85 years ago a powerful earthquake struck Eretz Yisrael. With its epicenter located in the northern Dead Sea area, the towns of Jericho, Jerusalem, Nablus (Shechem) and Tiberias were badly hit. An estimated 500 people were killed in those locations.
The earthquake of July 11, 1927. Partial collapse of mosque
and minaret on Mt. of Olives
Damage in the Augusta Victoria Hospital/
Church on Mt. of Olives. Stones from
the tower smashed through the roof below
Collapsed banks of the Jordan River, with trees in midstream Today, scientists believe the magnitude of the quake was 6.25.
Nablus (Shechem) "in a ruined state."
At the time there were several Jewish
households in the predominantly
Muslim town
We published here last year several pictures taken after the earthquake. View the pictures here.
"House in Nablus reduced to a shell" Subsequently, we uncovered more photos in the Library of Congress archives, and we present them here.In Israel today, scientists warn of another major quake, and civil defense information is posted in many public buildings andonline.Click on pictures to enlarge.Click on captions to view the original picture.Are you a subscriber to Israel Daily Pictures? Put your email address in the box in the right sidebar.- SEP4
Special Rosh Hashanna feature: Treasures from the Library of Congress Archives -- Rosh Hashanna in New York 100 Years Ago
While this website focuses on historic pictures from the Land of Israel, we have also come across the Library of Congress Archives' photos of Jewish life in the United States.
Tashlich prayer on the Brooklyn Bridge, 1919.
The Near Year prayer is traditionally said at a body
of water where the worshipper "casts" his/her sins
In honor of the Jewish New Year, we offer a series of pictures of Rosh Hashanna 100 years ago in New York.
Tashlich (1909) and here
Click on pictures to enlarge.
Click on captions to see originals.
Lining up for shoe shines on the eve of Rosh Hashanna
(circa 1910)
Rosh Hashanna prayers (circa 1905)
and here
In front of a synagogue on Rosh Hashanna (circa 1910) 
Boy in prayer shawl (1911) 2View comments
Three Orthodox Jews walking past the "4th Station of the
Cross" on al Wad Street in the Muslim Quarter. The men
almost certainly entered the Old City from the
Damascus Gate (circa 1900)Several months ago we presented pictures of Jews walking through the Old City of Jerusalem 70-80 years ago in order to pray at the Western Wall on the Sabbath.Under Muslim-Turkish rule of Jerusalem, Jewish access to the Western Wall was often curtailed.
After Britain's capture of Jerusalem in 1917, Arab terrorists led by Haj Amin el Husseini frequently attacked Jews in the Old City. And in the period of the Jordanian occupation of the Old City (1948-1967) it was outright impossible to visit the retaining wall of the Second Temple.
After Israel's reunification of the city in 1967 and the rebuilding of the Jewish Quarter, Jews were able to take their traditional Sabbath walk to the Wall safely.
Orthodox men walking in the Old City shuk (circa 1935).
Note the bell tower of the Russian Orthodox Church of
Ascension on Mt. of Olives on the horizon under the arch
We present here additional historic pictures of Orthodox Jews walking in the Old City of Jerusalem, probably going to or returning from prayers at the Western Wall.
In these pictures, the men are wearing fur hats - shtreimels- traditionally worn on the Sabbath or on a Jewish holiday. In one picture a man hides his face because he doesn't want to be photographed on the Sabbath.
The stores are open which means they were walking through the Arabshuk. And the tower on the hill on the horizon is the 64-meter high bell tower adjacent to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension on the Mt. of Olives. With the Mt. of Olives behind them, the men are walking toward the east and the Jaffa Gate.
Orthodox men walking in the Old City (circa 1935) 6View comments
Here is a series of pictures of a Colonel Coventry entering Jerusalem in 1916. "Coventry" would suggest an Englishman, but the year places his arrival in the middle of World War I, and Jerusalem was under Turkish control.
"Col. Coventry driving into Jerusalem from railroad station" 1916
The soldiers greeting him at the railroad station wore thekabalak helmets and kaffiyehs of the Turkish army.
"Col. Coventry and officers approaching the Jaffa Gate." The next picture shows Coventry and his officers in carriages heading up from the Hinnom Valley towards the Jaffa Gate.A third and fourth picture show men marching toward the Old City. They appear to be wearing British uniforms.
Research shows that the men were prisoners of war, captured by the Turks in an early battle in the Sinai close to the Suez Canal.
Troops marching toward Jaffa Gate at the same spot where the
officers were riding in carriages. They appear to be British.
The following is a report from the British General Headquarters, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, 1st June, 1916:
"On the 22nd April the Royal Flying Corps reported that new bodies of enemy troops were at Bir el Bayud [approaching the Suez Canal] Upon receipt of this information, General Wiggin obtained leave to attack the enemy at Mageibra that night. General Wiggin, with Lieut.-Colonel Coventry, accompanied the raid to Mageibra. In the meantime the post at Oghratina was attacked at 5.30a.m. The Officer Commanding at Oghratina reported that he was again heavily attacked on all sides. This attack carried the post, all the garrison of which were either killed, wounded, or captured. Qatia itself was attacked about 9.30 a.m. Lieutenant-Colonel Coventry was detached with one squadron from General Wiggin's Force to operate towards Qatia. Unfortunately, this squadron became involved in the unsuccessful resistance of the Qatia garrison, and, with the exception of some 60 men and one officer who were able to disengage themselves, fell with it into the hands of the enemy."
British POWs and Turkish soldiers marching toward the Old
City. The building on the left of the picture is the St. John's
Eye Hospital, today the Mt. Zion Hotel
The British soldiers, led by Lt. Col. Coventry, were taken by rail by the Turks to Jerusalem. Their fate afterwards is not known.3View comments
In January we presented a feature on Jewish money-changers in Jerusalem 75-80 years ago. The signs behind them showed that they provided full financial services including property sales and rentals, mortgages and stocks.
Woman customer at money-changer
Recently, we came across this picture, different from the previous ones for several reasons. First, it shows a woman customer. Second, a sign on the door advertises that the shop guarantees Egyptian bonds.
Jewish money changer (1930s)
Previous posting: For millennia the commerce of the world has had to deal with different currencies. The Bible refers to various coins, often a name referring to a specific weight. Every country, province, king or governor minted a local coin. Travelers had to exchange one currency for another to do business.
Jewish pilgrims to the Temples in Jerusalem had to convert their coins to local currency to pay for their sacrifices or lodgings. Agricultural tithes were converted to coins which were brought to Jerusalem. The Talmud refers to a money changer as a shulchani (literally a "person at the table").
Advertisment for rentals;
sales of homes, orchards,
and lots; mortgages, and
stocks
According to the New Testament, the money changers were driven from the Temple by Jesus. The allegedly unsavory character of money changers continued into the Middle Ages as seen by Shakespeare's depiction of Shylock.
Over the centuries, the Forex (foreign exchange) professionals also served as bankers and loan officers.
Jewish money changer (1930s)
When Jews were dispersed throughout Europe and Asia, the profession was an easily portable trade. Jewish ties between communities facilitated letters of credit. The Rothschild banking dynasty, for instance, begun in the 16th century, had family branches in Austria, Germany, France, Italy and England.
As recorded by the American Colony photographers, Jewish money changers set up their shulchan on the street.
Click on the pictures to enlarge. Click on the captions to view the original picture.2View comments
- AUG30
Another Mystery Picture: The Foreground and Background in This 1916 Picture Are Full of History
The Library of Congress archives provide little information on this pictureother than "Turkish officers of high rank visiting Jerusalem Parade" in 1917.
Photo from an album showing Turkish dignitaries leaving
the Old City on Saturday, February 26, 1916, heading
toward Jaffa Road
A private album from the American Colony whose photographers took the picture provides a little more information: "Driving out of the Damascus Gate." The picture was placed in the album amidst pictures of Enver Pasha, the Chief of Staff of the Ottoman army, who was visiting Jamal Pasha, the governor of Syria and Palestine. The two men were part of the ruling "Young Turks." Enlargement of the picture. Note the dozens of ultra-Orthodox
Jews in the foreground wearing fur shtreimels and black hats,
usually reserved for the Sabbath and festivals. Their wives may
be wearing the white kerchiefs, and fezzes were often worn
by Sephardi Jews[For more on the two Pashas see "Did a German General Prevent the Massacre of the Jews of Eretz Yisrael in World War I?"]
Enver Pasha visited Jerusalem at the height of the war in the Sinai between the Ottoman/German forces and the British army, then based in Egypt and fighting to defend the Suez Canal. Enver's visit took place on Saturday, February 26, 1916, according to the published diaries of a European diplomat in Jerusalem. Enver visited the Mt. of Olives and the Dome of the Rock shrine in the Old City. His lodgings were at the Hotel Kaminitz on Jaffa Road. This picture was taken apparently when the two pashas were traveling between these landmarks.
Valero's shops torn down in 1937 by
the British to provide more "open space"
near Damascus Gate
And the street was full of observant Jews dressed in their Sabbath finery.
Valero's shops being built circa 1900.The
domes of the Hurva and Tifferet Yisrael
synagogues are on the horizon on the
left of the picture
In the background of the picture are a row of Jewish-owned shops adjacent to the Damascus Gate built by a Jewish businessman in Jerusalem, Chaim Aharon Valero. The shops were built around 1900 but torn down under British zoning regulations in 1937.1View comments
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Last week we posted a "future feature" photo showing these British troops looking in every direction except up. Where were they? What were they doing? Who were they?
Library of Congress caption: "Haifa, result of terrorist acts and
government measures. H.M.S. British marines and police in
control of Haifa streets during a case of incendiary." The soldiers
in white uniforms are Royal Marines, probably off of the H.M.S.
Repulse which arrived in Haifa that month. (July 1938)
Yesterday's feature on the Arab Revolt provides the answer. They were patrolling the streets of Haifa.
Between 1936 and 1939 the Arab revolt struck at British, Jewish and even Arab targets across Palestine. In cities with mixed populations -- Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, for instance -- there were constant terrorist and retaliation attacks.
In July 1938, the British published the Peel Commission Report, a government study examining the causes of the outbreak of violence in 1938. The commission recommended partition of Palestine. The Arabs rejected the plan; the Jews' reaction was mixed. But the level of violence in Palestine shot up.
H.M.S. Repulse in Haifa Bay with Mt.
Carmel in the background. The Repulse
mission included interdiction of gun-
runners. The ship was sunk during World
War II by Japanese aircraft in the Pacific.A large Irgun bomb struck Haifa's Arab market in early July. Retaliation attacks and rioting were increasing. This picture of the British troops looking every which way shows the aftermath of an Arab "incendiary" attack in a Jewish Quarter in Haifa in July 1938. Platoons of British marines were assigned policing duties in Haifa and areas of the Galilee.The British brought in reinforcements and by 1939 crushed the Arab insurrection, often with very harsh measures. But the Arabs won a more fateful victory.
The British were cowered into promulgating the infamous 1939 "White Paper" which restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine -- precisely when the Nazi extermination machine began to roll.0Add a comment
- AUG25
British Mandate's 1938 Annual Report Details the Arab Revolt; The Library of Congress Archives Provide the Full Picture
The Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936-1939) was a full scale attack against the British Mandate, the Jewish community, and other Arabs who didn't support the radical leadership of Haj Amin el Husseini. Details of the Arab revolt and the British counter-insurgency are recorded in the British Mandate's annual reports.
British military raid for arms at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, July 1938
The photographers of the American Colony were not news photographers, but they recorded the violent and bloody events of the Arab attacks across Palestine. Hundreds of these pictures can be found in the Library of Congress archives.
We present below excerpts of the British Mandate's 1938 report matched for the first time with a selection of the relevant American Colony's pictures:
During 1938 public security in Palestine, particularly during the seven months from June onwards, continued to cause the administration grave preoccupation. An intensified campaign of murder, intimidation and sabotage persisted on lines similar to those followed by Arab law breakers in 1937; and, as in 1937, there were isolated incidents of Jewish reprisals. The main difference between the course of events in 1938 and that in 1937 lay in the gradual development during 1938 of Arab gang warfare on organized and to a certain extent co-ordinated lines.
Trainload of British armored vehicles
from Egypt arrive in Lod (July 1938)
By the end of the year, as the result of the arrival in the autumn of large military reinforcements, this gang organization was first dislocated and finally reduced to comparative impotence in the field. But in the towns terrorism persisted and the roads were still largely unsafe for normal traffic. In fact, the events of 1938 succeeded in seriously affecting the economic and social life of the country to an extent far greater than was the case in 1937....
Remains of burnt Jewish passenger bus
outside of Haifa (July 1938). See a
close-up view here
Oil pipeline sabotaged
In April there was also an increase in shooting incidents against police and military patrols and Jewish settlements; in cases of armed robbery in Arab villages and the sabotage and attempted sabotage of communications and Government property. For the first time for many months damage was done to Jewish groves and forests. Finally, the [Iraq-Haifa] oil pipe line was damaged on ten occasions....
Incendiary bomb in a Jewish quarter
of Haifa (July 1938).
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the originals.
Burned out building in Haifa Jewish
Quarter. Note niche for a mezuza
on the doorway -- marked in a circleThe month of July produced a series of major outrages which caused death to 100 Arabs and 27 Jews, and injury to 206 Arabs and 64 Jews.
The two worst incidents occurred in Haifa when bombs exploded in the Arab fruit market in the centre of the town on the 6th and the 25th of the month. The casualties were 74 Arabs killed and 129 wounded. On both occasions confusion followed the explosions and there ensued short periods of rioting and violence in which 10 Jews lost their lives and 27 were injured. Between these two outrages, also in Haifa on the 10th July, a bomb thrown at a Jewish bus killed one Jew and wounded 15 others; and in a street fracas on the 11th two Jews were killed and 14 Jews and one Arab were wounded....
"Result of terrorist acts... Russian police-
woman searching Jewish female for arms
at the Jaffa Gate" in Jerusalem (July 1938)During the month of August sabotage persisted on an enhanced scale. The damage to the telephone and telegraph system throughout the country was assessed at more than P.6,000, while six trains were derailed.
Military and police raid on Arabs for arms
at the Damascus Gate (September 1938)
Damage to telephone poles and wires In Jerusalem there were three serious bombing incidents, two in the Old City when 13 Arabs were killed and 35 wounded and one outside the Jaffa Gate when five Arabs were killed and 25 wounded. In addition, isolated attacks within the municipal area resulted in several Arabs and Jews being killed and many more wounded....
British soldiers retake the Old City,
pictured along the southern wall of the
city (October 1938)
The British army retakes the Old City of
Jerusalem. Machine gunner near the
Dome of the Rock mosque. (October
1938)
In September, the casualties among the British troops and police, Jews and Arabs (excluding bandits) reached the formidable total of 188 killed and 156 wounded. In addition, rebellious activities, probably encouraged by the crisis in Europe, were more widespread than in previous months. In almost daily encounters with the troops and police the bands are known to have suffered total casualties of at least 311 killed....
In October the Old City of Jerusalem, which had become the rallying point of a large number of bandits and from which acts of violence, murder and intimidation were being organized and perpetrated freely and with impunity, was fully re-occupied by the troops on the 19th of the month.0Add a comment
- AUG21
The Hebron Massacre, August 24, 1929. Re-Posting Photos Discovered in the Library of Congress Archives
On the eve of the anniversary of the Hebron massacre on August 24, we re-post these photographs which we uncovered in the American Colony collection in the Library of Congress archives.
The destruction of the Avraham Avinu
Synagogue in Hebron in 1929Today’s leaders of the Hebron Jewish community told us last year that they had never seen the photos before.
Click on the photos to enlarge. Click on the captions to see the originals.Background to the Hebron massacre. After the British army captured Palestine from the Turks in late 1917, the relationship between the British and the local Arab population was characterized by tension that sporadically erupted into insurrection over the next 30 years.
A destroyed synagogue. Torah scrolls
strewn on the ground
Enlargement of scroll showing
Deuteronomy 1: 17The Arabs of Palestine were led by the powerful Husseini clan who controlled the offices of the Mufti (religious leader) as well as the Mayor of Jerusalem. For decades the clan had opposed European colonialism, the growing power of foreign consulates in Jerusalem, Christian and Jewish immigration and land purchases. After the 1917 Balfour Declaration expressed support for “a national home for the Jewish people,” Husseini added “Zionists” to his enemies list. The clan leveraged its power and threats of violence to win over Turkish and British overlords, to challenge the Hashemite King Abdullah, and to hold off competing clans such as the Nashashibi, Abu Ghosh, and Khalidi clans.
Jewish home plundered. Blood-stained floor[Haj Amin el Husseini fled Palestine in 1937 to escape British jail and eventually found his way to Berlin where he assisted the Nazi war effort. He died of natural causes in Beirut in 1974.]On Yom Kippur 1928, Jews brought chairs and screens to prayers at the Western Wall. This purported change of the status quo was exploited by the Mufti, Haj Amin el Husseini, to launch a jihad against the Jews. Husseini’s campaign continued and escalated after a Jewish demonstration at the Kotel on Tisha B’Av in August 1929. Rumors spread that Jews had attacked Jerusalem mosques and massacred Muslims. The fuse was lit for a major explosion.
Starting on Friday, August 23, 1929 and lasting for a week, attacks by enraged Arab mobs were launched against Jews in the Old City in Jerusalem, in Jerusalem suburbs Sanhedria, Motza, Bayit Vegan, Ramat Rachel, in outlying Jewish communities, and in the Galilee town of Tzfat. Small Jewish communities in Gaza, Ramla, Jenin, and Nablus had to be abandoned.
Synagogue desecrated The attack in Hebron became a frenzied pogrom with the Arab mob stabbing, axing, decapitating and disemboweling 67 men, women and children. At least 133 Jews were killed across Palestine. In 1931, there was a short-lived attempt to reestablish the Jewish community in Hebron, but within a few years it was abandoned until the Israel Defense Forces recaptured Hebron in 1967.The British indulged the Arabs and responded by limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases.
Large common grave of Jewish victims. Later the grave
was destroyed
Jewish home plundered
Today in Hebron: A recent Jewish service in the rebuilt
Avraham Avinu Synagogue (with permission of photographer)2View comments
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Earthquake! in the Holy Land in 1927. New pictures presented - picture a day
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