The Unexplored History of Ashkenazi Integration in Late Ottoman Palestine

Wallach, Yair

Abstract

To what extent did Ashkenazi Jews integrate and acculturate into the local society, culture, and politics of late Ottoman Palestine? This question has been almost entirely ignored by the voluminous scholarship on the migration of Jews from central and eastern Europe to Palestine. This article challenges the widely held assumption that such integration was nonexistent and impossible. Building on recent work on Ashkenazi adoption of Arab clothes, Arabic language, and urban encounters and cohabitation, I argue that Ashkenazi integration in Ottoman Palestine was a very real process, which took on significant dimensions. I focus on civic participation and local politics, military service in the Ottoman army, and deep economic interdependence. Integration was uneven and did not follow a single pathway; rather, there were diverse avenues of integration through Jewish Sephardi society, the Arab elite, Ottoman institutions, and more.

Citation

Wallach, Y. (2024). The Unexplored History of Ashkenazi Integration in Late Ottoman Palestine. Jewish social studies, 29(1), 161-192. https://doi.org/10.2979/jss.00006

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 9, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 14, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 4, 2124
• Journal: Jewish Social Studies
• Print ISSN: 0021-6704
• Electronic ISSN: 1527-2028
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 161-192
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/jss.00006
• Related Public URLs: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/923500