Particularity and Integration - The Sephardi
leadership
in
Jerusalem under British rule (1917-1948)
The
Ottoman regime in Palestine 1516-1917 recognized only one
Jewish community in Eretz-Israel – the Sephardi community. Even after its
decline in numbers, beginning in the 70's of the 19th century, this
recognition continued until the British conquest in
1917.
The head of the community and the Yishuv was the Chief Rabbi of
the Jews of Jerusalem, known as "Rishon LeZion" (the First in Zion) and from
1942, he received official authority with the title "Haham Bashi" (Chief Rabbi).
He was recognized by the regime as the authorized representative of the Yishuv
as a whole and as a supreme authority in all religious affairs. He was assisted
by two committees – a spiritual one and a worldly one as well as the rabbinical
courts, which dealt with the laws of the Torah and with civil
affairs.
The community had Torah, education and charitable institutions,
while communal life centred around four synagogues in the old city of Jerusalem,
named after the greatest and most revered among them – the Yohanan Ben-Zakai
synagogues. Its income came from contributions, alms, bequest, funds and
endowments locally and abroad. The main expenses were taxes paid to the
authorities, repayment of debts, maintenance of the community's property and the
"Haluka", that is, allocations and living expenses for Talmudic scholars, the
poor, the handicapped, the widows and orphans. Since it was a selective Haluka,
most of the community made efforts to earn a livelihood through their own work
mainly in the trades and commerce. As a result, one may discern three main
levels among the community: Rabbis and Talmudic scholars who received the
"Haluka", and with them on the same level, the rich and property owners; those
who earned own livelihood, businessmen and tradesmen, workers as well as
talmudic scholars who lived on partial allocations and their own work; the poor
who lived on the "Haluka".
From the beginning of the 20th century, there was a
perceptible decline in participation of the Sephardi community in the life of
the Yishuv in Jerusalem. Their numbers fell compared with the Ashkenazi element,
which grew both in numbers as well as economically and socially. The
organizational frame of the Sephardim weakened. A particularistic frame was
created according to country or region of origin, which set up independent
institutions and wished to be separated from the frame of the Sephardi community
(North-Africans, Yemenites, Bucharians, Georgians and others). The leadership
also was undermined and weakened. After the death of the "Rishon LeZion" and the "Haham Bashi",
Yaacov Shaul Eliachar, in the summer of 1906, a candidate could not be found who
was acceptable to all an a bitter dispute ensued over the vacant position, which
continued intermittently until the British conquest. The committees which helped
the "Haham Bashi" and which were supposed to be elected were mainly of a
temporary nature only. Personal calculations and iternational intrigues took
precedence during elections, which were not always conducted fairly and
honestly.
However, the veteran Sephardi community in Eretz-Israel showed
more openness, tolerance and flexibility towards innovation and improvements
than the old Ashkenazi Yishuv, and were more sensitive to change over the years.
Hence, with the growth of the new Yishuv in Jerusalem, there were young
Sephardim who came on Alia for national and social reasons, and members of the
community did not dissociate themselves from public and national life. They were
active in the building of neighbourhoods, encouragement of trade and commerce,
the modernization of education and promotion of a Hebrew education. This
involved repeated and persistent attempts in setting up an overall Jewish frame
for the whole country and a communal Jerusalem frame, even though weak, to take
care of the internal problems of the Yishuv and represent it on international
level.
These attempts fails mainly because of the apprehensions of the
old Ashkenazi Yishuv as to giving up its organizational independence, and
including the Sephardim in the administration of the charitable institutions and
their income. The Ashkenazim claimed that the Sephardim were trying to dictate
to them who should be their representatives and were trying to take control of
their resources. Thus, one attempt failed for lack of means and because of the
opposition of the Ottoman governor. The Sephardi leaders were also prominent
together with the Ashkenazim in political activity in organizing the Yishuv in
an official frame – Ottoman nationality, in order to present a position of
strength to the authorities, to look after their own interest and to organize
themselves for the municipal elections, the regional council and for parliament.
Internal squabbles and intrigues among the Moslems brought about the failure to
these efforts? On the eve of the First World War, religious faith was still
strong, and it served as a protection for the traditional way of life of the
"Kolel" (organization of Jews from the same country/city) and the
community.
The years of World War I, which led to a severe socio-economic
crisis, threatened the physical existence of the Yishuv and a change of regime
in the country with the British conquest, brought about decisive changes in the
organizational, social and economic structure of the Jerusalem Yishuv. The
meagre help that reached Jerusalem during the war was totally in the hands of
the representatives of the Zionist Movement – the heads of the Palestine Office
(set up in 1908), which was to a large extent cut off from the traditional
frames of the latter period of Ottoman rule. The weight and considerable power
of the financial assistance to the Yishuv turned the representatives of the
Zionist movement into leaders of the Yishuv in Jerusalem and gained for them
political power, which they desired to use also after the British conquest. They
were joined by the heads of the labor sector, who brought with them not only
secular and militant national ideology but also modern methods of political
organization – a political party organization with professional party workers
and an administration, democratic elections and so on. The British government
too regarded the Zionist Movement as the body, which was responsible for the
setting up of the Jewish national home.
In these circumstances, the Zionist leaders and the New Yishuv
made vigorous efforts to develop a system of institutions for the realization of
their goals, the reorganization of the Yishuv as a cohesive political body with
the status of agreed representation. In the highest echelons of the leadership,
politicians and party officials arose who regarded public activity as a
profession, in contrast to the leadership under Ottoman rule, which was in the
hands of Rabbis and the intelligentsia or those in esteemed profession who
served the community in a voluntary capacity. The institutional structure of the
Yishuv, moulded by immigrants from Europe, attached great importance to
political parties, and the party key was the decisive factor in many spheres.
Thus, the rules of the political game and its organizational tools and
instrument were quite unfamiliar to the Sephardi and the Eastern
communities.
Under British mandatory rule, the difference among the Sephardim
intensified – on the one hand, the veteran families and those from the Balkan
states, and on the other, the Eastern communities who came from the Arab and
Persian-speaking countries with their various dialects. These latter communities
became the majority of the non-Ashkenazi population in Jerusalem, the Sephar-dim
constituting the intermediate stratum between them and the Ashkenazim
professionally, economi-cally and socially.
The political-public path of the Sephardim at this time of change
was in dispute: on the one hand, they did not alienate themselves from the
movement of national revival wished to be part of the new institutions of the
Yishuv, both on a national level and locally in Jerusalem. On the other, they
became active in reorganizing themselves in their own specific way: firstly, to
preserve their traditional organization, the Council of the Sephardi Community,
the symbol of a magnificent community of hundreds of years, including property
and sources of income. It was desired to set up other organizations as a part of
it, as instruments of power and influence of the veteran Elite had held eminent
status under Ottoman rule, but whose standing had declined even before the First
World War. By contrast, there were among the Sephardim individuals who
completely negated political reorgani-zation on the basis of community, and for
them the area of activity was among the various parties, which they felt
everyone should join o support according to his
views.
Apparently, at the outset of British mandatory rule, most
Spehardim and members of the eastern communities were considered to be non-party
and the active workers of most of their organizations, set up during the period
under review, were close to the middle-class. They resembled the latter in their
lack of institutionalisation of political administration and by a style of
leadership, which attained its positions mainly by virtue of the criteria of
familial attributes, such as wealth, distinguished birth and education. Other
issues name: The extent of participation of the Sephardim in the main
institutions of the Yishuv and of the Jerusalem Jewish community and their
struggle and claims on the eve of national and local elections and in the
periods between elections, since the problem of representation was one of the
important issues which occupied the minds of its leaders. When their claims
were not accepted through negotiations, the exercise of pressure and even
uttering threats, they had no alternative but to accept the decision against
them. In special instances, they carried out their threats by standing aloof and
dissociating themselves.
As the period of British Mandatory rule advanced, there was a
constant shrinking in the political power of communal organizations, including
the Sephardi bodies, throughout their persistent struggle over representation in
the political order of the Yishuv institutions. An exception was the Provisional
Council of Palestine Jewry, which was active in the first two years after the
British conquest, and in whose institutions only few Sephardim were be
found.
The leaders of the Sephardi community fulfilled an important role
in the establishment of other institutions. The first institution of the Yishuv
to be founded by Jerusalem Jews some months after the British conquest was the
Committee of the Jerusalem Jewish Community. The first Committee contained 21
non-Ashkenazi members out of the total of 45, and its vice-chairman was a
Sephardi leader. The second Committee which was elected a year later, received
twice the number of Sephardi votes compared with the Ashkenazim, and had a
community quota not been laid down, the former would have gained an overwhelming
majority. Thirty-two non-Ashkenazim were elected out of a total of seventy
members of the Committee. The vice chairman and treasurer were Sephardi leaders.
Elections to the third Committee held in 1923 under this sign of a split among
the Sephardim, gave them 28 members out of the total of 70. The chairman was a
Sephardi until the termination of his office in
1932.
The Sephardim also worked towards the establishment of new
rabbinical bodies and participated in their administration: the Jerusalem
Rabbinical Committee which functioned in the spring of 1918 and the Rabbinical
Office of the Jewish Community, which functioned from 1919-1921. The latter
institution was set up at the initiative of the Zionist Commission in
conjunction with the Committee of the Jerusalem Jewish Community, in order to
enable the inclusion of sections of the Old Yishuv and of religious circles in
the life of the Yishuv, and mainly so that the Zionist Movement and its
institutions should attain legitimation from some of these groups. One of two
presidents of the Office was a Sephardi, and the number of Ashkenazi and
Sephardi members was equal.
Preparations for the First Elected Assembly were more
comprehensive. The participation of the Sephardim was not contested. It was
taken for granted, and the subject debated was whether the Sephardim should
reorganize as a separate faction with their own platform or whether should join
other political parties and organizations. The leaders of Sephardi organizations
decided that they participate in elections to Assembly as an independent body.
Their list of candidates included a number of Ashkenazi personalities so as to
moderate even slightly the communal isolation an in order to make use of their
prestige and talents.
Propaganda activity was vigorous. It emphasized that since the
Sephardim were the first to build the Old Yishuv in the country, they should
also be the first in laying the cornerstone of the important national
institution for the up building of the country – viz., the Elected
Assembly.
One of the obstacles in preparing the Assembly and to the success
of its sessions was the question of giving women the right to vote. The leaders
of the Sephardi community and the vast majority of their rabbis did not forbid
the participation of the women in the elections, though in order to ensure that
the ultra-Orthodox would join the new institutions of the Yishuv, they were
prepared to reject any decision explicit rights of voting to the women. However,
this issue was not a vital one for the Sephardim in determining their actual
participation in the elections as it was for the ultra-Orthodox at one extreme
and the labor sector at the other.
According to the results of the lections to the First Assembly,
the communal bloc of the Sephardim and the eastern communities was at its peak.
It was represented by a quarter of the total number of delegates and held second
place after the Labor Movement. However, the implementing bodies of the Yishuv's
own leadership, the executive of the National Council and its presidium were not
composed on the basis of the relative representation of factions and
organizations at the Elected Assembly, so that the Sephardim were not allotted
fitting representation on these bodies. Participation of the Sephardim in the
second session of the Assembly was essential for the creation of an image of a
leadership representative of the Yishuv. They made this participation
conditional mainly in regard to representation, and exploited the tough stand of
the ultra-Orthodox on granting of voting rights to women, supporting them by
presenting special demands on behalf of their
constituents.
Also the council of the Chief Rabbinate of Palestine, established
in 1921, received the support of the Sephardi community and its leadership. Its
regulations laid down equal representation of Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Though
two presidents of equal rank from both communities were appointed, the status of
the latter was downgraded compare with the past; but the Sephardim agreed to
this compromise in order to help consolidate a national home in Palestine and in
recognition of the status of the Ashkenazim in the Yishuv. Obviously, the
placing of the rabbis of the two communities on an equal basis, derogated from
the prestige of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, which also contributed, inter Alia, to
the declining status of the Sephardi community as a
whole.
This formal arrangement did not change during the period of
British Mandatory rule and remained in force in the Council of the Chief
Rabbinate elected in 1936 and in 1945, as well as in the local rabbinate in
Jerusalem.
Prior to the elections to the Second Elected Assembly in 1925, the
question was again debated by the Sephardi organizations as to whether to
present an independent list or join the extra-community political camp. It was
decided to participate in a special Sephardi list, while the mode of propaganda
did not change significantly from that of the previous elections. Then, too, the
Sephardim included in their list an Ashkenazi personality of stature (Menachem
Ussishkin), since he was considered to support reorganization in a world
context.
After the elections, there was a steep decline in representation
of the Sephardim to the Assembly. Representation of their bloc reached 16% and
the Sephardi list lost more than 30% of its representation to the First Elected
Assembly.
Causes of the decline continued to mount during the period: large
Alia from European countries, which affected the relative power structure of the
Yishuv in favour of the Ashkenazim; the setting up of national immigrant
organizations of Sephardi communities who did not identify politically with the
established Sephardi institutions; the growing power of political parties
(mainly the Labor Movement and the Revisionists) and the intensification of the
recognition that the parties constituted a suitable frame for political
organization and not the community. Also the middle-class, to which the Spehardi
bloc had at one time been close, lagged behind the Labor sector in devising the
means for the enlistment of resources and manpower and did not succeed in
converting its advantage in bringing capital and investment to the Palestine
economy to a lever for the acquisition of political
power.
Hence, it is not surprising that after the above-mentioned
elections the Sephardim wished to assure their status and representation as well
as other rights in clear-cut regulations. The opportunity to do so occurred with
the publication of the proposed regulations of the Jewish community in the
summer of 1927. In response, they submitted a detailed memorandum to the
authorities containing demands for the recognition of the community
organization, its property, representation of the Chief and local rabbinate,
giving the title "Rishon LeZion" to the Sephardi Chief Rabbi and so on. The
leaders of the Yishuv institutions made no objection to these demands, in order
to avoid a sharp conflict and chain reaction and even perhaps internecine
strife. The British authorities accepted most of the demands, and those not
accepted into the body of regulations, were included in written clarifications
by the authorities.
After publication of the regulations in January 1928, The Spehardi
leaders and most of their rabbis were harnessed for the dissemination of the
political and national importance of organizing the Yishuv and propaganda to
register in the records of the Jewish community (Knesset Israel). Their guiding
principle was to join the Jewish community en bloc and attain their full demands
from within. Their main demand was the assurance of Spehardi representation on
the Third Elected Assembly on the basis of size of the Sephardi population,
i.e., the percentage of the actual number of voters. The extent of propagating
on behalf of the Jewish community was made conditional on this demand being
granted. It was granted though only temporarily, not from a love for the
Sephardim but from a fear for the very existence of the frame of the Jewish
Community, to which ultra-Orthodox groups such as the Agudat Israel and others
did not belong.
After the National Council had agreed to amend the regulations
governing the elections to the Elected Assembly, the Sephardi institutions took
a decision prohibiting any Jew of whatever community or political affiliation
from withdrawing his name from the Jewish Community Register. They regarded
participation in the Community as an historic and a step towards the unification
of the Jews of Eretz Israel into the community. There were also those who were
of the view that it would be easier to influence the Yishuv organization from
within, and that because of the split among the Ashkenazim, the unity of the
Sephardim would put the Yishuv leadership in their hands. This unity did not
materialize and in the elections to the Third Elected Assembly, a number of
Sephardi and Eastern community lists put forward candidates according to the
number of voters in their communities.
Just as the Sephardi leadership supported the founding
organization of the Committee of the Jerusalem Jewish Community, they also
participated in the setting up of the institution, which replaced it, the
Committee of the Jerusalem Community on the basis of the regulations of the
Jewish community.
In the elections to the first committee in 1932, it was not
possible to present a combined list of Spehardi candidates because of internal
dissension in the various other lists. Fifteen Sephardim were elected out of a
total of 31 members on the committee. Its first president was a
Sephardi.
Nevertheless, the elections to the second committee held in 1938
gave the Sephardim, who competed on an independent list, only three
representatives. During its term of office, the feeling of discrimination grew
among the Sephardim in regard to representation, the allocation of funds,
welfare aid, etc. A special committee was set up to investigate their claims,
which submitted its recommendations, though these were never
implemented.
The Sephardim were not absent from the Jerusalem Municipality and
in the twenties their representative served as Deputy Mayor. In the municipal
elections held in 1927 and 1934 they decided against isolationism and in favour
of participation in a united list of Jewish candidates. Their participation
among the higher officials of the municipality was also
conspicuous.
In the 40's the political parties discovered that the Sephardi
organizations did not have any strong political power, nor did they in fact
represent the majority of this section of the public. When the Spehardim
demanded a change in the method of elections to the Fourth Elected Assembly to
one that would include the Regional component, the opposers (mainly the Labor
Movement and the Mizrachi) refused to comply, leaving the Sephardim with no
other alternative but to carry out their threat and boycott these elections
(together with most of the centre and right
parties).
The Assembly elected according to law, functioned without the
participation of the Sephardi faction as in the past. Protracted negotiations
were conducted in regard to their representation on the main institutions of the
Yishuv without being elected and concluded with an agreement, which was never
implemented
One achievement was attained at that time, when on the eve of the
elections to the Committee of Jerusalem Community (at the end of 1944) their
demand was acceded to that most of the lists of candidates be composed on the
principle of alternating Ashkenazim with Sephardim. The result of the elections
was an impressive Sephardi representation – 19 members out of total of 31
members on the committee, but unfortunately for the Sephardim, these elections
were invalidated by the Elections Committee because of fraud, and the committee
elected in 1938 remained in office until the establishment of the State of
Israel.
Concerning the prominent Sephardi organizations, which functioned
in Jerusalem during the period, centres were located in the city. We would like
to mention that the council of the Sephardi Community in Jerusalem the
traditional institution, continued to exist and function uninterruptedly until
the inception of the State of Israel (and up to the present day). Its members
included most of the founders and leaders of the other organizations, which were
active over a limited period on a local, national, and world level, and on the
basis of class (the workers organization), age (youth) and ideology (political
party).
The Council of the Spehardi Community knew conflicts and crises,
which began shortly after the British conquest, between the rabbis and the
veteran establishment on the one side and the youth and laymen on the other. The
Chief Rabbi remained only formally the Honorary President of the Council.
Determining policy, authorizing implementation, the budget and current
administration of work were not within his jurisdiction, but mainly in the hands
of the lay members. A steep decline may also be noted in representation of the
rabbis in general in most institutions of the Sephardi Community. The leaders of
the Eastern communities, whose numerical power was growing, desired to vote and
to be elected; but they curbed by the veteran Sephardim through the election
regulations which imposed high dues on voters and elected, beyond the means of
the poorer elements among these communities.
The first Sephardi Jewish organization to be established in
Jerusalem shortly after the British conquest (early in 1918) was the Association
of Sephardi Youth, which later changed its name to Histadrut Halutzei Hamizrah
(The pioneers of the East), which was active until 1929. Its main goal was the
unification of the Jews of Eretz Israel into one Hebrew-Zionist community. Its
members were mainly the generation following the rabbis and the veteran Sephardi
population, as well as immigrants from the Balkan States some of whom held key
leadership positions in their own Sephardi community during the period of
British Mandatory rule.
Other organizations dealt with in this study were the following in
the chronological order of their founding: General Organization of the Sephardi
Jews (1919); the World Confederation of Sephardi Jews (1925); the Jewish Liberal
Party of Palestine, the Political Council of the Sephardi Community and Eastern
Jews and the Union of the Sephardi and Oriental Workers (1936); the
Confederation of Sephardi and Oriental Jews in Palestine (1939); and the Board
of Deputies of the Jewish Sephardi Communities in Palestine
(1944).
The operations of the most of the Sephardi organizations were
marked by dissension between the supporters of wide activity and those of
limited activity, i.e., those who wished efforts to be devoted to the maximum
numbers of spheres and those who wished to concentrate on one or two spheres,
such as educational and cultural work. The majority favoured wide activity. An
attempt in the second half of the thirties to form a political party also
failed. Appa-rently, the founders were not of the same views and there was no
ideological bond among them to justify the establishment of a political
party.
Organization of the Sephardim in a world framework within the
Zionist Movement in the twenties and the thirties demanded extensive and
vigorous effort. It began enthusiastically, but the enthusiasm gradually waned
and petered out because of a lack of unity behind the idea and the action among
all the Sephardim communities, while the World Zionist Organization did not
regard this organization as representing all the Sephardim in the world, within
the system of political parties or streams which are not based on communal
criteria. Thus the World Confederation of Sephardi Jews functioned,
concentrating mainly on the aspects of settlement and Alia of Sephardi Jews. The
Zionist political organization of the Sephardim remained in fact a clear-cut
Palestinian political movement.
To the factor of weakness mentioned above, may be added that of
apathy a, lack of persistence and systematic efforts as well as the absence of
an adequate budget to assure activity – factors which impeded the Sephardi
organizations, except for the Council of the Sephardi Community in Jerusalem,
which benefited from assured and regular income from immovable property and
bequests as well as from contributions collected by emissaries sent abroad from
time to time. Even after working in public positions, the overwhelming majority
of Sephardi leader continued to practice their professions and did not make
these positions their sole source of income.
Emphasis on the universal values of the Yishuv placed national
tasks in the vanguard and substantially reduced ethnic-community political
activity, including that of the Sephardi organizations. The dominant culture and
the common denominator became Western, and the society of the Yishuv took on a
growing secular form, while the relative strength of the Sephardim and the
Eastern communities within it gradually diminished. Thus, they became a marginal
factor in the political system of the Yishuv, though as voters they constituted
a reservoir of votes for those aspiring to rule, and hence their dependence on
the favours of party organizations increased.
Apart from the various community organizations, which competed
among each other, the Sephardi community split among the various political
parties of the Labor Movement and of the middle-class and religious sectors,
while the senior positions went mainly to the
Ashkenazim.