Images of early Israel

Ynet brings us some interesting photos from the early days of Zionism in Israel.

The photo above, by the way, is of the Tiffereth Israel synagogue built after 1850 in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. At that time, Jerusalem was what we call today the Old City which is part of east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem is theirs, but in fact, there had been a Jewish majority living in Jerusalem going back to the 1800s. This population became dispersed over time with many moving to the less crowded west part of Jerusalem and the rest being evicted in 1948 during Israel’s War of Independence by the Arabs. When the Jordanians won the area we call the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, along with kicking out any local Jews, they promptly destroyed this synagogue and others and attempted to obliterate any memory of a Jewish presence in east Jerusalem and the Old City. The second great synagogue to be destroyed by the Arabs was the Hurva synagogue, completed a mere several years prior to Tiffereth Israel.

Below is another from the series: Tel Chai and Hula Lake. Tel Chai, of course, was a famous small settlement with the WWI war hero Joseph Trumpeldor who was killed in one of the regular attacks by Arab locals upon young Jewish settlements. Hula Lake is an area that was eventually dried up to prevent the collection of malaria flies that were causing harm to those in the area. To this day, this is one of the more pristine and beautiful areas in Israel.

Seriously, take a look at some of these photos, they’re great.