PAULA KABALO
circumstances of their new environment. In reference to this particular type of associational pattern I will use the term ‘community driven philanthropy’, which not only describes the nature of the institutions and organizations founded by the new comers, but also suggests the preservation of traditional community structures within their newly established frameworks, articulated in part by the internal vocabulary they used. The Jewish community in Eretz Israel developed its institutional patterns against the turbulence of shifting authorities and a reality that fused traditional and modern modes of identity. During the years in question, it also experienced a demographic revolution (from approximately 35,000 inhabitants in 1880 to 600,000 on the eve of the statehood), which was considerably supported by philanthropic institutions. The following study will work to illuminate the nature and role of philanthropic activity within the Jewish community in Eretz Israel in context of these developments. ‘Community Driven Philanthropy’ – Frameworks and Terminology “The big factories that provided livelihood for the Jewish residents of Jerusalem were the charities and the kollelim”7. These are the words of Yehuda Aharon Segal Weiss, whose memoir portrays life in Jerusalem under Ottoman rule. His impression regarding the centrality of communal charities is indeed reinforced by the almanacs and reports of various contemporaries.8 The kollel was a well-known institution that oversaw all aspects of Jewish-Orthodox communal life during the late 19th century. Reminiscent of the pre-modern 7 Segal-Weiss, Yuda-Aharon. (1949). At Your Gates Jerusalem, Memories and Records. Jerusalem. P. 198 [Hebrew] (Hereafter: Segal-Weiss, 1949) 8 Eretz Israel’s Practical and Literary Almanac. (1909). Abraham Moses Luncz (ed). Jerusalem. (Hereafter: Luncz, Almanac)
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