This pioneering study offers a comprehensive account of
Syria's key Jewish communities at an important juncture in their history
that also throws light on the broader effects of modernization in the
Ottoman empire.





The Ottoman
reforms of the mid-nineteenth century accelerated the process of opening
up Syria up to European travellers and traders, and gave Syria's
Jews access to European Jewish communities. The resulting influx
of Western ideas led to a decline in the traditional economy,
with serious consequences for the Jewish occupational structure. It
also allowed for the introduction of Western education, through
schools run by the Alliance Israelite Universelle, influenced the
structure and the administration of Jewish society in Syria, and changed
the balance of the relationship between Muslims, Christians, and
Jews. Initially Syria's Jewish communities flourished economically
and politically in these new circumstances, but there was
a developing recognition that their future lay overseas. After the
opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the bankruptcy of the Ottoman
empire in 1875, and the suspension of the Ottoman constitution in 1878, this
feeling intensified. A process of decline set in
that ultimately culminated in large-scale Jewish
emigration, first to Egypt and then to the West. From that point on, the
future for Syrian Jews lay in the West, not the East.





Detailed and
compelling, this book covers Jewish community life, the legal status
of Jews in Syria, their relationship with their Muslim and Christian
neighbours, and their links with the West. It draws on a wide range
of archival material in six languages, including Jewish, Christian
Arab, and Muslim Arab sources, Ottoman and European documents, consular
reports, travel accounts, and reports from the contemporary press and by
emissaries to Syria of the Alliance Israelite Universelle.
Rabbinic sources, including the archive of the chief rabbinate
in Istanbul, are particularly important in opening a window
onto Syrian Jewish life and concerns. Together these sources bring to
light an enormous amount of material and provide a broad, multifaceted
perspective on the Syrian Jewish community.





The Hebrew
edition of the book was the winner of the Ben Zvi Award for Research in
Oriental Jewry in 2004.





'For the first
time in the historiography of the Jews of Muslim countries we are presented
with a rich picture, well written and riveting, of the history of important
Jewish communities in the period of the Tanzimat.' From
the award citation