Jerusalem on Passover, 1928

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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Rabbi Kook and Mr. Cook -- in Jerusalem on Passover, 1928 Posted: 12 Apr 2014  Original caption: "Jewish Pilgrims Celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, 1928." (Harvard Library/ Central Zionist Archives) The Harvard Library/Central Zionist Archives collection provides a series of pictures from 1928, all captioned "Jewish Pilgrims Celebrate Passover in Jerusalem." No other information is provided, but we can deduce quite a bit. The picture above shows the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Abraham Isaac Kook, delivering a Torah discourse to a large audience.  Where? Quite possibly near his home between Jerusalem's Prophets Street and Jaffa Road. While women are sitting separately from the men, the audience is most certainly not an ultra-Orthodox crowd.  With their heads covered, they are more likely a religious Zionist grouping.  Their holiday dress suggest that it either the Passover holiday or the Sabbath of Passover.  Where are the pilgrims heading?  They appear to be walking in the area of Prophets Street.  There seems to be a commotion in the back of the march, with men turning to see what happened. We welcome  suggestions from readers. (Harvard Library/Central Zionist Archives) The next picture shows the pilgrims' destination -- the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City.  The crowd entered the Old City through Jaffa Gate and is streaming into the shuk at the end of David Street on the way to the Kotel.  The Thomas Cook travel office was a prominent landmark already prior to 1898 and could be seen in the last picture on this page. The crowd entering the Arab shuk of Jerusalem's Old City. (Harvard Library/Central Zionist Archives) David Street, inside the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. The picture appears to have been taken prior to 1898 when the moat on the right was filled in and the road widened to allow entry of the German emperor.   (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)

Everyday Life of Jews in Jerusalem's Old City 120 Years Ago - Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

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The Everyday Life of Jews in Jerusalem's Old City 120 Years Ago Posted: 15 Jan 2014  The oldest pictures of Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City date from the 1850s, such as this photo taken by Mendel Diness. (With permission of Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. 1859) Original caption: "A Bazaar in Jerusalem" (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  In his 1871 travelogue, Travels around the World, former U.S. Secretary of State William Seward described the prayers of the Jews at the Western Wall (Kotel) -- "pouring out their lamentations over the fall of their beloved city."  He reported the Jewish population of the city was 8,000, twice the number of the Christian or Muslim residents. Many of the century-old photos of the Jews of the Holy Land were taken during their prayers at the Kotel. Far fewer were the less formal pictures of their everyday life in Jerusalem.  We present such pictures here. What did everyday life look like? Close scrutiny of the "Bazaar in Jerusalem" shows Jewish men (and probably Jewish women in the foreground) shopping and walking past a parked camel in the shuk of the Old City.  See the enlargement below.  The sign. Interpretations are welcomed. We were intrigued by the sign above the store on the left,  and we enlarged it. We discovered the sign, in Hebrew and Yiddish, was for a bedding store and read: Smeared cotton (not clear what it was "shmeared" with)  Readymade quilts or covers Mattresses – Best Sorts The last line are the names of the store's proprietors, but all that can be easily read is "Chaim Tzvi."  A Jewish money changer just inside the Jaffa Gate under  signs advertising cheese and butter products(with  Rabbi Kook's kashrut supervision) and a printer. (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography  at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  The Getty Research Institute labels this picture  as a  "Jeblanier jeuf  à  Jérusalem," taken in  1890.  The Jewish merchant's profession is  a "ferbantier"  -- a  tinsmith or "blecher" in  Yiddish.  (Credit: Ken and  Jenny Jacobson  Orientalist Photography Collection, Getty) A Jewish hat store right outside of the Jaffa Gate.  This picture is from an enlargement of an original - here.  (Library of Congress, note the Library's citation of Israel Daily Picture to date the picture as pre-1898) Orthodox Jews among the throngs inside Jaffa Gate, an enlargement of an original - here. (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography  at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)   The setting inside the Jaffa Gate would again appear in later pictures showing the evacuation of Jews from the Old City during Arab rioting in 1929 and 1936.  (Note the tree in the pictures above and below.)  In 1948, the Old City Jews were expelled through the Zion Gate. Jewish evacuation from the Old City of Jerusalem, Jaffa Gate, during 1936 Arab rioting and attacks.   The soldiers are British. (Wikipedia Commons) Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original pictures.