The Old Yishuv (Hebrew: היישוב הישן‎,
ha-Yishuv ha-Yashan) were the Jewish communities
of the southern Syrian provinces in the Ottoman
period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah
and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by
the end of World War I.
As opposed to the later Zionist aliyah and
the New Yishuv, which came into being with
the First Aliyah (of 1882) and was more based
on a socialist and/or secular ideology emphasizing
labor and self-sufficiency, the Old Yishuv,
whose members had continuously resided in
or had come to Eretz Yisrael in the earlier
centuries, were largely ultra-orthodox Jews
dependent on external donations (Halukka)
for living.
The Old Yishuv developed after a period of
severe decline in Jewish communities of the
Southern Levant during the early Middle Ages,
and was composed of three clusters.
The oldest group consisted of the Ladino-speaking
Sephardic Jewish communities in Galilee and
the Judeo-Arabic speaking Musta'arabim who
settled in Eretz Yisrael in the Ottoman and
late Mamluk period.
A second group was composed of Ashkenazi and
Hassidic Jews who had emigrated from Europe
in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
A third wave was constituted by Yishuv members
who arrived in the late 19th century.
The Old Yishuv was thus generally divided
into two independent communities – the Sephardim
(including Musta'arabim), mainly constituting
the remains of Jewish communities of Galilee
and the four Jewish holy cities, which had
flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries;
and the Ashkenazim, whose immigration from
Europe was primarily since the 18th century.The
'Old Yishuv' term was coined by members of
the 'New Yishuv' in the late 19th century
to distinguish themselves from the economically
dependent and generally earlier Jewish communities,
who mainly resided in the four holy cities
of Judaism, and unlike the New Yishuv, had
not embraced land ownership and agriculture.
Apart from the Old Yishuv centres in the four
holy cities of Judaism, namely Jerusalem,
Hebron, Tiberias and Safed, smaller communities
also existed in Jaffa, Haifa, Peki'in, Acre,
Nablus and Shfaram.
Petah Tikva, although established in 1878
by the Old Yishuv, nevertheless was also supported
by the arriving Zionists.
Rishon LeZion, the first settlement founded
by the Hovevei Zion in 1882, could be considered
the true beginning of the New Yishuv.
== Background ==
While a vibrant Jewish center had continued
to exist in the Galilee following the Jewish–Roman
wars, its importance was reduced with increased
Byzantine persecutions and the abolition of
the Sanhedrin in the early 5th century.
Jewish communities of the southern Levant
under Byzantine rule fell into a final decline
in the early 7th century.
and with the Jewish revolt against Heraclius
and Muslim conquest of Syria, the Jewish population
had greatly reduced in numbers.
In early Middle Ages, the Jewish communities
of southern Bilad al-Sham (Eretz Yisrael),
living under Muslim protection status, were
dispersed among the key cities of the military
districts of Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn,
with a number of poor Jewish villages existing
in the Galilee and Judea.
Despite temporary revival, the Arab Muslim
civil wars of the 8th and 9th centuries drove
many non-Muslims out of the country, with
no evidence of mass conversions, except for
Samaritans.The Crusader period marked the
most serious decline, lasting through the
12th century.
Maimonides traveled from Spain to Morocco
and Egypt, and stayed in the Holy Land, probably
sometime between 1165 and 1167, before settling
in Egypt.
He had then become a personal physician of
Saladin, escorting him throughout his war
campaigns against the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Following the Crusaders' defeat and the conquest
of Jerusalem, he urged Saladin to allow the
resettlement of the Jews in the city, and
several hundred of the long-existing Jewish
community of Ashkelon resettled Jerusalem.
Small Jewish communities were also existent
at the time in Gaza and in desolate villages
throughout upper and lower Galilee.The immigration
of a group of 300 Jews headed by the Tosafists
from England and France in 1211 struggled
very hard upon arrival in Eretz Israel, 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.
Their descendants blended with the original
Jewish residents, called Mustarabim or Maghrebim,
but more precisely Mashriqes (Murishkes).The
Mamluk period saw an increase in the Jewish
population, especially in the Galilee, but
the Black Death epidemics had cut the country's
demographics by at least one-third.
In 1260, Rabbi Yechiel of Paris arrived in
Eretz Israel, at the time part of Mamluk Empire,
along with his son and a large group of followers,
settling in Acre.
There he established the Talmudic academy
Midrash haGadol d'Paris.
He is believed to have died there between
1265 and 1268, and is buried near Haifa, at
Mount Carmel.
Nahmanides arrived in 1267 and settled in
Acre as well.In 1488, when Rabbi Ovadiya from
Bertinoro arrived in the Mamluk domain of
Syria and sent back letters regularly to his
father in Italy, many in the diaspora came
to regard living in Mamluk Syria as feasible.
== History ==
=== 
Revival ===
In 1492 and again in 1498, when the Sephardic
Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal
respectively, some took it as a call from
heaven to migrate to Eretz Yisrael, which
later changed hands between Mamluks and Ottomans.
Don Joseph Nasi succeeded in resettling Tiberias
and Safed in 1561 with Sephardic Jews, many
of them former Anusim.
By the late 16th century, Safed had become
a center of Kabbalah, inhabited by important
rabbis and scholars.
Among them were Rabbi Yakov bi Rav, Rabbi
Moshe Cordevero, Rabbi Yosef Karo, and Isaac
Luria.
At this time there was a small community in
Jerusalem headed by Rabbi Levi ibn Haviv also
known as the Mahralbach.
Rabbi Yeshaye Horowitz, the Shelah Hakadosh,
arrived in 1620.
Galilee, becoming the most important Jewish
center, however, didn't last.
By the early 17th century, the Ma'an Druzes
initiated a power struggle, which led to a
serious instability in Mount Lebanon and the
Galilee, eroding the Jewish communities.
Economic shifts also led to negative demographic
movement and the Galilee Jewish population
greatly declined.
Finally, in 1660, the cities of Tiberias and
Safed were laid in ruins by the Druze warlords,
and the remaining Jews fled as far as Jerusalem.
Though Jews resettled Safed in 1662, it became
a majorly Muslim center of the Ottoman Sanjak
of Safed.
=== Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid ===
In 1700, a group of over 1,500 Ashkenazi Jews
performed aliyah and settled in Jerusalem.
At that time, the Jewish population of the
Old City was primarily Sephardi: 200 Ashkenazi
Jews versus a Sephardi community of 1,000.
These Ashkenazi immigrants heeded the call
of Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid, a Maggid of Shedlitz,
Poland who went from town to town advocating
a return to Eretz Yisrael to 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, their leader, Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid,
died.
They borrowed money from local Arabs for the
construction of a synagogue but soon ran out
of funds and borrowed more money at very high
rates of interest (disputed).
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 Sephardi Jews.
One known example is Rabbi Abraham Gershon
of Kitov.
=== Hasidim and Perushim ===
In the 18th century, groups of Hasidim and
Perushim settled in Eretz Israel, Ottoman
Southern Syria at the time.
In 1764 Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka, a disciple
and mechutan of the Baal Shem Tov settled
in Tiberias.
According to "Aliyos to Eretz Yisrael," he
was already in Southern Syria in 1750.
In 1777, the Hasidic leaders Rabbi Menachem
Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Avraham of Kaliski,
disciples of the Maggid of Mezeritch, settled
in the area.
Mitnagdim began 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 the Hurvat Yehudah He-Hasid (the destroyed
synagogue of Judah He-Hasid).
Starting in 1830, about twenty disciples of
the Chasam Sofer (Moses Schreiber) settled
in Southern Syria, almost all of them in Jerusalem.
=== Ibrahim Pasha's rule ===
From 1831 to 1840, Syria fell under the rule
of the Egyptian viceroi 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 the 1834 Syrian
Peasant revolts and the 1838 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, the Galilee earthquake of 1837
destroyed 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
of Southern Syria, but overall his turbulent
period of rule is considered probably the
worst stage for the development of the Old
Yishuv.
=== Restored Ottoman rule ===
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, including Mishkenot
Sha'anim, which was built by British Jewish
banker and philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore
in 1860 as an almshouse, paid for by the estate
of an American Jewish businessman from New
Orleans, Judah Touro; and Petah Tikva, established
in 1878.
== Economy ==
=== 
Halukka ===
Many of the religious Jews that immigrated
to the Old Yishuv at this time were elderly
and immigrated to die in the Holy Land, whereas
most Orthodox Jews in the Old Yishuv had lived
for centuries in the four Holy cities—Safed,
Hebron, Jerusalem and Tiberias.
These devoutly religious Jews were devoted
to prayer, and the study of Torah, Talmud,
or Kabbalah, and likewise 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 Eretz Yisrael to incite the coming
of the Messiah, and, in part as they prayed
for the welfare of Diaspora Jewry (Jews that
live outside of Eretz Israel), as a result,
a worldwide communal support system developed;
or the system of Jewish charity called Halukka
(lit. "distribution").
By virtue of a living Jewish population in
Eretz Israel, the religious Jews of the Old
Yishuv helped the Diaspora maintain a stronger,
deeper connection to their roots there and
enhanced the Diaspora’s general, as well
as Jewish identities.
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 Mitzvot (good deeds) and Tzedakah
("charity" or "justice").
Many of the arrivals were noted Torah scholars
whose communities felt honored to be represented
in Eretz Yisrael and sent them ma'amodos (stipends)
on a regular basis.
The kollel network that was established many
years prior in Jewish communities around the
globe, to financially and charitably take
care of one another while under the civic
authority and care of the foreign governments
of the countries in which Jews lived, also
facilitated the use of halukkah charity and
allowed religious Jews to study Torah without
having to work for a living.
Money for this purpose was raised in Jewish
communities around the world for distribution
among the various kollelim that were correspondingly
established (by country or community of origin)
in the Old Yishuv, especially in Jerusalem.
From the thirteenth through the turn-of-the
20th century, Jewish communities living in
the Old Yishuv dispatched travelling emissaries
(shlihim or Meshullahim) to raise money in
the diaspora for sustenance.
The funds they raised were known as Halukah
and were collected around the world by these
envoys of the religious community, who subsequently
assisted in the transference of Diaspora funds
to Eretz Yisrael under the larger umbrella
of welfare and financial aid.
The halukka system, which promoted dependence
on charity, was harshly criticized in later
years as being ineffectual.
Especially during the time when Zionism arose
in Europe (1830s–1880s), and increasing
Jewish ideals towards fostering productivity
among the existing Jewish community of the
Old Yishuv, as well as for themselves.
This period saw a shift from traditional forms
of charity towards efforts of "self-help"
and productivity.
=== Etrog export ===
The export of etrogs cultivated in Eretz Yisrael
was also a source of income for the Old Yishuv.
This predated the Hovevei Zion idea of the
return to the land and Jewish farming, prior
to which citrons for use on the Sukkot holiday
were cultivated exclusively by Arab peasants
and then merchandized by the Jews.
According to Jacob Saphir, the etrog business
was monopolized by the Sephardic kollel even
before 1835.
They had contracted with the Arabic growers
of Umm al-Fahm for their entire progeny of
Balady citron.
In the 1840s they were also the 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 its Kashrut status.
Rabbi Chaim Elozor Wax, president of Kupat
Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes Kollel Polen of Warsaw,
was instrumental in making the Israeli-grown
etrogim saleable in Ashkenazi Jewish communities
in Europe.
He planted thousands of trees in a donated
orchard near Tiberias, and 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 the Hovevei 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 Rabbi Zvi
Hirsh Kalischer of Thorn — who published
his views in Drishat 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 make challah and biscuits,
ordinary bread and cooking.
Because of its scarcity, bread that had dried
was made into a pudding known as boyos de
pan.Milk was usually reserved for pregnant
women or the sick.
Almond milk was often used as a substitute.
Labneh or sour milk was sometimes purchased
from Arab peasants.
Sephardim kept soft cheese in tins of salt
water to preserve it.In the 1870s, meat was
rare and eaten on Sabbath and festivals, 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.
Salted cod was soaked and then prepared for
both weekdays and Sabbath meals.
Sephardim also had a preference for fish called
gratto and for sardines.
Another fish that was available was bouri
(grey mullet).Even until the end of the 19th
century, both Ashkenazim and 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 in slaked lime for 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 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
== References ==
== 
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 Yerushalaim על
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, Dovid Where Heaven Touches Earth:
Jewish Life in Jerusalem from Medieval Times
to the Present, Guardian Press, Jerusalem,
6th Ed., (2004) ISBN 0-87306-879-3
Sofer, Yoseph Moshe, Moro DeAroh Yisroel מרא
דארעא ישראל, Hebrew, Jerusalem (2003)
Szold, Henrietta, Recent Jewish Progress in
Palestine in American 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)
HaLevanon Vol. 11 no 42, Hebrew, Mainz, 1875
HaLevanon Vol. 11 no 43, Hebrew, Mainz, 1875
== External links ==
Old Yishuv Court Museum.
Conflict in Zion, by: Michael Toben, Dr. Dov
Goldflam
The Contribution of the Old Yishuv to the
Revival of the Hebrew Language
The Guardians of the City
Israeli Judaism
Herzog Hospital & the Rivlin family
