7 - The Appointment and Deposition of Rabbi Yitshak Abulafia

Summary

‘My master Moses, restrain them!’ [Num. 11: 28]. What is meant by ‘restrain them’? He said to him [ Joshua to Moses]: Impose upon them [responsibility for] the needs of the public, and they will be destroyed by themselves.

BT Sanhedrin 17a

Restoring the Old Order

The appointment of Rabbi Ephraim Alkalai, which, as noted in the previous chapter, was imposed upon the Jews of Damascus at the end of 1879 by the wali, Midhat Pasha, was an attempt to force a reorganization of the Jewish community from outside and to place it on a new path. This was consistent with the Ottoman reforms, in whose implementation Midhat Pasha was one of the main figures. This being the case, Rabbi Alkalai's success or failure depended upon the backing he received from the secular powers in Damascus— which, as we have seen, diminished with the departure of Midhat Pasha. This revolutionary and unprecedented attempt by the authorities to involve themselves directly in the internal affairs of the Jewish community in such a way as to influence its conduct suffered a decisive setback with Rabbi Alkalai’s departure from Damascus. While one or two things were done during his relatively brief term in office to improve the condition of the community, the communal institutions were not organized in such a way as to enable them to thrive after the economic collapse that followed the Ottoman government’s declaration of bankruptcy on 6October 1875.

The appointment in February 1883 of Rabbi Yitshak Abulafia as successor to Rabbi Alkalai signalled the return of the old order. The remnants of the old elite, who had begun to recover somewhat from the economic crisis and continued to serve as leaders of the community, wished to appoint a rabbi with local roots, who would both have political talents and be regarded as a figure of major stature in the rabbinic world. High hopes were pinned on Rabbi Abulafia, who was considered a decisive person as well as being recognized as a halakhic authority of the highest order.

At the time of Abulafia's appointment to the office of ḥakham bashi , the Damascus Jewish community numbered 2,224 households—around 10,000 people. Most of these were artisans or craftsmen, small merchants and businessmen, while a minority were street vendors or completely impoverished.