- New material includes the report of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum's efforts to stop the massacre of Armenians in one Turkish town.
During the first years of the 20th Century the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael -- Palestine -- suffered terribly. A massive plague of locusts, famine and disease hit the community hard. Ottoman officials harassed, tortured, imprisoned and expelled Jews, especially "Zionist" activists.
An account of life in Palestine during the first world war was presented to the World Zionist Congress in 1921 by the London Zionist Organization. Here is an excerpt:In spite of all efforts made in Palestine to cope with the situation, the Jewish population would have succumbed had not financial help arrived from America. From the day when war [World War I] broke out [Jewish] Palestine had appealed to America for help.
America was at that time the one country which through its political and financial position was able to save [Jewish] Palestine permanently from going under. It was stimulated to do so by the deep interest in Palestine which of recent years had been awakened in American Jewry. ...
Telegram from Amb. Henry Morgenthau to philanthropist Jacob Schiff (Source: JDC Archives) Great assistance was given by the American ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, who had visited Palestine some months before the outbreak of the war, and had promised his support to the director of the Palestine Office, Dr. Ruppin. Thanks to the efforts of the Zionist Organization and of men like Jacob Schiff, to whom the Bank, the Palestine Office and the representatives of the Chovevi Zion had appealed,a large remittance of money — the first of many — was sent from America to Palestine. ...
[Editor's note: The financial assistance was delivered to the American consulate in Jerusalem and distributed to the Jewish community to ensure that it wasn't stolen by rapacious Turkish officials. When the United States entered the war, the American Consulate was shut.]
On October 6th, 1914, the American warship "[the USS] North Carolina" landed in the harbor of Jaffa, and the envoy of Ambassador Morgenthau, M. Wertheim, brought $50,000 dollars. Half of this sum had been given by Jacob Schiff, the other half by the Zionist Organization with Nathan Strauss.
USS North Carolina to the rescue
The arrival of this warship and of those that followed it was quite an event in the country. It raised the downcast spirits of the Jews, who saw that they were not abandoned, but could reckon on help from their brethren abroad. These ships also increased the prestige of the Jews in the eyes of the rest of the population and of the local administration. People saw that the Jews through their connections abroad were much more powerful than their numbers would have led one to expect.These American ships continued their good services on behalf of the Jewish Yishuv. They brought money from time to time, and hospitably took on board the expelled Jews and the other immigrants who fled from Palestine for fear of starvation and persecution.
Here is an additional report about a rabbi on one of those American ships, shared by his great-grandson Yitz.
The transmission of the money, which was a task requiring considerable address and scrupulous care, was carried out admirably. Besides money, food also came from America on a special ship, the "Vulcan.'' Altogether, from October, 1915, 3,522,930.03 francs were brought to Palestine in 13 American ships.
I have always heard that my great-grandfather Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum of Jerusalem and New York who was one of the founders of the Joint Distribution Committee as well as its founding Secretary at some point was on one of these boats. In order to travel on an American naval vessel even as an American citizen (which he was) he was required to and received some sort of official naval commission.
Rabbi Teitelbaum and a Jewish delegation to the
White House. The rabbi served as the translator for
a meeting between President Calvin Coolidge and
Avraham Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, in 1924
Three years ago while cleaning out his son's house I found postcard photographs of him arriving in various places from that ship. I do not know which ship he was on but family lore says at some point he ended up being in Turkey during the slaughter of the Armenians. He managed to stop the slaughter in the town he was at by convincing whoever was in charge that if the slaughter did not stop he as an American officer aboard an American naval vessel would order his battleship which was in the harbor to begin shelling their positions. Obviously he couldn't do this but whoever it was in control decided not to test him and stopped the slaughter. Supposedly when he returned to Jerusalem the Armenian prelate came to him and hugged him and kissed him for his actions. 
Just this week our site received visitors from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Dubai, the Palestinian Authority, Kuwait, and Qatar.
Our site also attracts viewers from Algeria, Jordan, Turkey and even Iran.
We welcome our Arab and Muslim visitors and encourage them to submit comments -- anonymously if they wish.
View our visitors here and in the right sidebar.
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Why was this picture so valuable? Because it was one of the first photographs ever taken in Jerusalem -- 170 years ago.
The Kidron Valley and the ancient tombs carved into the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem (Christie's)
We flipped the picture horizontally after reader Krina Doekes Brandt pointed out the picture was reversed. HT
The photograph was taken in 1844 by a French photographer, Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (1804 - 1898), believed to be a student of Louis Daguerre who is credited with inventing photography in 1839.
The daguerreotype photos were found in a storeroom in Girault de Prangey's estate in the 1920s, but only in recent years, when libraries digitized them, did the photographs become well known. Girault de Prangey was a student of architecture and art who traveled in the Middle East between 1841 and 1844 and produced some 900 daguerreotypes.Responsible archivists and librarians digitize
the vintage photographs in their archives.
Panoramic photo of Jerusalem's Old City from the southeast. (1844) 
Panoramic picture of Jerusalem taken from the Mt. of Olives (1844, we flipped the image)
The Smithsonian Magazine published a feature on the photos this month, based on pictures published by Retronaut - "The photographic time machine." HT to Holylandphotos for pointing out the picture in the French National Library is reversed, with the al Aqsa Mosque appearing to the right of the Dome of the Rock. We flipped the photograph.
This photo is labeled "Damascus Gate."
Actually, it is the city wall just to the
right of the gate. The photographer
was fascinated with stonework on the
shrines in the Middle East. (1844)
Lions Gate of the Old City (1844) 
Jaffa Gate of the Old City (Christie's 1844) 
Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (1844)
H/T: AA
We found more than 200 photographs by Gerault de Prangey in the French National Library and on the websites of leading auction houses. The pictures included scenes from Jerusalem, Damascus, Cairo, and Lebanon. We present here pictures of Jerusalem from the Library's collection and from Christie's. According to the French Library, the pictures are in the public domain.Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on the caption to view the original picture.
The following is a quotation attributed to Girault de Prangey:
My long pilgrimage is coming to a close... after spending 55 days in the holy city [of Jerusalem] and its environs...I am sure you can share my natural delight in fulfilling a dream cherished since childhood.... And as I speak now of these places, how happy I am to realise that in a few months I will be able to share them with you as they are, as I bear with me their precious and unquestionably faithful trace that cannot be diminished by time or distance. For this we must thank most sincerely our compatriot Daguerre, destined to be known forever for his wondrous discovery.7View comments
- FEB3
Football (Soccer) in the Holy Land 80 Years Ago Was a Religious & Political Issue -- Version of an Earlier Posting
The neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in northern Jerusalem is known for the dust-up between Israel and the U.S. Administration several years ago when Israel announced plans for expansion of the ultra-Orthodox housing project.
Original caption "Police intercede in Orthodox attempt to break up the Maccabee football game" (1930s)
Originally, Jerusalem's legendary mayor Teddy Kollek planned that the area, known as the Shuafat ridge, would house a 50,000-seat football stadium, sports facilities and tennis courts.
Aerial photo of the sports field, adjacent to the ultra-Orthodox Meah
She'arim neighborhood (1931). See a view of
the bleachers here, and the field here.
But access to the stadium would have to be through Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and Sabbath protests and demonstrations were a certainty.
"Crowd of mixed Orthodox Jews who arrived on the scene en
masse to force the discontinuing of the Maccabee football game"
Eventually, the stadium was built in southern Jerusalem near Malcha, and the Shuafat ridge became part of a contiguous stretch of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.
The Sabbath tensions over public sports games on Saturdays were documented by the American Colony photographers some 80 years ago.
Some of the photographs identify the field as "near Bokharbia," meaning near the Bukhari Jewish neighborhood adjacent to Meah She'arim.
"Close-up of an Orthodox Jew in the crowd." View another close-up with
the police - here (1930s)
The decades-old issue of Sabbath observance in Jerusalem suggests that this dispute may indeed not be resolvable; rather, like other conflicts in the Middle East, the best one could hope for is that it would be manageable.0Add a comment
- JAN28
Where the Buffalo Roamed -- Israel's Hula Valley -- The Malarial Swamps that Were Drained -- and Now Being Reflooded
Herd of buffalo near the Hula swamps. The Golan Heights are in the background
(Library of Congress, circa 1900) See also here.
Old maps of the Holy Land showed three bodies of water along the banks of the Jordan River -- the Dead Sea in the south, Lake Hula in the north and the Sea of Galilee in the middle.
Buffalo wallowing in the Hula swamps. The Naftali ridge is
the background. See also here
Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
The Hula Valley region appears in writings dating back to Josephus, but the area was not the most hospitable to human habitation. The valley is 15.5 miles long from north to south and 4-5 miles wide. One third of the valley was lake, one third was land, and one third swamps/marshes. Malaria in the region was rampant.
According to State Lands and Rural Development in Mandatory Palestine, 1920-1948 by Warwick P. N. Tyler, a concession to the Hula Valley "was granted by the Ottoman Authorities in June 1914 to two Beiruti merchants 'for the drainage and reclamation of the Hula marshes.' The concession area ...consisted of state land..."
Original caption: "Land provided to the Arabs by government,
in place of area being drained. Hebrew settlement of Yesud HaMa'ala on
Hula Lake" (Library of Congress, 1940)
"When the concession was granted in 1914," historian Tyler continued, "the Arab population in the Hula Valley lived in 19 villages and numbered between three and four thousand. Most belonged to the Ghawarina people -- outcasts of society, the descendants of deserters from Ibrahim Pasha's Egyptian army which had captured the region in the 1830s, escaped slaves, fugitives from the law and refugees from family feuds."
In 1882, a Jewish community, Yesud HaMa'ala, was established on the shores of the Hula Lake on land purchased in 1872 by Yaakov Chai Abu from a Bedouin tribe. Some of Yesud HaMa'ala's first settlers were members of the Sobbotnik group of converts from Russia led by the fabled Yoav Dubrovin.
Weaving mats in a Bedouin village in the Hula
Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Tyler wrote in a Middle East Studies article, "The Huleh [Hula] Concession and Jewish Settlement of the Huleh Valley, 1934-48, "In 1934 Jewish interests acquired the Hula concession to drain and reclaim Lake Huleh and its swamps in northern Galilee. During the previous 20 years, when the concession was in Arab hands, no significant drainage work had been undertaken. The Palestine Land Development Company agreed to pay the former concessionaires, the Salam family, £191,974 to acquire their rights."
The Arab tribe in the Hula Valley was known for their mat-weaving, pictured here. According to Tyler, they "were decimated and enfeebled by malaria and lived a wretched existence in reed houses and mud hovels."
Hula Arabs in their reed huts (The "Cigarbox" Collection)
In the 1930s, the British Mandatory government attempted to restrict Jewish land purchase "by draconian restrictions," Tyler wrote. "Any hope that a policy of [Arab] agricultural development would be implemented was dashed when Palestine was engulfed by racial strife in 1936-9."
During the 1948-1949 war and the invasion of Arab armies into the Jewish state, the Arab villagers fled.
In the 1950s, Israel undertook a national project to drain the Hula Valley to create new farmland. The damage to the region's ecological systems, however, led to a new plan to reflood part of the valley and to create wildlife preserves.
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on the captions to view the original pictures.0Add a comment
Boys at the Western Wall, almost certainly posed by the photographer, Felix Bonfils, in the 1870s. Enlargement is
from the picture below. (Getty Research Institute). View a similar photo from the Library of Congress collection
Felix Bonfil's photograph (Getty)
Scores of century-old pictures of the Western Wall have appeared inIsrael Daily Picture. Known as the Wailing Wall, the Kotel HaMaaravi, or the Jews' Wailing Place, the prayer site was the focus of every photographer in Jerusalem.
Two years ago we posted a feature on "The Women of the Western Wall," and noted that there were no physical partitions between the men and the women visible in the pictures because of restrictions imposed by the Ottoman authorities
The girls at the Kotel. The graffiti on the wall suggests the picture was
taken after 1903. (Library of Congress) See a similar picture here
and demands by the Muslim Mufti of
The original picture with the girls.
Jerusalem. Any attempt to set up screens or bring chairs were met with protests and attacks. The Jewish worshippers honored a separation of sexes, for the most part.
"The Jews' Wailing Place" (circa 1900). Take a closer look below.
Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
The picture below, from the University of California - Riverside collection, appears to be a typical picture of the Kotel at the turn of the 20th century, but it's not.
Enlargement of the photo shows a group of children begging with their hands outstretched to men on the left, men whose hats suggest that they are visitors from overseas.
Children with their hands extended. The Jews of Jerusalem were remarkably poor under the Turkish rule, and
relied on charitable donations from Jews in Europe and North America.
More Children at the Kotel
Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
An earlier feature here showed hundreds of Jewish children in 1918 returning to the Old City from a field trip on the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer.
Are some of these the same children?
Jewish children's procession on Lag B'Omer 1918.
(Library of Congress)Click on pictures to enlarge.Click on caption to view the original picture.0Add a comment
The mystery ship. The back of the picture only says "Palestine" and "WX25115"
Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)The picture above appears in the University of California - Riverside's Museum of Photography.
No details are provided other than the word on the back, "Palestine." Every man is wearing a western style cap or hat. There appear to be no religious Jews on board, men vastly outnumber the few women in the photo, there are no suitcases or identifying clues other than a German language sign "Tragkraft" on the crane that translates "Lifting capacity 3,000 kilo." We estimate the picture to have been taken early in the 20th century.
Your suggestions are welcome!1View comments
The University of California - Riverside Museum of Photography contains 250,000 stereoscopic plates and 100,000 negatives, many of which are online, such as the one above. See more on the Keystone-Mast Collection.
A photograph of the photographer. Photographer using a stereoscopic camera. No date or location
in "Palestine" is provided. (circa 1900) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
19th century stereo camera 
An enlargement of the photographer-horseman
Anyone who has used a "View-Master" toy will recognize the 3D illusion created by the stereo camera. Already in the 19th century photographers were taking stereo pictures which were viewed on a special device. In effect, the two camera lenses captured the view and the slight angle differences of the right eye and the left eye.
Many of the photographs presented in www.israeldailypicture.com are half of a stereoscopic pair, cropped for easier presentation.0Add a comment
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)
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.
Original caption: "A Bazaar in Jerusalem"
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR
ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
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.
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:
The sign. Interpretations are welcomed.
Smeared cotton (not clear what it was "shmeared" with)Readymade quilts or coversMattresses – 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.
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original pictures.
Jewish evacuation from the Old City of Jerusalem, Jaffa Gate, during 1936 Arab rioting and attacks.
The soldiers are British. (Wikipedia Commons)0Add a comment
- JAN13
Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 The pictures from the University of California - Riverside Archives
We present Part 3 of a series of vintage pictures on the Jews of the Middle East. Like the communities in previous features -- Baghdad, Mosul, and Constantinople (Istanbul) -- the Jews of Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus are on the verge of extinction.
Original caption: "Jew Tailor in his Booth on a Street in Old Cairo"
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR
ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Some of the pictures presented here show both the poverty and the wealth of the various Jewish communities.
Egypt
Cairo: In 1948, the Cairo Jewish communitynumbered an estimated 55,000. Pogroms and imprisonment caused almost all of the Jews of Egypt to emigrate.
Zaoud-el Mara (Jewish Quarters) Alexandria,
Egypt. A Library of Congress photo dates
this picture from 1898.
Alexandria: According to a Jerusalem Post article from 2008, Alexandria "is said to have boasted a community of tens of thousands of Jews of both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi descent, but some were expelled as French or British citizens during the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. Others were expelled and/or imprisoned for up to three years during the Six Day War. Some, too, left on their own accord, feeling that there was a brighter future for them as Jews in countries like Israel, America and Australia."
There are believed to be around 40 Jews living in Egypt today.
Syria - Damascus
"Beautiful shaded court of a Jewish Home in Damascus, Syria."
Look at the details of the picture.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR
ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
The Damascus Jewish community numbered an estimated 15,000-17,000 in 1918. Riots, government discrimination, and imprisonment caused almost all of Syrian Jewry to flee.
Today, perhaps a few dozen Jews live in Syria, but the savage civil war has also engulfed old Jewish neighborhoods and ancient synagogues.
At the start of the 20th century, several wealthy Jewish families lived in Damascus, and photographs of their homes are presented here.
Enlarging the photos disclosed
several interesting details.
The matron of the home?
Children of the home?
Grand Mosque and Damascus from the Jewish
Quarters, Syria. Three women on a balcony
overlooking city.
Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University
of California, Riverside)
Court of a Wealthy Jew’s Home in Old
Damascus, Syria. See also here.
Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on the caption to view the original photo.
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- JAN9
The Ancient Synagogues of Jerusalem, Destroyed in 1948 The pictures from the University of California - Riverside Archives
This picture of the two domes of the Hurva and Tiferet Yisrael Synagogues in Jerusalem's Old City has been featured in our postings before after we found them in various collections.
"The Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem with its two synagogues. Palestine."
The Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue (left) and the Hurva Synagogue (1900)
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside) See also Two domes (Library of Congress)
But we never came across a photo with such clarity, suggesting that the archives at UC-Riverside contains the original photos taken by the Underwood & Underwood Co. in 1900. UC-R's files also allow huge and detailed on-screen enlargements of the photos. We thank the heads of the library for permission to republish their photos, and we abide by their request to limit the photos' sizes on these pages.
The Keystone-Mast collection at UC-R also contains other photos of the exterior and interior of the Tiferet Yisrael and the Hurva Synagogues in the Old City in the middle of the 19th century.
William H. Seward, who served as President Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state, visited Jerusalem in 1859 and 1870. He wrote atravelogue after his second trip, and he described attending Friday night services at the "Wailing Wall" and in one of the two impressive synagogues. Seward's description appears below.
The UC-R photo bears no caption or date on this picture of the
Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Avraham Shlomo Zalman Hatzoref arrived inEretz Yisrael 200 years ago and was responsible for building the Hurva synagogue. Ashkenazic Jews had been banned from the Old City in the early 19th century after defaulting on a loan. Hatzoref, a student of the Gaon of Vilna and a builder in Jerusalem, arranged for the cancellation of the Ashkenazi community's large debt to local Arabs. In anger, local Arabs killed him in 1851. (Hatzoref is recognized by the State of Israel as the first victim of modern Arab terrorism.)
The two prominent synagogue domes shared the panoramic view of Jerusalem with the domes of the Dome of the Rock and al Aqsa Mosque for almost 80 years. In the course of the 1948 war, the Jordanian army blew up both buildings and destroyed the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
We present below interior pictures of the two synagogues from the UC-R and Library of Congress collections.
The interior of the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue
(circa 1900) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Interior of the Hurva Synagogue (circa
1900) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Note the curtains covering the Ark containing the Torah scrolls. When the German Emperor arrived in Jerusalem in 1898, the Jewish community constructed a welcome arch, photographed by the American Colony photographic department. The curtains from the synagogues and the Torah crowns were taken down to decorate the arch.
Interior of the Hurva Synagogue (circa 1898, American Colony Photograph Department, Library of Congress).
Note the curtain, enlarged below
The inscription on the Hurva curtain reads: [In
memory of] "The woman Raiza daughter of sir
Mordechai from Bucharest, [who died in] the
Hebrew year ת"ר [which corresponds to 1839-40]"
The last line cannot be deciphered, and suggestions
are welcome.
The Hurva interior in the 1930s. The curtain is
dedicated in memory of Hanna Feiga Greerman, the
daughter of Mordechai. The bima inscription reads
"Generous gift of Yisrael Aharon son of Nachman
known as Mr. Harry Fischel and his wife Sheina
daughter of Shimon [?] of New York." Fischel
died in January 1948.
Click on photos to enlarge. Click on captions
to view the original pictures.
Secretary of State William Seward's Friday Prayer
Was it in the Hurva or the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue?
Excerpt from Travels around the World
... [After leaving the Wailing Wall] a meek, gentle Jew, in a long, plain brown dress, his light, glossy hair falling inringlets on either side of his face, came to us, and, respectfully accosting Mr. Seward, expressed a desire that hewould visit the new synagogue, where the Sabbath service was about to open at sunset. Mr. Seward assented.
A crowd of "the peculiar people" attended and showed us the way to thenew house of prayer, which we are informed was recently built by a richcountryman of our own whose name we did not learn. It is called theAmerican Synagogue. It is a very lofty edifice, surmounted by a circulardome. Just underneath it a circular gallery is devoted exclusively to thewomen. Aisles run between the rows of columns which support the galleryand dome. On the plain stone pavement, rows of movable, wooden bencheswith backs are free to all who come.
William H. Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State
At the side of the synagogue, opposite the door, is an elevated desk on aplatform accessible only by movable steps, and resembling more a pulpitthan a chancel. It was adorned with red-damask curtains, and behind thema Hebrew inscription. Directly in the centre of the room, between the doorand this platform, is a dais six feet high and ten feet square, surrounded bya brass railing, carpeted; and containing cushioned seats. We assume thatthis dais, high above the heads of the worshippers, and on the sameelevation with the platform appropriated to prayer, is assigned to the rabbis.
We took seats on one of the benches against the wall; presently an elderlyperson, speaking English imperfectly, invited Mr. Seward to change his seat;he hesitated, but, on being informed by [Deputy U.S. Consul General] Mr. Finkelstein that the person who gave theinvitation was the president of the synagogue, Mr. Seward rose, and the whole party, accompanying him, wereconducted up the steps and were comfortably seated on the dais, in the "chief seat in the synagogue." On this daiswas a tall, branching, silver candlestick with seven arms.The congregation now gathered in, the women filling the gallery, and the men, in varied costumes, and wearing hats ofall shapes and colors, sitting or standing as they pleased. The lighting of many silver lamps, judiciously arranged, gavenotice that the sixth day's sun had set, and that the holy day had begun. Instantly, the worshippers, all standing, andas many as could turning to the wall, began the utterance of prayer, bending backward and forward, repeating thewords in a chanting tone, which each read from a book, in a low voice like the reciting of prayers after the clergyman inthe Episcopal service. It seemed to us a service without prescribed form or order. When it had continued some time,thinking that Mr. Seward might be impatient to leave, the chief men requested that he would remain a few moments,until a prayer should be offered for the President of the United States, and another for himself. Now a remarkablerabbi, clad in a long, rich, flowing sacerdotal dress, walked up the aisle; a table was lifted from the floor to the platform,and, by a steep ladder which was held by two assistant priests, the rabbi ascended the platform. A large folio Hebrewmanuscript was laid on the table before him....4View comments
Several weeks ago, we received a note from reader Rivka Regev:
Our original caption:"Lepers, presumably in
Jerusalem, (Library of Congress, circa 1900)"
I saw the feature you did on "Lepers" of Jerusalem. It was excellent. I have only 2 small comments:Your first photo is labeled "probably" in Jerusalem. It isabsolutely; it's to the west of the original Hansen compound ("Jesus Hilfe"). The patients are sitting in what we now call the western Moon Grove, and I would be very happy to show you in person where it is. That photo is probably from 1908.Secondly, I am sure you know that the "lepers" were not suffering of what was described in the Bible. Therefore, I find it important to avoid the L word and stick to "Hansen's Disease."We asked Rivka how she had such expertise on the Hansen hospital. When she explained her father was the in-house physician at the hospital for decades, we appealed to her for additional photos and an article to accompany them. We thank her for the following feature and encourage readers to view her Internet site http://ganneimarpeh.brinkster.net/page33.htmlA Riddle Solved at the Historic Hansen Hospital in Jerusalem
By Rivka Regev
Dr. Moshe Goldgraber, the author's father, in front of Hansen
Hospital, 2002 (Photo courtesy of the author and Michel Horton)Dr. Moshe Beer Goldgraber 1913-2007, was born in Zamosc, Poland, studied medicine in Padova, Italy, took his final exam in August 1939, went straight to a shipyard, and got on a freight ship to Palestine. Two weeks later Germany took over Poland. He lost his whole family to the Nazis.
One day at the end of 1964 he went to hear a lecture at Hansen [“Lepers”] Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Goldgraber became involved in research and soon became the attending on-call physician (a specialist in internal medicine, among other specialties) at Hansen Hospital from 1965 until the last patients left in 2000.
The hospital's Jesus Hilfe nursery (circa 1907, from the
author's collection)Beyond all that, my father, Dr. Goldgraber was the only one who took care of the Hansen Gardens from 1965-2003.I grew up living in the “small house,” built in 1893, on the hospital grounds.
Beginning in 2003,Since 2005, I wanted to find remnants of a mule-drawn machine that appeared in this photo dated approximately 1912. The scene shows a plant nursery situated below the great rainwater collecting cistern that was built from 1898. I thought the machine might be a mill to grind something. I hoped that by unearthing it, either old seeds or grains would lead to some answers. After groping in the earth that had already become a therapeutic garden of herbs for five years, our volunteers hit the jackpot in November 2010. Seven sides of the hexagon that we sought were perfectly intact and formed a structure that was half a meter deep.
Mule drawn pump at the Hospital (1912, from the
author's collection)
The volunteers and their discovery (courtesy of
the author and Michael Horton )More digging began from the other side of the terrace wall at an outlet of the cistern itself. There, the hand carved pavement stones created a very large rectangular opening (looking like a great planter) which had filled with soil and deep rooted plants over the years.For more information, see the author's website http://ganneimarpeh.brinkster.net/page33.htmlWhen the two tunnels finally connected the riddle was solved. This was not a mill to grind olives or oats (they grew plentifully in the historic gardens). This was a pump that drew out water and forced it into metal pipes that lead first up to the small water tank visible in the old photo just above the right corner of the cistern. Then, using mule power, the water was pushed up about five more meters and about 40 meters away into the hospital's kitchen!This was the way to supply rainwater to a vibrant and active hospital in a pre-electric and pre-water faucet era!
We welcome scanned 100-year-old pictures of Eretz Yisrael from your private collections or your great-grandparents' albums.0Add a comment
- JAN5
Funny, It Doesn't Look Like a Mountain or Hell -- Vintage Photos from Jerusalem's Hinnom Valley
The archives at the University of California - Riverside contains thispicture, but clearly the caption "Mount Tabor" was wrong.
Original caption: "Mount Tabor, Palestine, Scene of Barake Caeup [sic]." In
fact, it is the pool and cattle market in Jerusalem's Hinom Valley.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
This is a picture of "Gei Hinnom" (the Hinnom Valley) in Jerusalem, beneath the walls of the Old City.
Today, few residents or tourists know about the history of the area called "Breichat HaSultan (the Sultan's Pool), except for the occasional concert in the amphitheater.
As we researched the picture, however, we discovered that the pool and cattle market were the frequent focus of photographers a century ago.
The Hinom Valley - Breichat HaSultan amphitheater today
(Go Jerusalem)
The Valley of Ben-Hinnom is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, serving as a border between tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
From biblical times it had an infamous reputation as the site of human sacrifices to Molech. The evil perpetrated there made the name "Gei Hinnom," or Gehenna, synonymous with Hell.
A dam was built across the valley, possibly at the time of the Second Temple, with a road on top that passed between Mt. Zion and the opposite hill (eventually Mishkenot HaSha'ananim). The reservoir created by the dam measured 169 meters by 67meters, with a depth of 12 meters. The road became one of the principle routes to Jerusalem from the south. Suleiman the Magnificent built a sabil fountain on the dam, and it still exists today.
Photo of the Hinom Valley cattle market taken from the dam
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Suleiman's fountain on the dam (Library of
Congress, circa 1937)
Road to Jerusalem station showing the Hinnom Valley, the Sultan's Pool, and the sabil. (circa 1895)
(Library of Congress collection)
A sheep market was located on the opposite side of Jerusalem's Old City at Herod's Gate, which can be viewed here.
After the 1948 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the valley was a desolate no-man's zone between Jordan and Israel.
Cattle market (1900, Library of Congress, also in
University of Toronto Thomas Fisher Rare Book
Library and the Arizona Historical Society
Library, Tempe)
Sultan's pool. Note the buildings built on the right and
behind the bridge/dam (Wikipedia Commons)
Click on pictures to enlarge, click on captions to view the original picture. 0Add a comment
- JAN1
Remarkable Vintage Pictures of Jewish Communities, Part 2 -- More Treasures from the University of California-Riverside Collection
Constantinople's Jewish Quarter, 1898
We were certain we recognized this photo from a feature on the Library of Congress archives we posted two years ago. We thought it was a quaint picture of a man and dog in the Jewish Quarter of Constantinople (Istanbul today).
Street scene, Jewish Quarter of Constantinople, 1898 (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
But when we enlarged the photo, using the Keystone-Mast Collection's excellent "zoom" tools, we realized that there was much more than what met the eye. The University of California photo, we discovered, was not identical to theLibrary of Congress picture. The two were taken seconds apart, and there are differences. Moreover, upon examining the photos, we saw that almost a dozen residents of the street were watching what may have been a confrontation between the man and dog. (Rabies vaccinations in Constantinople began only in 1900.)
Look at the bottom left corner of the picture above, and you will see the back of a head and women standing in a doorway. In the LoC photo you see that the head has turned; it's a young boy's face. From many other windows women are watching the street scene below.
A head and three women (UCR) 
The boy's
face (LoC)
Woman in a window 
Women looking from
window
A girl in the doorway, a woman at the window 
Two figures watching from a distant window
A woman, possibly with children, appears to be
scurrying across the street (LoC)
Constantinople: The name of the Turkish city was changed from Constantinople to Istanbul in the 1920s, which explains the location in the caption on this 1898 photo.The Jewish community in Turkey dates back millennia. Tens of thousands of Jews from Spain found refuge in Turkey in 1492. The Ottoman Empire which ruled the Middle East for 400 years usually provided a safe haven for its Jewish residents, with occasional outbreaks of anti-Semitic episodes.Today, the Jewish community in Turkey numbers approximately 20,000, mostly in Istanbul. The new Islamic policies of the current Turkish government may result in Jewish emigration, according to some observers.0Add a comment
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An ancient Jerusalem synagogue, destroyed in 1948 Enter your email address in the right sidebar
1View comments
"Native ploughing with his wife and donkey, Palestine" (original caption)
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)Virtually every vintage collection that we've analyzed contains a picture of an Arab farmer in Palestine plowing with a rudimentary plow pulled by an ox and an ass.
"Thou shall not plow with an ox and an ass together."
לא תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו
Deuteronomy 20 (Library of Congress, circa 1890)
Why?
"Thou shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing"
לֹא תַחְסֹם שׁוֹר בְּדִישׁוֹ
Deuteronomy 25 (circa 1900)
We suggest that the photographers, many of whom were well-versed in the Old Testament,focused on agricultural prohibitions found in the Bible. The photographs, slides, and postcards were usually sold to a Bible-reading public.
"Plowing with an ox and an ass" (April, 1929, Torrance
Collection, University of Dundee)
The photographers illustrated the prohibition "Thou shall not plow with an ox and an ass together" (Deuteronomy20) and provided pictures of the prohibition "Thou shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing"(Deuteronomy 25).
The photograph above in the UCR collection went one step further, showing an Arab farmer using his ass and wife to pull the plow.
Plowing with a cow and and an ass (circa
1900) See also here (Library of Congress)
Peasant plowing (circa 1900)
(New York Public Library)
"Plowing with an ox and ass" -- the original caption. (Credit: RCB Library, 1897)
1View comments
- DEC27
Remarkable Pictures of Jewish Communities in the Middle East More Treasures from the University of California-Riverside Collection
The Jews of Iraq
Jewish scribes at the “Tomb of Ezekiel” near Babylon, Kefil,
Mesopotamia (Iraq) (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of
Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
The vast Keystone-Mast Collection at the California Museum of Photography contains many photographs of Jewish communities -- now extinct -- from across the Muslim world.
We believe most of the undated pictures in the University of California - Riverside Archives were taken between 1898 and 1930
"Jewish Cobblers Repairing Shoes for
Arabs, near Mosul, Mesopotamia"
Using pictures we found in the Library of Congress archives two years ago, Israel Daily Picture has already explored many of the Jewish communities in Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, and Turkey. Click on the country to view earlier postings.
Today, we present the UCR's vintage pictures of the Jews of Iraq. Suffering from pogroms, persecution, and confiscation of property, most of the Jews of Iraq left the country by 1951. The "Jews of Iraq" is Part 1 of a series that will include vintage pictures of Jews of Egypt, Syria and Turkey.
Click on the pictures to enlarge. Click on the captions to view the original pictures.
Jews of Mosul (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection,
California Museum of Photography at UCR)
Inside Ezekiel's Tomb (circa 1931, Library
of Congress). Also view Israel Daily Picture
feature on Ezekiel's Tomb
Persian ceiling of ancient synagogue at
Ezekiel's Tomb (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection,
California Museum of Photography at UCR)
"Principal Street, Baghdad, Where the Jews and
Moslems Throng, Mesopotamia." Prior to World
War II, 80,000 Jews lived in Baghdad.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR)
"Tomb of Ezra, Mesopotamia. Near Koma, on the
Shatt-el-Arab, (lower Euphrates. and Tigris). East over
lower Tigris to Shrine dear to Jews."
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR)
"Picturesque homes of wealthy Jews along the
Tigris River in North Baghdad, Mesopotamia."
Note the woman in the window and the boat, a
"kufas" row boat on the Tigris. (Credit: Keystone-Mast
Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR)
"Jewish families of the well-to-do at the wharf,
Baghdad, Mesopotamia." (Credit: Keystone-Mast
Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR)
Building a "kufas" boat. Click here to see
how many people fit in a kufas.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum
of Photography at UCR)
For more information on the Jews of Iraq and the Tomb of Ezra visit Point of No Return, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries.
In 2003, a U.S. Defense Department analyst, Harold Rhode, uncovered a vast cache of ancient Jewish documents in the flooded basement of the Iraqi Intelligence Headquarters. He led an effort to save the historical documents and bring them to the United States for restoration. The restoration has been completed, but Iraqi Jews around the world are protesting the U.S. Government's plan to return the documents to the Iraq government.0Add a comment
- DEC25
Exploring the Keystone Photo Collection at the University of California - Riverside -- The Anatomy of a Photograph
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)
Welcome to David Street just inside the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City. Like today, it was a center for tourism over 100 years ago which explains the hotels, the signs in English, the sale of photographs, and a tourist office.
Traffic jam on the expanded David Street in 1898
(Credit: Library of Congress)
No date is provided for the picture in the UCR files, but looking at another picture probably taken during the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm in 1898, this scene predates the visit.
We found one of the photographs on sale of particular interest. (See the bottom left of the photo at the top.) We've seen that picture before -- in the Library of Congress collection.
Photographs for sale in the 1890s. 
Jew of Jerusalem The Library of Congress dates the
picture as being taken between 1900 and 1910. It was
almost certainly taken in the 19th century, however.
A sign on the street advertises "Bonfils," one of the leading photographers in the Near East at the end of the 19th century. Many of his pictures appear in Israel Daily Picture.
Photographs for sale to tourists 
The Keystone collection photo from UCR also shows a prominent sign for the Cook's World Ticket Office, the leading travel agency for tourists and pilgrims to Palestine and Syria in the 19th century. The bottom sign offers guides and camp equipment.
For more information on Cook's role in investment and development of tourism in Jerusalem and Jaffa, read Ruth Kark's From Pilgrimage to Budding Tourism: The role of Thomas Cook in the rediscovery of the Holy Land in the 19th Century.
Strangely, Cook's signs cannot be seen in the photograph of the German emperor's arrival. Cook had supplied dozens of large tents for the emperor's entourage, but the signs were covered over.
The name "Assad C. Kayat" appears on a sign in the UCR photo. Ruth Kark's book on Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Jerusalem shows a 1903 check from the Jewish banker, Jacob Valero, to Kayat, but we have not discovered his profession or why he hung a sign in the Old City.1View comments
- DEC23
Re-posting - A Special Feature for Our Christian Readers -- Christmas in the Holy Land 100+ Years Ago
Entry of pilgims into Bethlehem at Christmas time (circa 1875) by photographer Félix Bonfils (Library of Congress)
The town of Bethlehem plays a major role in the Christian faith. There, Christians believe, Jesus was born some 2,000 years ago, and they celebrate his birth on Christmas.
Christmas procession in Bethlehem (circa 1900)
But when is Christmas?
Bethlehem hosts Christmas services for Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations on December 25. This year, Coptic, Greek and Syrian Orthodox Catholics will celebrate in the Church of the Nativity on January 7, and the Armenian Orthodox on January 6.
Most of the photographs on this page were taken by the American Colony Photographic Department before and after World War I when the British captured Palestine after 400 years of Ottoman rule. Other pictures are from collections at Chatham University and the Irish Catholic Church.
The name "Bethlehem" is derived from the Hebrew "Beit Lechem -- House of Bread," and its fields of grain are mentioned in the Book of Ruth as where Ruth gleaned her wheat for her mother-in-law Naomi and where she met her eventual husband, Boaz. According to the Bible, Ruth's great-grandson David was born in Bethlehem where he was anointed as king.
Church of the Nativity and Manger Square (circa 1898). Note
the unfenced cemetery on the left. View here the square and
cemetery approximately 20 years later, under British rule
The Church of the Nativity was built in 339 CE by King Constantine and his mother, Helena, over the grotto believed to have been the site of Jesus' birth.
Throughout history the Church was destroyed and/or rebuilt by various conquering armies -- the Samaritans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and British.
The Grotto beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The man on the right is believed to be the
photographer, David Brown. Note the Turkish soldier on duty inside the Church (Credit: RCB Library, 1897).
In 1948, Bethlehem was conquered again, this time by the Jordanian Legion. Jordan ruled Bethlehem and the West Bank until 1967 when the territory was captured by Israel. In 1995, under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Israel transferred Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority.
Bethlehem was traditionally a Christian town, built around the basilica, and tourism was the most important industry. In recent years, however, the proportion of Christians in Bethlehem has dropped from 85 percent in 1948 to 54 percent in 1967, and now to about 30 percent. Some analysts point to tensions between resurgent and aggressive Islamists and the Christian community, a phenomenon pressuring other Christian communities across the Middle East, with the exception of Israel.
British and French soldiers guarding the Church of the
Nativity (circa 1918)
Seasons Greetings!
Turkish soldiers drilling in the square outside of the Church of
the Nativity in Bethlehem (circa 1900)
Interior of the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher (hand-painted, Chatham
University Library, circa 1895)
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
(hand-painted, Chatham University Library, circa 1895).
Note the ladder in the window, known as the "Immovable
Ladder" since Christian denominations have an
understanding that "no cleric of the six ecumenical
Christian orders may move, rearrange, or alter any property
without the consent of all six orders." (Wikipedia)
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original photo.
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- DEC21
Introducing a Major Collection of Vintage Photographs: If the Library of Congress Archives Was Our "Mother Lode," the University of California Museum of Photography Is the "Father Lode"
With the realization that responsible librarians and archivists are using new technologies to digitize their vintage photographic treasures,Israel Daily Picture continues its search for major collections of 100+ year-old pictures of Palestine, and especially of the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael.
Original caption: "Jew at Wailing Place,"
circa 1900. The UCR collection contains
at least 20 photos of Jews at the Western Wall.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
Recently, we found historical treasures in unexpected places -- ChathamUniversity, the Church of Ireland, the library of Oregon State University, Emory University, and the archives of the University of Dundee, Scotland, Medical School, to name a few.
Today, we introduce you to the incredible collection of glass plates and film negatives in the University of California - Riverside Museum of Photography where many of their 250,000 stereoscopic plates and 100,000 negatives are now online. This posting is Part 1 of several future features.
Since the Library of Congress' American Colony collection served as our "mother lode" of photos, we refer to the UCR's immense collection as the "father lode." Indeed, many of the photographs found in other collections are but copies, often in poor condition, of the vintage pictures at UCR.
Israel Daily Picture has just begun reviewing the UCR's collection. We found that many of the pictures are not captioned, dated, or analyzed. The Jews of Palestine -- as well as Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia were often the subjects of the photographers' work.
According to the UCR Museum, its -
Original caption: "Wayside Railroad station," 1933.
Enlarging the photo (see below) shows the station is at
Zichron Yaakov, a Jewish settlement formed in 1882.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
"Keystone-Mast Collection is the archive of the Keystone View Company of Meadville, PA (active from 1892-1963). As a collection, it is the world's largest body of original stereoscopic negatives and prints providing an encyclopedic view of global cultural history.""The Keystone View Company was founded by amateur photographer, B. L. Singley of Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1892. ... Stereography's popularity was the novelty of experiencing explicit three-dimensional detail in a stereo card and the potential for card owners to frequently revisit views of world events in private or during social gatherings. Stereographs were to 19th century generations, what television and the Internet are to contemporary culture, and enabled armchair observers to have vicarious experiences in faraway places.
... The collection is a composite of several stereographic publishing companies. By 1920,the Keystone View Company cornered the market by acquiring the negative collections of all major stereograph publishers such as B. W. Kilburn, H. C. White, Underwood and Underwood, and C. H. Graves."
The sign over the railroad station at Zichron Yaakov 
Jews of Mosul, Mesopotamia (Iraq) circa 1900
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
Original caption: "Cavern beneath the Sacred Rock Mosque
of Omar, Jerusalem" (circa 1900). The "sacred rock" is the
foundation stone on which the Jewish Temples were built.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography
at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)
Original caption: "A Jewish synagogue, Jerusalem"
(circa 1900). The synagogue is the Churva
synagogue, completed in 1864, and destroyed by
the Jordanian army in 1948. It was rebuilt in 2010.
(Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California
Museum of Photography at UCR ARTSblock,
University of California, Riverside)
We wish to express our thanks to the librarians and archivists at the California Museum of Photography at the UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside, who granted us permission to present their collection. In accordance with their request, we do not reproduce the photographs at the highest resolution. We encourage readers to view the original pictures in high resolution at the links provided under each picture.1View comments
Just 10 years after the first Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, the first aircraft landed in Jerusalem on December 31, 1913, flown by a Frenchman, Marc Bonnier. The flight was part of a seven-week tour of the Mediterranean that began and ended in France.
Bonnier lands in Jerusalem, 1913. The man on the far right appears
to be the mayor of Jerusalem, Salim Hussein el-Husseini. Note
the unidentified Jewish man on the left. (Library of Congress)
On May 1, 1914, Turkish aviators Salim Bey and Kemal Bey landed their aircraft in Jerusalem. After that flight, military aircraft began to fill the skies over Palestine.
Turkish plane in Jerusalem, 1914
The early aircrafts' biggest military advantage was its ability to provide reconnaissance data of enemy troops' deployment. In that regard, the plane's advantage was slightly more than the observation balloons used by armies two centuries earlier. But quickly machine guns and bombs were added to the planes, and air combat and ground support changed the nature of modern warfare.
German reconnaissance flight over Ramla, 1915 (Australian
War Memorial)
Turkey utilized aircraft to provide intelligence during its 1916 attack on the Suez Canal and to observe British troops' two attempts to capture Gaza in early 1917.
By the fall of 1917, German and Turkish aircraft had to be stopped from reporting back on British commanders' plan to unleash a flank attack against Be'er Sheva. The challenge was met by British and Australian planes, and the Turks at the Be'er Sheva garrison and in Gaza were caught unprepared.
German planes near Gaza
Turkish anti-aircraft guns, 1917
Aerial photo of Jerusalem taken by German pilot in 1917. (Library of Congress)
Click here for another view. By the end of 1917, Jerusalem was in British hands.
German and Turkish officers at the
funeral of a German pilot in Nazareth (Desert Column)
Memorial plaque in Jenin for
fallen German pilots 
German plane captured by Australian soldiers, 1917.
Pilot is behind the plane's left wing. (ANZACS.org)
Australian aircraft in Palestine, 1918 (Australian
War Memorial)
The Library of Congress and the Australian War Memorial provide many photographs of the combat aircraft, the men who flew them, and the graves of those who fell.
Click on the photos to enlarge. Click on the captions to see the originals.
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- DEC16
R.I.P. Actor Peter O'Toole, But Here's the Real "Lawrence of Arabia" With addition of photo of Lawrence with General Allenby in Jerusalem
The real T.E. Lawrence, Hero of World War I (Wikimedia) 
Peter O'Toole as T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia"
H/T: AA
Winston Churchill, Lawrence, and Prince Abdullah meeting
in Jerusalem (Library of Congress archives, 1921)
The death of actor Peter O'Toole this week reminded many of his remarkable 1962 film "Lawrence of Arabia" depicting the World War I exploits of a British officer, T. E. Lawrence.
Lawrence is credited with uniting Arab tribes in Arabia against the ruling Ottoman Empire and, through the use of guerrilla tactics, assisting the British war effort to defeat the Turks.
While the film succeeds in portraying the Arab revolt as an important aspect of World War I, it takes some liberties in the facts, starting with the physical differences of O'Toole (6 feet 3 inches - 190 cm) and Lawrence (a diminutive 5 feet 3 inches - 160 cm). The film also does not present the full extent of Lawrence's diplomatic activities.
Lawrence (left) in conversation with British commander
Edmund Allenby when he entered Jerusalem after its
surrender in December 11, 1917. (Screen capture)
The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 divided up the Middle East between colonial powers, France and Great Britain, contrary to promises made by Lawrence to his Arab allies. But after World War I, Lawrence became a publicly acclaimed hero, and he successfully pressed for the granting of territories to his Hashemite allies from the Arabian Hedjaz. Syria (and then Iraq), would be ruled by King Feisal, and Transjordan would be ruled by Emir Abdullah.
Lawrence can be seen in a film commemorating the surrender of Jerusalem in December 1917. According to the Imperial War Museum synopsis accompanying the film:
The General entered Jerusalem on 11 December, accompanied by his staff (T. E. Lawrence ["Lawrence of Arabia"] among them), French and Italian officers, and various other international representatives.
The Weizmann-Feisal meeting brokered by Lawrence
In the course of his work with the Hashemites, T. E. Lawrence introduced Feisal to Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann in December 1918 and served as their interpreter. According to historian Martin Gilbert, Weizmann recorded in his notes, "Feisal explained that 'it was curious there should be friction between Jews and Arabs in Palestine.'" [Weizmann would later become Israel's first president.]
Gilbert continued: "On January 3, 1919, Feisal and Weizmann met again in London, to sign an 'Agreement between the King of the Hedjaz and the Zionists.' Lawrence, who was once again the guiding hand in this agreement, hoped that it would ensure what he, Lawrence, termed 'the lines of Arab and Zionist policy converging in the not distant future.'"
"On March 1, 1919 Lawrence, while in Paris as the senior British representative with the Hedjaz Delegation, drafted and then wrote out in his own hand a letter from Feisal to the American Zionist Felix Frankfurter. In this letter, Feisal declared, 'We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement.'”
Lawrence in the front seat, Samuel in
the back at the meeting in Transjordan (1921)
According to the Library of Congress' description of these hand-colored pictures, "The photographs show meetings between Arab, Bedouin, and British officials around April 17-27, 1921, at Amir Abdullah ibn Hussein's camp at Amman, Jordan. During these meetings British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel proclaimed Amir Abdullah as the ruler of Transjordan, under British protection."
The new British High Commissioner to Palestine,
Herbert Samuel, flanked by Lawrence and
Abdullah (hand-colored, 1921)
Lawrence was a key player in the meeting.
One of the photographers at the Amman meeting was John Whiting, a member of the original "American Colony" family and member of the Colony's photographic department. He was also a member of British intelligence and almost certainly had contact with Lawrence.
In 1922, the British split off Transjordan from the Mandate of Palestine. In 1946, the Mandate of Transjordan became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In the 1948 war with Israel, Jordan occupied the "West Bank" of the Jordan River and annexed it in 1950. The annexation was not recognized by the vast majority of the world's countries, including the members of the Arab League.0Add a comment
Jerusalem under blanket of snow. View from the Christian Quarter showing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
Mosque of Omar on the Temple Mount and Mt. of Olives. (circa 1900)
Strong rain, winds and snow storms are hitting the Middle East this week. And snow is falling today in Jerusalem, the Golan and parts of the Galilee.
We present here pictures of snow in Jerusalem taken early in the 20th century and found in the Library of Congress collection.
British soldiers at the Western Wall (1921)
Children of the "American Colony" (1921). These pictures were hand-colored and found in a Colony family album. 
Children of the "American Colony" playing in the snow (1921)
"Snow-balling" on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem (1942)
Australian soldiers and Arabs "snow-balling" (1942)
Monday, August 10, 2015
U.S. Aid to the Jews of Palestine Was Essential 100 Years Ago, And Now a Report from a Rabbi on One of 13 U.S. Aid Ships
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