Old Yishuv

The Old Yishuv evolved following a significant decline in Jewish communities across the Land of Israel during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and was composed of three clusters.

A third wave of Yishuv members arrived in the late 19th century,[2] hailing from Europe, North Africa, Yemen, Persia, and the Caucasus.

[4] Apart from the Old Yishuv centres in the Four Holy Cities—namely Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias and Safed—smaller communities also existed in Jaffa, Haifa, Peki'in, Acre, Nablus and Shfaram.

[5][6] The establishment of Rishon LeZion, the first moshava founded by Hovevei Zion in 1882, could be considered the true beginning of the "New Yishuv".

While a vibrant Jewish center had continued to exist in the Galilee following the Jewish–Roman wars, its importance was reduced with increased Byzantine persecutions and the abolition of the Sanhedrin in the early 5th century.

In early Middle Ages, the Jewish communities of southern Bilad al-Sham (southern Syria), living as dhimmis under Muslim rule, were dispersed among the key cities of the military districts of Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn, with a number of poor Jewish villages existing in the Galilee and Judea.

Despite temporary revival, the Third and Fourth Fitnas (Arab Muslim civil wars) drove many non-Muslims out of the country, with no evidence of mass conversions, except for Samaritans.

[citation needed] The immigration of a group of 300 Jews headed by the Tosafists from England and France in 1211[9] struggled very hard upon arrival in the region, as they had no financial support and no prospect of making a living.

[10] The Mamluk period (1260–1517) saw an increase in the Jewish population, especially in the Galilee, but the Black Death epidemics had cut the country's demographics by at least one-third.

[11] In 1260, Rabbi Yechiel of Paris arrived in the Land of Israel, at the time part of Mamluk Empire, along with his son and a large group of followers, settling in Acre.

Canaan State of Israel (1948–present) From 1360, when Louis I of Hungary had issued a decree of expulsion, Jewish people had sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire.

[22] From the mid-16th century, Safed had become the most influential center of Jewish mysticism and traditional halakha, inhabited by important rabbis and scholars.

[25] By the early 17th century, the Ma'an Druzes initiated a power struggle, which led to instability in Mount Lebanon and the Galilee, eroding the Jewish communities.

[28] At that time, the Jewish population of the Old City of Jerusalem was primarily Sephardic: 200 Ashkenazi Jews compared with a Sephardi community of 1,000.

[citation needed] In the 18th century, groups of Hasidim and Perushim settled in the Land of Israel (Ottoman Southern Syria).

In addition, the Galilee earthquake of 1837 destroyed Safed, killed thousands of its residents, and contributed to the reconstitution of Jerusalem as the main center of the Old Yishuv.

Generally tolerant to the minorities, Ibrahim Pasha promoted the Jewish and Christian communities of Southern Syria, but overall his turbulent period of rule is considered probably the worst stage for the development of the Old Yishuv.

As a living population, the religious Jews of the Old Yishuv helped the Diaspora maintain a stronger, deeper connection to the Land of Israel.

The kollel network was established many years prior in Jewish communities around the globe to financially support one another while under the civic authority and care of the governments of the countries in which Jews lived.

The halukka system, which promoted dependence on charity, was harshly criticized in later years as being ineffectual, especially when Zionism arose in Europe (1830s–1880s).

This predated the Lovers of Zion idea of the return to the land and Jewish farming, before which etrogs for use as Sukkot were cultivated exclusively by Arab peasants and then merchandized by the Jews.

Generally the Old Yishuv did not participate in the creation of agricultural communities, which was begun in earnest by the immigrants that arrived from Eastern Europe beginning in the 1870s and 1880s,[36] largely associated with the Hovevei Zion.

Towards this end, Hovevei Zion members, including the philanthropist Isaac Leib Goldberg, purchased land from the Ottoman government and local inhabitants.