JAFFA

courtesy TimeOut.com

Jaffa, a city famous for its oranges, is one of the major cities of Israel, lying about midway on Israel’s coast. Today, it is populated by both Jews and Arab settlers and is situated along the southern border of the illegal Zionist settlement of Tel Aviv, originally, the Palestinian village of  Sheikh Munis. But unlike Tel Aviv, Jaffa is historically very much a part of Israel with a Jewish history almost as long as the history of Israel itself.

According to tradition, the city was named for Yafet, one of the sons of Noah, who built it after the Flood. During the time of Joshua, the area in and around Jaffa was allotted to the tribe of Dan. Long considered the main port of entry to the Land of Israel for those coming from the west, in later Biblical history, it became associated with Solomon’s Temple, built by the cedars from Lebanon which arrived by way of Jaffa. The city remained in Israelite hands even after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel, becoming part of the northern Kingdom of Israel. It was from Jaffa, the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). In 701 BCE, in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, Sennacherib of Assyria, invaded the region from Jaffa. Later, it became a port city of the Seleucid Empire until it was taken over by the Maccabees (1 Maccabees 10:74–76) and ruled by them for at least a century. According to the New Testament account, it was here that Saint Peter brought back to life the widow Dorcas (Acts of the Apostles 9:36–42 (Greek sources put her name as Tabitha)). During the First Jewish–Roman War, Jaffa was captured and burned by Cestius Gallus. It is said that some 8,400 inhabitants were massacred. Since then, several rabbinic sources attest to a number of Jewish scholars living in, or travelling through Jaffa - Jose ben Halafta, Rabi Akha bar Khanina, Rabi Pinchas ben Yair, Rav Adda Demin, Rav Nachman. Several streets and alleys of the Jaffa Flea Market area are named after these scholars.

Under Arab rule, Jewish and Christian pilgrims would usually pass through Jaffa. It was at this time that the Pesikta Rabbati (written in the 9th century) mentions a R. Tanchum of Jaffa, a prominent scholar of Israel. In the early tenth century R. Joseph, the father of Saadiah Gaon, died there. A Hebrew letter dated 1071, which was found in the Cairo *Genizah, reports the confiscation of merchandise in the port of Jaffa. A bill of divorce (get) written in 1077 proves that the city had a rabbinical court at the time. During the period of the Crusades, Benjamin of Tudela (1170) sojourned at Jaffa, and found there only one Jew, a dyer. During the Second Crusade, Jews were treated with more tolerance. The small community was comprised of craftsmen, potters, and glaziers (many of whom went to Europe). Their influence is noticeable in the contemporary pottery of southern France. In the 14^th century, Jewish immigration via Jaffa became very dangerous, and especially in the 15^th century, as a result of the decrees issued by the pope and the Venetian Republic against carrying Jews to the Holy Land. Only when the decree was revoked in c. 1488 did Jews openly arrive in Israel via Jaffa.

In the 18^th century, individual Jews, especially those from North Africa, were attracted to the town. The Libyan Synagogue, Bet Zunana, was built Rabbi Yaacov ben David Zunana, on behalf of the North African arrivals. It was later turned into a hotel and then a soap factory, and reopened as a synagogue for Libyan Jewish immigrants after 1948. Later in the century, the Jewish community would often become caught up in the numerous wars between Arabs and Turks suffering the consequences in the process such as the massacre by the Mamluk emir and warlord Muhammad Bey Abu Dhahab of Egypt (1775).

In 1780 the grand rabbinate of Constantinople officially requested a Christian official, one Hanna Domia, to protect Jews who pass through Jaffa on their way to Jerusalem from abuses from the local Arabs as well as from the ruling officials. However, the abuses continued and in response, Isaiah Ajiman, banker of the Janizaries at Constantinople, purchased there a piece of real estate (1820) which he legally transferred to the Sephardic community of Jerusalem. That community set about to divide the property, one part, as a free hotel for Jewish travelers on their way to the holy cities, and the other part, a synagogue. This area became known as Dar al-Yehud (Arabic for "the house of the Jews") and eventually became the basis of the present Jewish community in Jaffa. A prospective Jewish community in Jaffa sparked much opposition from the rabbis in Jerusalem, and a herem (ban) was issued against the settlement of Jews there, the object of which was to attract all immigrants to Jerusalem. But some Jews settled there anyway. Initially, the first residents were mostly North Africans, and were merchants and artisans who preferred living from their own handiwork instead of being dependent on ḥalukkah in Jerusalem. But since they were still too poor to buy land for a cemetery, they instead buried their dead at Jerusalem. In 1838, due to the generosity of a certain Baron Menashe of Alexandria, a Sephardic educational institution Or Torah, was established. By 1839, at least 153 Sephardi Jews were living in Jaffa. Later, more North Africans arrived, survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Haifa. They were soon joined by a body of Ashkenazim from Europe. Eventually, the old herem was lifted and in 1841 the chief rabbi of Jerusalem assigned to Jaffa, one Judah Halevy of Dubrovnik as its chief rabbi. He served the community for 50 years. Among the tasks he was given was that of receiving Jewish pilgrims in Jaffa port and of aiding them on their way to Jerusalem. At the same time, Jews, even from Jerusalem, went to Jaffa and established themselves there for commercial purposes. Among these may be cited Haim Amzaleg, who also acted as British consul in the city. The pioneers of modern agriculture in Jaffa were American Christians who would buy land near the city for the “benefit” of the Jews. In the early 1850s, Rabbi Halevy leased a nearby orchard to Clorinda S. Minor of Philadelphia, who founded a Christian messianic community that established on the site, Mount Hope, with herself as manager. This farming initiative was meant to encourage local Jews to learn manual trades in order to pave the wave for the Second Coming of Jesus. But the enterprise was unsuccessful and in 1855, the British Jewish philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore bought the land, with Minor continuing as manager. Another unsuccessful attempt was the founding of a "model farm," by a certain A. Isaacs, a Jewish convert to Christianity, who intended to do missionary work. In 1859, an Austrian Jewish writer, Ludwig August Frankl, found sixty-five Jewish families living in Jaffa, 'about 400 souls in all.' Of these four were shoemakers, three were tailors, one silversmith and one watchmaker. There were also merchants and shopkeepers and 'many live by manual labor, porters, sailors, messengers, etc.'   

Under the auspices of the Alliance Israelite Universelle of Paris, Charles Netter established the Mikve Yisrael Agricultural School in 1870. The institution also entertained close ties with the Jaffa community. The size of the Jaffa community increased considerably with these enterprises and during the period of the First Aliyah, Jaffa became the center of the "new yishuv" and a communal framework was organized which comprised both Ashkenazim and Sephardim. The construction of the road to Jerusalem and the wealth which came to the city with Jewish immigration and settlement and the planting of citrus groves in the vicinity all enlivened the city's maritime commerce and contributed to its progress. Institutions were established: (1884) an Ashkenazi yeshiva Sha'are Torah, a welfare society Bene Tzion, a mutual aid society Ezrat Yisrael, and (1885) a public library containing several thousands of books in different languages. In 1887, the first Jewish neighborhood of the city was established – Neve Tzedek – on land acquired from a merchant Aharon Chelouche, one of the local notables. It was soon dubbed, "the Parisian houses," although with its narrow lanes, tightly packed houses, and absence of sanitary facilities, it differed little from Jaffa's other quarters. In 1891, Jaffa's second Jewish quarter, Neveh Shalom, was founded on land acquired from Arabs. The homes put up for sale in this neighborhood remained empty until the rabbi of the Jaffa, Naphtali Herz Halevi, bought the first house. The Jewish market, consisting of shops and workrooms, was partly on the quay and partly on the main street traversing the city. That same year, the hospital Sha'arei Ẓiyyon was founded and sustained by the gifts of the Jewish philanthropists of Europe. Two local schools were founded in 1894 by the Alliance Israélite Universelle, and were sustained by various Zionist societies of Russia and Vienna. In addition, there were three Ashkenazic and one Sephardic synagogues, some private midrashim, and five Jewish benevolent societies, among them a B'nai B'rith lodge. In 1896, an Ashkenazi Talmud Torah, Sha'arei Torah, was opened. In 1898 Jaffa had for chief rabbi Joseph ben Nuss (d. 1901). He was succeeded by Rabbi Malka. Later, the Anglo-Palestine Bank was established. Its name was later changed to Bank Leumi.

In 1904, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook was Chief Rabbi of Jaffa. During his tenure, there was the Second Aliyah from which, several communities were established in the Jaffa area. This Aliyah also swelled the Jaffa community's numbers to 7,000, again making dwellings scarce in both the Arab and Jewish sectors and apartment rents excessive. More Jewish quarters were added to Jaffa at this time: Maḥaneh Yosef, Kerem ha-Teimanim, and Ohel Moshe. The lands for this purpose had been secured by the founding families of the Jaffa Jewry – Matalon, Moyal, and others. In 1906, the Herzliyya Gymnasium was established. It became the most prestigious high school in Israel for many decades. Two years later, the E.L. Lewinsky Seminary for women teachers opened. That same year, the Palestine Office, the local representative of the World Zionist Organization, opened in Jaffa under the leadership of Arthur Ruppin, a sociologist from Germany. In 1917, during World War I, the Jaffa deportations resulted in the Ottomans expelling the entire civilian population. While Muslim evacuees were allowed to return before long, the Jewish evacuees remained in camps, mainly in Egypt, until after the British conquest.

During the British Mandate after the war, more Jewish suburbs were established within its municipal boundaries. But relations with the Arab settlers grew tense. The Jaffa riots in 1921, (known in Hebrew as Meoraot Tarpa) began with a May Day parade that turned violent. Arab rioters attacked Jewish residents and buildings killing 47 Jews and wounding 146. The Hebrew author Yosef Haim Brenner was one of those killed in the riots. During this and the 1929 riots, the inner parts of Jaffa were gradually ethnically cleansed of Jews. Still, during the 1920s, most Jewish businesses were located in Jaffa (as opposed to Tel Aviv), some Jewish neighborhoods paid taxes to the municipality of Jaffa, many young Jews who could not afford the housing costs of Tel Aviv resided there, and the big neighborhood of Menashiya was by and large fully mixed. The first electric company in the British Mandate of Palestine, owned by Jewish shareholders, had been named the Jaffa Electric Company. The 1936–39 Arab revolt in British Palestine further ethnically cleansed the town of Jews and inflicted great economic and infrastructural damage. It began on April 19, 1936 with a riot remembered as "the Bloody Day in Jaffa", which ended with 9 Jews killed and scores injured. The Arab leadership declared a general strike, which began in the Jaffa Port, a place that had already become a symbol of Arab “resistance”.

In 1947, the partition plan of the UN Special Commission on Palestine recommended that Jaffa be included in the planned Jewish state. Due to the large Arab majority, however, the UN instead designated it as part of the Arab state. Following the inter-communal violence which broke out after the passing of the UN resolution, the remaining Jews fled for their lives. The mayors of Jaffa and Tel Aviv tried to calm their communities.  British authorities protected the city and prevented Jewish forces from occupying parts of it. But the riots brought large units of "volunteers" from other Arab countries to Jaffa. They were organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that sympathized with the Nazis during World War II. On 4 January 1948 the Lehi detonated a truck bomb outside the 3-storey 'Serrani', Jaffa's Ottoman built town hall, killing 26 and injuring hundreds. In February Jaffa's Mayor, Yussuf Haykal, contacted David Ben-Gurion through a British intermediary trying to secure a peace agreement with Tel Aviv, but the commander of the Arab militia in Jaffa opposed it. On April 25, the Irgun launched an offensive on Jaffa. During the course of the war, thousands of Arabs fled the fighting. When Jaffa surrendered to the Haganah on May 14, the day Israel declared its independence, around 4,000 people were left. At the same time, thousands of Jewish refugees settled there. On December 10, Jaffa was forced to be annexed to Tel Aviv. Official annexation was delayed until April 24, 1950 due to concerted opposition from Tel Aviv's mayor Israel Rokach.

Today, Jaffa has a heterogeneous population of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Among the earliest cultural institutions since independence is the Farkash Gallery founded in 1948. In 1995, the old Libyan synagogue, Bet Zunana became a museum. There were also extensive archaeological excavations in the area. The majority of these excavations are salvage in nature and are conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority since the 1990s. Excavations on Rabbi Pinchas Street, for example, in the flea market have revealed walls and water conduits dating to the Iron Age, Hellenistic, Early Islamic, Crusader and Ottoman periods. A limestone slab engraved with a menorah discovered on Tanchum Street is believed to be the door of a tomb. Additional efforts to conduct research excavations at that site included those of B. J. Isserlin (1950), Ze'ev Herzog of Tel Aviv University (1997–1999), and most recently the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project (since 2007), directed by Aaron A. Burke (UCLA) and Martin Peilstocker (Johannes Gutenberg University).

In addition, Jaffa is home to the following: the Bat Yam & Jaffa border beach, the Givat Aliya Beach, Yitzhak Sadeh House, B’nai Brith, haHaganah Square, Avigal School, the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, Branco Weiss Garden, Davidov Park, Midron Yaffo Park, Cherner House, Jaffa Port, Ilana Goor Museum, WeWork, Etzel Museum, Israel Defense Forces History Museum, Charles Clore Beach.