THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Alg-iers
Al^adib
luss a .Irwisli piipiilatiiiti existed sit Aliriers when the miissjieres of Ki!H ilrovi' ii mnnlier of refiitrees from Spain and the Haliaiie Isles toAfiiea: Init pnilialily
first
jxeneial (ipiniim is that the real fdiindatinn "{ the .lewisli eonmuinity al Aliriers
386 was Sulaiman Jakete,
was
it
was
niil
and the
larire;
should be attributed to the Spanish rabbis
tliat set-
and fiftcentli centuries. The names nf two of these of some distinction have been handed down: viz., Isjuic ben Slushet ami Simon ben Zemah Duran. The Duran family orij:tleit .s<'ttle(l for a lonj; time occuiiied, almost without interruption. in Majorca up to the eighteenth century, the foremost rank in Algiers, and provided the conununily with numerous rabbis of scholarly attainments and men of high character. The Spanish persecution following upon the conqtiest of Granada (1492) resulted directly in an inThe crease in the Jewish jiopulation of Algiers. latter city up to this time a mere ludviucial one, and a bone of contention between the kings of Tlemcen and Tiuiis was advanced, on tli(! advent of the Turks about this period, to the rank of capiThe new capital of the (leys naturally attal. tracted a large number of Spanish immigrants; and the comiuerors avaricious corsairs seeing a source of jirotit in the .Tews, regarded an increase in the number of the latter by no means unfavorably. In
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Khair al-Din permitted Jews
to settle in Alassigned them a i|Uarler of the city, subjected them to a tax, and restricted them from opening more than a limited number of shops. At the end of the sixteenth century there were in the Israelite po])ulation of the city three classes: Jews originally from Spain, those from the Balearic They were grouped in about Isles, and native .lews. one hundred and fifty families; they engaged in trades and maiuifactures; and at their head was a Though they sufl'ered from maltri'atment at caciz. the hands of the ^loslem population, it seems certain that they considered their lot less miserable under the domination of the Turks than under that of the Catholic kings; for the defeat of Charles V. before Algiers in l.")41 inspired real joy in the victims of Prayers Spaui.sh fanaticism and their (lesceiidants. and poems of thank.sgiving were composed on this occasion by the rabbis Moses 'Abd-al-Asbi and Abraham Zarfati; and long afterward these l.'jlH
giers,
Turkish
were recited
Domina-
anniversary of this memorable event.
in the
synagogues on the
Two centuries later similar feelings of delight were manifested liy tile Jews of Algiers, when the expedition, led with a great flourish by O'Heilly against the corsairs' city, ended in lamentjible defeat (177,")). By the end of the seventeenth century the number of Jews in Algiers had increased considerablv: a At that ti-aveler in 1634 estimated them at ID.OOO. date the differences in origin had become less marked tion.
and although a distinction might be made between the"Cheklien " (Jewish immigrants from Sjiain) and the " Kapossiem " (old native Jews), they all had the same customs, led the same life, and spoke the .same language Arabic blended with Spanish and Hebrew. Their position was always rather precarious. Events but little serious in themselves were often attended by after-consequences which included the pillage of the Jewish shops, and sometimes even the
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massacre of the
iiroprietors.
Entirely diiferent
was the condition of a new-
Jewish element, that of the Leghorn, or Prankish. Jews, commonly designated "Gorneyim," who, from the beginning of the eighteenth century, added their
numbers
to the
Hebrew population of
zUgiers.
The
of these toattain celebrity
farmer of the taxes on Sha'ush and .Mohammed
wax under ibii
llas;in,
the deys (jf
whom
.li
he
the trusted adviser. In the course of the century the (iorneyim aciiuired an ever-incn'asing importance in the economic and ]>olitical life of the regency. Tolerably ()ccideiitali/ed, they fell generally, by the regime of the capitulations, under the authority of llie European consuls, and were the usiKil intermediaries between the consuls and the Turkish authorities. On the other hand, tiieir activity, their knowledge of alTairs. and their great wealth a.ssured them wide inlluence over the deys, of whom they were often the bankThe Leg- ers, agents, and even the political adhorn Jews, visers. At the close of the eighteenth century two Gonii'vim especially, .Joseph Bakri and Naphtali liusnash. had attained The dev Has;in granted a predominant position. them a monopoly of the grain trade: during the dearth of l~)'> they supplied France with a considerable quantity of wheat on credit: and fm their advice till' (ley authorized a loan to the French "Directory" of live milli(ni francs, the credit for which was eventually transferred to them. Thirty years later the settlement of this loan was attended with IIas;in's successor, the most serious conse(|Ueiices. Mustapha, owed his elevation to the inlluence of Busnash, who was his banker, and in whose hands he was but a tool. In Mustaplia's reign the secret hate cherished by the janizaries anil the Moors against the all-powerful Gorneyim manifested itself Busnash was killed at tlu; gate of in a terrible riot. the (ley's jialace by a janizary, w ho, filing a jiistol " at him. cried out ironically. "Hail, king of Algiers! The ]iopiilaee iittackiil the .Jewish slio]is; a massacre ensued, which the (ley. out of fear, countenanced: while the French consul sheltered in his house two hundred Jews in danger of their lives. In succeeding years the Gorneyim regained a part of their influence. Dey lI"'*"" (1^I^-!(I) enforced the claim of the heirs of Bakri and Busnash in regard to the loan of 170.'); and the diflicully arising on this occasion was the original cause of the detiiiite rupture between the regency and France, of the expedition of ISHO, and of the French conquest of AlDespite the higli position ac(iuired by lla^ geria. Gorneyim under the regency in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the less important Jews of Algiers were very harshly treated by the Turkish authorities. They were subjected toconlinual vexations; and at the time of the march on Algiers the French generals found, without shelter outside the walls, more than three hundred Jewish families, whom the dey had mercilessly driven from the city in anticipation of a siege. Out of a total jMipulation of about 07,000, the Jewish residents of Algiers numbered in 1900 nearly 10,000, of whom 1,200 are of foreign birth. Large numbers of Jews are engaged
Handi-
commerce and
jietty traflic; but the charge has recentlj' been made that they have unfairly monojiolized all the trade in Algiers, it may be well to present some figures showing the jiroportion There are 2.')0 ,^.nlong them that follow handicrafts. shoemakers; I'm tinners and blacksmiths; 200 tailors; 40 joiners and cabinet-makers; 70 house-paintBefore the ers; and 100 watchmakers and jewelers. anti-Semitic troubles of 1897-99 the Algiers Bureau of Charity assisted about 600 families; and 1,200
crafts.
in
since
have been aided since. At the head of the community are a consistory and a grand rabbi, the latter being appointed by decree
