The Jewish holiday of Shavuot-Pentecost will be celebrated this week. The holiday has several traditional names: Shavuot, the festival of weeks, marking seven weeks after Passover; Chag HaKatzir, the festival of reaping grains; and Chag HaBikkurim, the festival of first fruits. Shavuot, according to Jewish tradition, is the day the Children of Israel accepted the Torah at Mt. Sinai. It is also believed to be the day of King David's birth and death.
"Ruth the Moabitess" 
Ruth said, "Do not entreat me to
leave you, to return from following
you, for wherever you go, I will go...
Your people shall be my people, your
God my God"
The reading of the Book of Ruth is one of the traditions of the holiday. Ruth, a Moabite and widow of a Jewish man (and a princess according to commentators), gave up her life in Moab to join her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, in the Land of Israel. She insisted on adopting Naomi's God, Torah and religion.
A central element of the story of Ruth is her going to the fields where barley and wheat were being harvested so that she could collect charitable handouts. She gleans in the fields of Boaz, a judge and a relative of Ruth's dead husband (as such he has a levirate obligation to marry the widow). The union results in a child, Obed, the grandfather of King David. 
And Naomi and Ruth both went on
until they arrived at Bethlehem
Ruth came to a field that belonged
to Boaz who was of the family of
Naomi's deceased husband
The members of the American Colony were religious Christians who established their community in the Holy Land. They were steeped in the Bible and photographed countryside scenes that referred to biblical incidents and prohibitions.
Boaz said to his servant, who stood
over the reapers, "To whom does
this maiden belong?"
Boaz said to Ruth, "Do not go to
glean in another field...here you shall
stay with my maidens"
Boaz said to her at mealtime, "Come
here and partake of the bread..." He
ordered his servants "Pretend to
forget some of the bundles for her."We present a few of the dozens of "Ruth" photographs found in the Library of Congress' American Colony collection.
Ruth carried it to the city and Naomi
saw what she had gleaned
A major effort was made by the photographers to re-enact the story of Ruth. "Ruth," we believe, was a young member of the American Colony community; the remaining "cast" were villagers from the Bethlehem area who were actually harvesting, threshing and winnowing their crops. We have matched the pictures with corresponding verses from theBook of Ruth.
Ruth came to the threshing floor and
Boaz said, "Ready the shawl you are
wearing and hold it," and she held
it, and he measured out six measures
of barley....
See more of the pictures here.
Unfortunately, we don't know when the "Ruth and Boaz series" was photographed, but we estimate approximately 100 years ago.
Click on the pictures to enlarge, click on the caption to view the original. - MAY9
"The Zionist Message Hidden within Antique Pictures of the Holy Land" -- Published by Jewish Political Studies Review
Jerusalem's Old City The journal article by Lenny Ben-David, the publisher of Israel Daily Picture, is based on the pictures of the Library of Congress archives and the American Colony photographers.
The Jewish Political Studies Review article discusses the importance of historical photographs for the study of Jewish life in the Holy Land in the 19th and 20th centuries. The following is the introduction to the article:
Harvesting at Jewish settlement
A 110-year-old trove of pictures taken by the Christian photographers of the American Colony in Jerusalem provides dramatic proof of thriving Jewish communities in Palestine. Hundreds of pictures show the ancient Jewish community of Jerusalem’s Old City and the Jewish pioneers and builders of new towns and settlements in the Galilee and along the Mediterranean coastline. The American Colony photographers recorded Jewish holy sites, holiday scenes and customs, and they had a special reason for focusing their lenses on Yemenite Jews.
Yemenite Jew
The collection, housed in the U.S. Library of Congress, also contains photographs from the 1860s, the first years of photography.
Students in Mikve Yisrael
agricultural school
These photographs provide a window rarely opened by historians—for several unfortunate reasons—to view the life of the Jews in the Holy Land. The photographs’ display and online publication effectively counter the biased narrative claiming that the Jewish state violently emerged ex novo in the mid-twentieth century.0Add a comment
- We reach 800,000 visitors this week!
Opening the cigarbox 
From the "Cigarbox Collection" We Unveil the
Cigarbox Collection" and reveal details on the donor.
Are you a subscriber yet? Enter your email in the box on the right.1View comments
Why is there a Ferris wheel on the Temple Mount in 1904?
The Temple Mt -- in St Louis, Mo. (1904, Library of Congress)
The caption reads "Walls of Jerusalem and Ferris Wheel"
Because this picture is not taken in Jerusalem, but at the St. Louis, Mo. World's Fair in the United States.
The Fair was dedicated to the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (but was delayed until 1904).
The World's Fair attracted pavilions from all over the world and almost 20 million visitors. But, as explained inWikipedia, "the grand, neo-Classical exhibition palaces were temporary structures, designed to last but a year or two. They were built with a material called 'staff',' a mixture of plaster of Paris and hemp fibers, on a wood frame."
Author Shalom Goldman writes in his book, "God's Sacred Tongue: Hebrew & the American Imagination,"At the 1904 World's Fair, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, there was a massive model of Jerusalem's Old City. It sprawled over 10 acres of the fairgrounds and included grand models of the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As Israeli scholar Rechav Rubin remarked: 'the most astonishing fact about the enterprise is that several hundred people, Moslems, Jews, and Christians, were brought from Jerusalem to St. Louis. There they lived and worked within the model, dressed in their colorful costumes... and had to entertain and guide the visitors through its streets and sites.'"
1View comments
- MAY7
The Train to Jerusalem -- Readers' Reactions and a Special Bonus: The First Motion Picture Made in the Holy Land
Two fans of Israel Daily Picture made two very important points:
Jerusalem train station (circa 1900, Library of Congress)
1. Ehud wrote, "You might note that the first train in the Holy Land was a Jewish initiative."
Ehud, you're right. Here's an abstract of the article you recommended. Already in 1838, Jewish financier Moses Montefiore raised the idea of a train. He lobbied the British prime minister and the Ottoman grand vizier in 1856. A year later he brought a British engineer to Palestine to survey a route. After his wife died in 1864, however, Montefiore gave up his dream.
But the idea was kept alive by a Jewish businessman from Jerusalem, Joseph Navon, who in 1885 lobbied the Ottoman authorities to build the train line and secured funds to finance the construction.
2. Hillel wrote: When I looked at the station over the years, I noticed the 'Jerusalem' name on the second floor of the station's side is in English and Arabic and centered
Enlargement from the picture above
below (apparently added later, judging from the appearance), in Hebrew. Now, I see the picture with the English and Arabic names, but none in Hebrew, and my deduction was proved correct.
The sign today (Credit: Jerusalem
History in Pictures)
Special feature: An earlier posting of the First Motion Picture taken in the Holy Land -- Filmed from a Train in Jerusalem
Scene from first movie
Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière were photographic inventors who began to experiment with motion pictures in the early 1890s.
Railroad Station (1900)
The Frenchmen's first footage was recorded in March 1895. In 1897, they produced the first motion picture made in the Holy Land, a 51-second film from a train leaving Jerusalem station.
Click on the picture to see the film or view an annotated version of the film which answers the question, "Who were the residents of Jerusalem when the film was made?"
[Do not adjust the sound on your computer; this is a silent movie.]
Note in the background the windmill in the Jewish neighborhood of Yemin Moshe built by Moses Montefiore in 1860.0Add a comment
The first train to Jerusalem was inaugurated in 1892 during the Ottoman rule of Palestine. The steep climb from Jaffa through the mountains to Jerusalem was slow and dangerous. The sharp curves meant frequent derailments.
Train being turned in the Jerusalem train station (circa 1900)
These pictures come from the Library of Congress' American Colony collection.
The rail system in the Holy Land was also a hodgepodge of different rail widths. The original rail to Jerusalem was 1 meter wide. Some rail lines from Cairo were standard gauge (1.435 meter); others were part of the Hejaz railroad (1.050 meter). And during Britain's campaign in Palestine against the Turks they introduced temporary narrow gauge (600 mm) rail lines from Jaffa and between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
Narrow gauge line in Jaffa, built on
a wider road bed. Jews were expelled
from Jaffa by the Turks in World War I
and rails were removed for use in the
Turkish war effort. This picture, therefore,
is almost certainly taken soon after the war.
Australian army engineers in two
light locomotives near Jerusalem (1918)
As the British pushed the Turks out of Palestine they rebuilt the rail lines destroyed by the Turks. In the case of the "temporary" Jerusalem-Ramallah line, they used narrow gauge rails. By 1920 they had rebuilt the Jaffa-Jerusalem line with standard gauge.
The re-dedication of the line was celebrated by the British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Samuel who apparently drove the locomotive between Jaffa and Lod.
British High Commissioner Sir
Herbert Samuel driving in the last
spike in Jaffa (1920)
Military, temporary light train between
Jerusalem and Ramallah, near the
Tomb of the Judges and view here (1918)
Samuel at the controls of the train
opening the Jaffa-Jerusalem route
(October 5, 1920)
Samuel responding to the crowds lining the train route
The Library of Congress captions this picture "A crowd of
men and women" and dates it as between 1925 and 1946. It
is almost certainly Samuel's dedication, probably at Lod,
in 1920. (All pictures are from the Library of Congress)
Email subscribers can view this entry at
www.israeldailypicture.com
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original pictures.0Add a comment
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Today Jews around the world are celebrating Lag B'Omer, the end of a month-long mourning period when traditional Jews refrain from weddings or joyous gatherings. The mourning remembers the thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, a reknowned spiritual leader at the time of the Talmud. They died in a great plague that ended on Lag B'Omer. 
Meron and tomb of Shimon BarYochai(circa 1930)
Dancing at the Meron tomb (Central Zionist Archives,
Harvard Library, 1925)
The tomb on the hill (enlarged)
In Israel, Lag B'Omer is celebrated with bonfires, hikes along nature trails, and gatherings at the tombs of of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the Galilee town of Meron and of Shimon the Just (Hatzaddik) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.Bar Yochai, a student of Rabbi Akiva's, was known for his opposition to the Roman rule in the Land of Israel. He and his son were forced to flee to the Galilee where they hid in a cave for 12 years. Lag B'Omer is the day of his death, but it is actually celebrated in recognition of the Torah teachings he gave over to his students.
Hundreds of thousands of celebrants are expected to visit Shimon Bar Yochai's tomb in Meron by Wednesday night.
Shimon Hatzaddik was a High Priest of the second Temple in Jerusalem for 40 years.
Jewish women praying at the ShimonHatzaddik tomb (Central ZionistArchives, Harvard Library, c. 1930)
Jews gathered at Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb in Sheikh Jarrah,
Jerusalem (Central Zionist Archives, Harvard Library,
c. 1930)
According to Jewish tradition, Shimon clothed himself in his High Priest's vestments to receive Alexander the Great as he marched toward Jerusalem. Alexander stepped from his chariot and bowed to Shimon, who, he said, had appeared to him in a dream predicting his victories.
Children's Lag B'Omer procession
near Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb (1918)
Many traditional Jews who cannot travel to Meron in the Galilee celebrate Lag B'Omer at Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb located in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in northern Jerusalem.
Shimon Hatzaddik's tomb today Jewish homes around the tomb had to be evacuated in the 1948 fighting. In recent years Jewish families have returned to the neighborhood.Today's feature is dedicated to M & Y on the occasion of their 45th anniversary1View comments
The horrific bloodshed in Syria continues without any restraint. More than 80,000 civilians have been killed, and unknown numbers are missing and wounded. More than one million civilians are refugees.
The minaret of the Great Mosque in Aleppo,
circa 1910. (Library of Congress, American Colony
collection)
With few signs of international action to stop the terrible harm to flesh and blood, we add another reminder here of the catastrophe: the great destruction to the mortar and stone of Syria's magnificent historical heritage. The minaret was built almost 1,000 years ago as part of Aleppo's Great Mosque.
In fighting between President Assad's army and Syrian rebels last week the ancient minaret was destroyed.
The destroyed minaret, photo taken last week by
Associated Press
View other historical features on the ancient cities of Syria- Homs and Hama in Syria
- Tribute to the People of Syria
- Damascus Revolt 1895
- Damascus Revolt 1925
- Ancient Aleppo
A Bedouin family near the Hula Lake. Homes were made from reeds. The
lake was partially drained in the late 1800s. Later Jewish efforts drained the
malarial swamps. (circa 1920)
An Arab street in Haifa, ironically called "al Yahud" (the
Jews) street, according to a note on the picture's back (c 1920)
Among the photographs we received in the "Cigarbox Collection" are several pictures of Arab life in Palestine approximately 100 years ago.
The village of Kalkilya. Enlarging the photo shows a woman
with a jug on her head, suggesting the structure is a well
Days before our formal "opening" of the collection, we continue to provide previews.
Today's pictures come from the Arab communities in Kalkilya, Haifa and the Hula Valley.
Mishmar Ha'emek from the 1920s
(Keren Hayesod)
Clarification
We previously posted this picture from the Cigarbox Collection. Some of the pictures, such as this one, bear a stamp on the back saying "Photo Keren Hayesod." The Central Zionist Archives contains some 50,000 pictures from the organization which was established in 1920.
We discovered this picture in the Harvard Library files, but it was dated "1948-1946." We suggest that the photograph, part of other pictures in the Cigarbox Collection, was taken in 1926, soon after Mishmar Ha'emek's establishment.1View comments
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We continue to scan and research the treasure trove of photographs donated to Israel Daily Picture, pictures taken by the donor's father in the Land of Israel in the first decades of the 20th century. We hope to unveil the collection and the donor's account in his own words in the near future.
The cigarbox collection
Meanwhile, we present two more special pictures and a response to yesterday's picture from Yizraela, an octogenarian from Nahalal, who is an expert on the early days of the community and its photographs.
Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek in the Jezreel Valley (circa 1926) with Mt Tabor in the background.
The community was evacuated briefly during the 1929 Arab riots. In the 1948 war it was attacked by
Arab artillery and aircraft.
Young women doing laundry. A notation on the back of the photo says that they are Yemenites. Are they Jewish? The talit prayer shawl in the tub suggests that they are. (circa 1920) 
The talit
Yizraela Bloch (named for the "Jezreel" Valley where she was born) is the photo archivist of Nahalal. The spry octogenarian was shown yesterday's photo of the children of Nahalal and asked if one of the boys could be Moshe Dayan.
The children of Nahalal and their teacher
She responded: "Moshe Dayan couldn't be one of the children in the picture because you can see the water tower that was built in 1924 in the background. The building in the foreground was the kindergarten and behind it the first grade class room. In 1924 Moshe Dayan would have been older than the kids in the picture." [Dayan was born in 1915.]
Confirming the unique nature of the "Cigarbox collection," Yizraela was very interested in the photograph which she doesn't have in the archive collection. She was also surprised that she didn't know the kindergarten teacher in the photo.
Our special thanks to NSP for interviewing Yizraela.0Add a comment
An avid reader of this site has allowed Israel Daily Picture to become "home" to his incredible collection of pictures of the Land of Israel assembled almost 100 years ago by his father. We received the collection in an old cigarbox this week and are in the process of digitalizing the high resolution pictures, translating German captions, and identifying those pictures without captions.
A book? No, a cigarbox 
The contents of the cigarbox
More on the collection and the generous owner of the collection will be provided soon.
Meanwhile, here are several preview samples:
The children of Nahalal (circa 1920s). It is possible that one of these boys was Moshe Dayan who was born in 1915? .A matzah factory in Haifa. The signs on the left read "For the purpose of the commandment of matzah" --
a reminder to the workers to keep their intentions on the commandment. The signs on the right, in Hebrew and
French, read "No smoking" and "No Spitting"
Smoking and spitting are prohibited 
"For the matzah mitzva" 1View comments
World War II's Jewish history focuses on the terrible Holocaust in Europe with relatively small footnotes about the Nazi persecution of Jews in North Africa, Haj Amin el-Husseini's conspiracies in Berlin, and the Italian air force bombing of Tel Aviv in September 1940.
Italian prisoners of war under British guard arrive by train in Palestine 1940
(Library of Congress)
The Holocaust's genocide could also have included the 500,000 Jews of Palestine if the British army had not stopped German General Rommel's Afrika Korps blitzkrieg across northern Africa in November 1942 in the battle of Alamein. According to the British Independent, German historians discovered that the "Nazis stationed a unit of SS troops in Athens, tasked with following invading frontline troops in Palestine and then rounding up and murdering about 500,000 European Jews who had taken refuge there." The SS would have been aided by Arab collaborators promised by el-Husseini.
POWs lining up for food
Palestine played a different role in 1940, early in the war. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, allied with Germany, ordered his troops stationed in Cyrenaica (Libya) to attack British forces in Egypt and capture the Suez Canal. Out-numbered British and Australian forces blocked the attack and pushed back the Italian army. It was a crushing defeat for Italy, and more than 100,000 soldiers were captured.
POW's food line
Where were the Italian POWs taken?
The American Colony's photographs from the Library of Congress' collection showed that thousands of Italian POWs were taken to Palestine by train, presumably from Egypt.
The photographs were taken at the Wadi Sarer train station in December 1940. The station, inside Israel, is an old Ottoman building that has been abandoned.
Wadi Sarer train station in the background 
POWs on the march
The old train station was a recent photographic subject for photographer Gunther Hartnagel. We have been unable to make contact with Mr. Hartnagel to obtain permission to use his photographs, but they can be viewed here.1View comments
- APR12
Introducing David Blick of Brooklyn, Private in the Jewish Legion, Palestine, April 8, 1918 - March 18, 1920
David Blick was born in Odessa in 1893. In 1913 he left Russia, briefly lived in France, and then moved to the United States. In New York he enlisted in the British army's Jewish Legion and was assigned to the Royal Fusiliers.
Private David Blick, Jewish Legion
We thank Yakov Marks and his wife, Rena Chaya Brownstein Marks, for providing these pictures of her maternal grandfather, David Blick. Yakov noted, "While camped in the
area of Rishon LeZion, David met and later married Rachel Churgin of Yaffo. They were forced to leave Eretz Yisrael by the British."
David and Rachel Blick standing on
what appears to be a boat (in
Haifa harbor?)
Here is David Blicks' autobiographical account that he provided to the Album of the Jewish Legion:I was born in Odessa Russia on February 23, 1896. I attended both a yeshiva and gymnasium in that city. Early in 1913 I left Russia and settled in Paris, France for a year and a half. In July, [1915?] I migrated to United States. For the first three years I lived in the city of Boston and I was an active member of the Poale Zion Party.
Early in 1918 I joined the Jewish Legion and served in Eretz Yisrael with the 39th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. During my service in Israel I met and married my wife Rachel Churgin.
In February 1920 I left Israel first for England and then in the United States. I have lived in the United States since 1920....
Pvt. David Blick's Jewish Legion unit in Eretz Yisrael
More photographs from the Blick/Marks family album
The Royal Fusiliers on the way to action 
Blick's unit. 
David Blick's army discharge papers
Click on pictures to enlarge.
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