1838 Druze attack on Safed

The 1838 Druze attack on Safed began on July 5, 1838, during the Druze revolt against the rule of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt. Tensions had mounted as the Druze captured an Egyptian garrison outside of Safed.^[1] The local Safed militia of several hundred was heavily outnumbered by the Druze, and the city was gripped in despair as the militia eventually abandoned the city and the Druze rebels entered the city on July 5.^[2] The Druze rebels and a Muslim mob descended on the Jewish quarter of Safed and, in scenes reminiscent of the Safed plunder four years earlier, spent three days attacking Jews, plundering their homes and desecrating their synagogues.^[3][4][5] Some Jews ended up leaving the town, moving south to Jerusalem and Acre.^[6] Among them was Yisrael Bak, whose printing press had been destroyed a second time.^[7]

Prelude

By the 19th-century, the Galilean city of Safed comprised a major Jewish center. It had become a kabbalistic centre during the 16th-century, reaching a size of about 15,000 at its peak. Despite the decline through the 17th and 18th centuries, by the 1830s there were still around 3,500-4,000 Jews living there, comprising at least half the population.^[8] The Jews of Safed had been subjected to a prolonged attack in 1834 during the Peasants' Revolt: Over 5,000 Arab peasant rebels had launched a revolt protesting against legislation imposed by the new Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali and some had used the uprising as an opportunity to attack the Jews. After several months, the Egyptians managed to crush the rebellion and regain control of the county and the Jews of Safed began to rehabilitate themselves. Not long after, Safed was again the scene of devastation when in 1837 a strong earthquake resulted in thousands of deaths and the destruction of many buildings.^[9] The northern, Jewish section of the town was almost entirely destroyed.^[9] By 1838, the tense relationship between the fellahin and the Egyptian overlords was again mounting^[10] and a full-scale Druze revolt erupted in January. In summer of 1838, the Druze captured a heavily outnumbered Egyptian garrison outside Safed.^[1]

The attack

The Jewish population relied on the protection of an Arab governor against the Druze. Dr. Elizer Loewe wrote in his diary:^[1]

We huddled together in Rebbe Avraham Dov's house... The women were hysterical and the children crying. The Rebbe asked me to write a note in Arabic to the mayor, pleading with him not to forsake us in this desperate time. I did so, but his answer was mere lip service.

According to Loewe, the mayor and his militia fled the city, and the Jews became Open prey for the ravenous rebels. The Druze rebels were joined by Muslim mob and they looted the Jewish quarters, as the Druze rebels thought the Jews possessed hidden treasures and local Muslims encouraged them to attack. The plunder lasted for 3 days.^[2]

During the course of the attack, some Jews were assisted by friendly Arabs.^[11] One Arab by the name of Muhammed Mustafa, had helped protect them, lending them money and providing them with food and clothing.^[12] This time, Ibrahim Pasha's response was more swift,^[13] and after a few days things returned to normal.

See also

• 1660 destruction of Safed
• 1929 Palestine riots

References

1. Rossoff, David. Safed: the mystical city. p.162-165.
2. Schur, Nathan (October 31, 1983). תולדות צפת. עם עובד. ISBN 9789650100971 – via Google Books.
3. Sherman Lieber (1992). Mystics and missionaries: the Jews in Palestine, 1799-1840. University of Utah Press. p. 334. ISBN 978-0-87480-391-4. The Druze and local Muslims vandalised the Jewish quarter. During three days, though they enacted a replay of the 1834 plunder, looting homes and desecrating synagogues — but no deaths were reported. What could not be stolen was smashed and burned. Jews caught outdoors were robbed and beaten.
4. Louis Finkelstein (1960). The Jews: their history, culture, and religion. Harper. p. 679. In the summer of 1838 the Druses revolted against Ibrahim Pasha, and once more the Jews were the scapegoat. The Moslems joined the Druses in repeating the slaughter and plunder of 1834.
5. Ronald Florence (18 October 2004). Blood libel: the Damascus affair of 1840. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-299-20280-4. There had been pogroms against the Jews in Safed in 1834 and 1838.
6. Emile Marmorstein (1975). Middle Eastern Studies II: "European Jews in Muslim Palestine". pg. 77.
7. Israel M. Ta-Shma (1975). The Hebrew book: an historical survey. Keter Pub. House Jerusalem. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-7065-1389-9. After the Safed earthquake in 1837 and the Druze revolt in 1838, during which his farm was despoiled and his printing press again destroyed, he moved to Jerusalem.
8. Moshe Maʻoz (1975). Studies on Palestine during the Ottoman period. Magnes Press. p. 67. ISBN 9789652235893. Up to 1837 the population of Safed showed an increase. A considerable number of sources report a population of 7000-8000, with half, or even more than half, being Jews.
9. "The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine" by N. N. Ambraseys, in Annali di Geofisica, Aug. 1997, p.933,
10. One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries, p. 168, Abraham P. Bloch - 1987 [1]
11. Elia Zureik (1979). The Palestinians in Israel: a study in internal colonialism. Routledge & K. Paul. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-7100-0016-3. For example, during the Safed insurrection in 1838, in which Druze rebels rose against Turkish rule, and - in the course of the uprising - attacked Jews of Safed and even extorted money from them, it was another Palestinian Arab who came to their rescue.
12. Emile Marmorstein (1975). Middle Eastern Studies II: "European Jews in Muslim Palestine". pg. 78.
13. Richard I. Cohen; Judith Carp (1986). The return to the land of Israel. World Zionist Organization. p. 32. ISBN 978-965-227-035-1. As the Jews in Safed were in the process of rehabilitation, they encountered a Druze rebellion (1838) against the Egyptian rule. Druze entered Safed and began maliciously to demand of the Jews all their earthly possessions. Fortunately, Ibrahim Pasha's army was this time successful in removing the threat and forcing the Druze to return...