Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-30
Jews OF JERUSALEM
Over Fifty Thousand Of the
Race in That City.
nlvInEn INTO FACTIONS
DIVIDED INTO FACTIONS
One Receives the Contributions From
This Country and Europe.
OTHER ELECTS THE CHIEF RABBI
Rivalries So Violent That Mohamme-
dams Have Been Obliged to In
tervene as Peacemakers.
BY WILLIAM. E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM. E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
Although the laws Of the Ottoman en-
pire forbid persons of Jewish birth to own
property or do business or even live in
Palestine, there are between $4,000 and
6O,O0O of that race resident in Jerusalem
alone, and their number Is gradually in
creasing. The colony has doubled during
the last twenty-five years, and now consul
tute about three-fourths of the population
Of the holy city, notwithstanding the regu-
lation prohibiting immigration, and most
of the newcomers are entirely or partially
dependent upon the charity of their Ameri-
can and European brethren. They come
chiefly for sentimental and religious rea-
sons, but a considerable number are en-
gagged In business and have been emf
nently successful. They, more than the
other races, are oppressed by taxation and
blackmail. The local officials usually re-
qure them to pay one-tenth of all they pro-
duce as taxes and often seize one-half or
two-thirds of their crops, or any property
of value that can be attached.
1t is very difficult for a Jew to do bust
ness in Palestine for this reason. The local
authorities feel at liberty to help them
selves to anything he has. He has no pro-
lection in the courts or from any other
source, because, technically, he has no right
in the country, and hence the police Ofh-
Gals can rob and blackmail him without
mercy. This is said to be one of the rea-
sons why the Jews live In such wretched
houses and such squalor all over Palestine.
Some rich men have been able to protect
themselves by paying blackmail. One Jew
in Jerusalem is credited with several mil
lions of dollars, which he has made con-
tracing with the government, making loans
av,1 lat ion, IN, inr1o 10 hoc
the confidence of the authorities, and, it
Is said, that they prefer to trade with him
rather than with any other person. For
reasons that may possibly occur to the
mind of the reader other competitors have
no chance with him in OBJ tanning contracts.
And in private enterprises also, notwith-
standing their oppression and the out
RACES inflicted upon them, the Jews are
gradually pushing the Moslems and Chris
tians out of the way. In Christian street,
where they were not allowed to set foot
a few years ago, they control three-fourths
of the business places. Even now they
Their end Of the street which leads to the
holy sepulcher. There Is no law against
it. but the fanatics would beat or kill
them.
During the last fifteen years Jewish fam
lilies have not been allowed to buy land.
They are not allowed to hold property.
Much Jewish property Is held by trustees
to evade the government; much business is
done by Jews in the names Of Turks, and
they obtain the privilege by bribing the Of
hcials. as 1t is supposed that they bride
the custom house inspector to admit them
to the ports
Notwithstanding the fact that their very
existence is forbidden, the Turkish govern
ment requires them to elect one of their
number, who for convenience shall repre-
sent them in all the official intercourse that
must necessarily occur between the gov
ernor and the governed And no event In
Jewish affairs throughout the world ex-
ceeds in interest the election of the chief
rabbi of Jerusalem, which occurs every
generation, for the office is for life.
Two Jewish Factions.
The Jews in Palestine are divided into
two great sects. The Sephardim are gener-
ally descendants from the Jews that were
expelled from Spain In the fifteenth CEN
fury, and settled in the European and Afrt-
can countries bordering on the Mediter-
ranean. The Ashkanazim, or Chasadim,
come from the different countries OF
Europe, Russia Roumania, Austria Hun
gary Bohemia and Germany. The former
speak Spanish almost exclusively, and the
latter the languages of modern Europe.
Hebrew is the language OF the synagogue.
The Ashkanazim sect usually register at
the consulate Of the countries from which
they came, but the Sephardim, having no
country, place themselves directly under
the protection of the Turkish government,
and in their official relations are repre-
scented, as 1 have said, by the chief rabbi.
the highest ecclesiastical authority OF the
Jewish community. He speaks also for the
Ashkanazim sect, although they have
chief rabbi of their own, at present the Rev.
Samuel Salient, who has held the office for
thirty years. He Is very old and almost
blind, but is one of the most learned of liv-
ing men, and is universally admired for his
high character and great ability.
The chacham bashi, or chief rabbi, for
the last fourteen years, was another
learned and venerable man, the Rev. JACOB
Saul Elyashar, who died two months ago
at the ripe age of eighty-nine. His prede-
cessor, the Rev. Mr.. Panejer, died In 1892
at the age of ninety-two. The late incum-
bent was a man of fine appearance and
administered his Office with impartiality,
dignity and ability, although the continual
wrangling among the members OF the jew
ish community caused him many perplexi-
ties Upon his death the Turkish governor
appointed the Rev. Solomon Mani of He
bron as acting chief rabbi until the office
could be permanently filled. The election,
which was held at the Camnitz Hotel. re-
suited in the selection of the Rev. Jacob
Mayer, a Sephardim of Spanish ancestry,
rabbi of a local congregation, held in high
esteem by all classes.
For the first time in history the oalloting
was conducted under the direction of the
Turkish government, the mayor of Jeru-
salem, Faidy Efendi, presiding at the polls.
Mohammedans Keep the Peace.
For a century or more the controversies
between the different sects of Christians
have been so bitter that the officials have
been compelled to interfere, and a guard of
Moslem soldiers stands>at the entrance of
the cave in which Christ was born, and also
at the entrance Of the tomb in which He
was buried to prevent jealous Christians
from disgracing themselves by fighting
upon that holy ground. Now, for the first
time the rivalries between the ceveral Jew
ish sects have become so violent that the
Mohammedans have been compelled to in
teryene as peacemakers between them Also
and IL 1t had not been for the presence of
the mayor of Jerusalem and a guard of
Moslem soldiers, the election Of the chief
rabbi of Jerusalem would have been the
scene of a disgraceful riot.
AS the chief rabbi is theoretically Turk
ish official, only Turkish subjects are al
lowed to vote for him. This debars the
great majority of the Ashkanazim sect who
claim the protection Of the European con-
suls and the choice is left practically to the
Sephardim sect But every Jew in Jeru-
salem takes an active interest in the con-
test and their partizanship is 80 fierce and
jealous that violent encounters continually
occur from the beginning of the campaign
until the election is over. The chief cause
of trouble is the control of the "halluca,"
q local name given to the large annual
contribution sent from Jewish communities