old Yishuv) refers to the pre-Zionist Jewish community in the Holy Land. It consisted of the "Four Holy Cities", namely Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron. smaller communities were in Jaffa, Haifa, Peki'in, Acre, Nablus (Shechem), Shfaram and until 1779 alsi in Gaza. This term is used to distinguish between the old-time residents of Eretz Yisrael and the Halutzim (pioneers), those arriving for the purpose of renewing a Jewish State, seventeen and a half centuries after the last Jewish State and independence had come to an end there. The newer arrivals and their settlements are known as the New Yishuv. Petah Tikva, established in 1878 can be considered both, the old and new Yishuv.

Foundation

For the original and earlier Jewish Yishuv, see History of the Jews in the Land of Israel

The Rishonim

The aliyah of 300 members headed by the Tosafists from England and France in 1211 struggled very hard upon arrival in Eretz Yisroel, as they had no financial support and no prospect of making a living. The vast majority of the settlers were wiped out by the Crusaders who arrived in 1219, and the few survivors were allowed to live only in Acre (עַכּוֹ, Akko). No descendents of theirs are known, indicating that if there were any survivors, they blended with the original Jewish residents, called Mustarabim or Maghrebim, but more precisely Murishkes.

Maimonides (1135-1204) wandered from Spain, via Morocco and [[[Egypt]], then lived briefly in Eretz Yisroel, but was finally forced to turn back, and remained in Egypt, where an established Jewish community existed.

In 1260 Rabbi Yechiel of Paris arrived in Eretz Yisroel along with his son and a large group of followers, settling in Acre.[1][2] There he established the Talmudic academy Midrash haGadol d'Paris.[3] He is believed to have died there between 1265 and 1268, and is buried near Haifa, at Mount Carmel.

Nahmanides arrived in 1267 and succeeded in settling in Acre. In 1488, when Rabbi Ovadiya from Bertinoro arrived in the Holy Land and sent letters back to Italy, many more people came to regard living in Eretz Yisroel as a possibility.

The Exile from Spain

In 1492 and again in 1498, when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal, some took it as a call from heaven to return to their homeland, Eretz Yisroel. Confronted with seeking a new place to live, they found it reasonable to head for the country of the Patriarchs.

After Don Joseph Nasi succeeded in resettling the towns of Tiberias and Safed in 1561 with Sephardic Jews, many of them former marranos, Jews starting arriving from all over Europe, Africa and Asia in even greater numbers.

By the beginning of the 16th century an abundance of notable and scholarly rabbis already resided in the so-called "city of the mystics", Safed. Among those Sephardic rabbis were Rabbi Yakov bi Rav, Rabbi Moshe Cordevero, Rabbi Yosef Karo, and the Arizal. At this time there was a small community in Jerusalem headed by Rabbi Levi ibn Haviv also known as the Mahralbach. The only Ashkenazic rabbi known to have lived in Jerusalem was Rabbi Yeshaye Horowitz, the Shelah Hakadosh, who arrived in 1620.

Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid

Although not all of the smaller aliyahs were successful, the misfortunes encountered by the aliyah of the year 1700, a group which included more than 1500 persons, were overwhelming and had a long-lasting negative effect on the Yishuv. At that time, about 200 Ashkenazi and about 1,000 Sephardi Jews lived in the city. This aliyah was initiated by an Ashkenazic preacher (Maggid) from Shedlitz, Poland who went from town to town advocating a return to Eretz Yisroel to redeem its soil.

Almost a third of them died of hardships and illnesses during the trip. The rest were subject to a long series of difficulties. When they reached the Holy Land, they immediately went to Jerusalem. After only a few days there; their leader, Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid, suddenly died. This severely affected them, as their main contact to the diaspora was suddenly cut off. Having no other choice, they borrowed money from local Arabs; sent emissaries (Shadarim) to Europe to collect money, and in the meantime settled and built themselves a synagogue. This was not accomplished without paying huge bribes to the local Arab municipality, which drained the money they had brought. They were then forced to take more loans from wealthy Arabs at even higher rates of interest, which in the end they weren't able to repay as the money pledged them from Europe never or not enough arrived.

In 1720, Arab creditors broke into the synogogue, set it on fire, and took over or destroyed their houses; and the inhabitants fled Jerusalem. For nearly a century thereafter, it was dangerous for a Jew dressed in Ashkenazic garb to enter the holy city, as they would be held collectively responsible for these debts. To avoid being confronted, those Ashkenazic Jews who remained started to dress like Sephardi Jews. One example known is Rabbi Abraham Gershon of Kitov.

The Hasidim and Perushim

The next aliyah, in the 18th century, could be called a double aliyah, since it was a time of return to Zion by both the Hasidim and the Perushim. On the Hasidic side it was Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Avraham of Kaliski, disciples of the Hasidic leader Rabbi Dov Ber (known as the Maggid of Mezritch), who together with many followers established an aliyah in 1777. The Misnagdic faction arrived a bit later, in 1780. Most of them settled in Safed or Tiberias, but a small number were the first to establish an Ashkenazic Kehilla in Jerusalem by rebuilding the ruins of the Hurvat Yehudah He-Hasid (the destroyed synagogue of Judah He-Hasid).

The Earthquake in Safed

Finally, the earthquake of 1836 destroyed Safed, killed thousands of its residents, and contributed to the reconstitution of Jerusalem as the main center of the Yishuv haYashan.

Finances

Kollel

Main articles: Kollel and Halukka

Many of the settlers making aliyah were elderly, who arrived with their life's savings. However this was not the case with all, and even those who brought some money with them did not imagine how much they would need. This was especially so when an Arabic Pasha would get a tip about some money, and would order the individual's arrest, demanding the highest possible bribe to set him free.

In light of this it became important for the settlers to organize, and they founded a central support organization, called a kollel. The plan was that every place of origin would collect money through Pushka fundraising and similar means, to support their community members in the Holy Land.

Many of those arriving were noted Torah scholars whose places of origin felt honored to be represented by in Eretz Yisroel, and accordingly sent them Maamodos (stipends) on a regular basis.

They organized Kollelim like the Galicien, Hungarian, Hod (stands for Holland and Deutchland), Horodno, Warsaw and others. They collected money in organized fashion from entire countries and gave a stipend (Halukka) for its members. Those under the protection of the Austrian consulate were especially fortunate, as the consulate was instructed from Vienna to be helpful to Austro-Hungarian citizens living in the Holy land. They became even more helpful after Kaiser Franz Joseph visited the Holy Land in 1869 and the Yishuv haYashan gave him a royal reception.

Etrog Export

Main article: Balady citron

The export of Etrog cultivated in Eretz Yisroel was also considered as a source of income for the Yishuv haYashan, and this predated the idea of the Hovevei Zion colonization, which intended that the etrogim should be cultivated by the Jewish settlers themselves. Prior to that the Etrogim were cultivated exclusively by Arab peasants and then merchandized by the Jews.

According to Yakov Sapir, the Etrog business was monopolized by the Sephardic Kollel even before 1835. They had contracted with the Arabic growers of Um el-Faum for their entire progeny of Balady citron. In the 1840's they were also the instrumental in the introduction of the Greek citron which was already cultivated in Jewish owned farms. In the 1870's the Sephardim switched to the Greek variety, and the Ashkenazi Salant partners took over the Balady business. After a little while, controversy erupted regarding its Kashrut status.

Rabbi Chaim Elozor Wax was very instrumental in making the Israeli-grown etrogim saleable in Ashkenazi Europe. He planted thousands of trees in a donated orchard near Tiberias, and turned the proceeds over to the Warsaw Kolel he was heading.

The Fight for Existence

Hovevei Zion

The initial intentions of the Hovevei Zion were similar to those of the Yishuv haYashan, namely returning to Zion and living in holiness in the Holy Land. The Hovevei Zion had many great rabbis as members. It emphasized buying up large amounts of land from the Turkish government or from the local inhabitants. Eventually, after the First Zionist Congress in 1897, many Hovevei Zion joined the Zionist movement in order to establish a Jewish state.

The initiator and leader of the Hovevei Zion was Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Kalischer of Thorn who published his views and love to Zion in his work Drishat Zion. This work also included his intention to renew the ritual of korbanoth at the ruins of the Holy Temple even before the Temple is rebuilt, together with some other details which turned out to to be very controversial. Among his opponents were the Ashkenazic Yishuv haYashan rabbis headed by Rabbi Meir Aurbach. On the other hand he was supported by his colleague Rabbi Eliyah Gutmacher of Greiditz, known as the Greiditzer Tzadik. Finally this support ceased due to the foundation of Mikveh Israel - a secular based agricultural school that involved violating the Halakha and weakening Torah observance in the Holy Land. In the end, the remnants of this group joined the Zionist movement of Theodor Herzl.

See also

• Palestinian Jews
• History of the Jews in the Land of Israel
• Mea Shearim
• Yemin Moshe
• Mishkenot Sha'ananim
• Edah HaChareidis
• Haredi Judaism
• Neturei Karta
• Hastening Redemption

References

• Shaali Shelom Yerushalaim. Berlin: private. 1726. {{cite book}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
• Blau, Moshe (1968). Al Chomothecha Yerushalaim על חומותיך ירושלים. Bnei Berak.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Sofer, Yoseph Moshe (1980,2003). Moro DeAroh Yisroel מרא דארעא ישראל (in Hebrew). Jerusalem. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Rosoph, David (2002). V'Zeh Shaar Hashomaim וזה שער השמים (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: private.

• Where Heaven Touches Earth By Dovid Rossoff
• American Jewish Year Book
• HaLevanon 11 no 42, no 43