The Remarkable Life of the First Israeli Victim of Arab Terrorism
And his connection to the rebuilding of Israel's most famous synagogue
In the minds of many, even Jews and Arabs, the Land of Israel stood devoid of Jews except for a tiny minority subjugated by the Ottoman Sultan and local Arab despots until the coming of the first Zionists. These being heroes to some and villains to many more.
The truth is that the revitalization of the land and the mass migration of Jews to work it had been going on long before Herzl had begun the first draft of his Der Judenstaat. Not only were the first pioneers on the land from the religious community, but the very first victim of modern Arab terrorism for nationalist motives was not only one of the pre-Zionist religious immigrants but, in fact, a Rabbi.
Meet Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zalman Tsoref, the first Jew murdered for attempting to revive the land of Israel. His story is also tied to rebuilding what might be Israel's most famous synagogue, the Hurva.
A Chassid, Chassidim, and Perushim.
The Hurva synagogue holds a special place in Jewish history, as we have a tradition (and archeological evidence) that there has stood in this very spot a synagogue since the days of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (circa 100 CE). The synagogue had to be rebuilt multiple times after being destroyed by the various occupiers of Jerusalem. Prior to its use as a place of worship, it had been used as a place of purification, with mikvaot and ruins dating to 800-600 BCE.
In 1700, the famed Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid Segal (not to be confused with the Rishon Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid) led 500 of his students and colleagues, all of them mystics bent on bringing the arrival of Mashiach, to Jerusalem. Sadly, a few days after their arrival Rabbi Yehuda passed away. The group withered, but those who stayed decided to build a community. It proved particularly costly, as it required having to bribe the Ottoman authorities and the local Arabs at every step of their project. They eventually became indebted to these very local Arabs they had to borrow from in order to bribe them.
In late 1720, a mob of angry Arab creditors set fire to the synagogue, pillaged it, and the community leaders were imprisoned. Then, all other Ashkenazim were kicked out of the city, and a blanket ban forbade them from establishing themselves there. Only Sefaradim would be allowed to live in Jerusalem from now on. The synagogue and courtyard were left in ruins for over a century as the city surrounding it was slowly being built up. It came to be known as the "Hurva (ruins) of Rabbi Yehuda HeChassid" or, eventually, the "Hurva."
The students of the Baal Shem Tov made Aliyah as a group both in 1764 under the leadership of Rabbi Nachman Horodenker and in 1777 under Rabbi Menachem Mendel miVitbesk and Rabbi Avraham Kalisk. Although they initially settled in Tiveria and Tsfat, some moved to Jerusalem, where they took control of the Ashkenazi compound of Jerusalem, including the Hurva synagogue, being the spiritual descendants of Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid.
The ideological opponent of Chassidut, the students of the Gaon of Vilna, made Aliyah en masse between 1808 and 1812 from Lithuania and settled in Eretz Yisrael. They were called the Perushim, those who separate themselves. First, they similarly established themselves in Tsfat and Tiveria, in the North of the country. Many wanted to move to Jerusalem, but they were worried that the descendants of the Arab creditors still held the promissory notes of the money once owed by the followers of Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid and that the new Ashkenazi immigrants would be forced to foot the bill. The Chassidim also opposed their attempts to take over, as they had no connection to the site. However, they eventually relinquished control as they could not get any construction going.
Rebuilding the Hurva
In 1815, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov moved from Tsfat to Jerusalem alongside many followers, and they made it their mission to rebuild the synagogue. They sent their first emissaries to Constantinople to get a firman (royal decree) protecting them from the Arabs of Jerusalem trying to collect from them debts they had never borrowed, but to no avail. For many years they tried until they were successful in getting a cancellation of debts in 1819.
They also managed to get the right to the entire courtyard of the Hurva but not to rebuild it. Efforts to procure such a firman failed in 1820 and 1821. Trying to rely on an earlier firman from 1623, allowing Jews to build in their own quarters, as well as a document from the Qadi (Ottoman magistrate) of Jerusalem, they tried once again to rebuild the Hurva in 1824. Still, their efforts proved fruitless as the Arab squatters refused to vacate the courtyard, and the authorities refused to enforce their own laws. Likely, they did not have the money required to bribe everyone who needed to be. Multiple attempts were put in motion afterward, most notably in 1825 and 1829, but they all failed to secure the much sought-after firman.
After Mohammed Ali of Egypt wrestled Jerusalem away from the Ottoman Empire in 1831, the Perushim saw it as an opportunity to finally obtain the rights to rebuild the Hurva Synagogue. Mohammed Ali initially refused. After the 1834 Jerusalem earthquake, the prohibition to build or rebuild synagogues in the land was relaxed, and the Sefaradim in Jerusalem were allowed to repair their synagogues.
In 1836, the Perushim sent Rabbi Tsoref to Alexandria to petition Ali. Thanks to the backing of the Prussian and Russian consuls, Rabbi Tsoref was successful, partly due to Mohammed Ali's desire for Baron de Rothschild of Vienna to develop economic and political ties with him. The long road to its reconstruction was only beginning, and it would take almost 30 years before it would finally be complete.
A descendant of Rabbi Tsoref, Mordechai Solomon, wrote a book entitled "Three Generations," which relates the entire story of the reconstruction of the Hurva in great detail, as well as the account of the Rabbi's murder. The synagogue's construction would ultimately only be completed in 1864, that is, until it was destroyed again by the Arab Legion in 1948. It was finally rebuilt again in 2010, occupying a choice place in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.
His Life
Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zalman Tsoref (also known as Ibrahim Solomon) was born in Keidan (Kėdainiai), Lithuania, on Chodesh Kislev in 1786. He was the son of Reb Yaakov. As a youth, he was a diligent learner in yeshiva; he subsequently married and eventually engaged in a trade while learning Torah part-time. He made Aliyah at the age of 25 in 1811 with his wife Chasya, and their three sons, Mordechai, Moshe, and Yitzhak. He was accompanied by his two brothers-in-law, Reb Tzvi Hirsch and Reb Yosef HaDarshan, in the convoy of Perushim on their way to the Holy Land.
They first traveled by foot to Odessa and then to Constantinople before taking a boat to Akko. The trip itself took more than five months. On the way, he learned both silversmithing and goldsmithing (and thus began to identify himself by the name "Tsoref," Hebrew for Goldsmith). From Akko, he moved to Tsfat, where he quickly learned Arabic and began to engage in his new craft, befriending both Jews & Arabs and quickly becoming one of the community's leaders; all of this while never neglecting the study of Torah. He also bought land near Ramla (in a place today known as Mazkeret Batya) and gave it over to his son to farm it.
He eventually had to leave Tsfat for Ottoman-controlled Jerusalem because of a cholera epidemic that hit Galilee, particularly Tsfat. When he and about ten Ashkenazi families fled the city for Jerusalem, they had to sneak in in the middle of the night dressed as Sefaradim (due to the still-enforced ban on Ashkenazim living in Jerusalem). After the plague abated, he decided to stay in Jerusalem with his family and opened a shop there. He eventually became one of the local leaders of the Perushim. He played a crucial role in their petitions with the Ottoman Empire, Mohammed Ali of Egypt, and local courts, on top of collecting charity for the entire community.
He was highly regarded by both the Ashkenazi and Sefaradi community and, as a result, was sent as a meshulach on a quick trip in 1815 to collect charity in Europe on behalf of the community. From 1818 to 1822, he was sent to both the Netherlands and England, and mainland Europe yet again from 1829 to 1833.
His first major political success came in 1819 when he was part of the group that successfully petitioned the Sultan to cancel the century-old Ashkenazi debts. Between 1824 and 1829, he was sent to Constantinople by the head of the Perushim in order to obtain a firman from the Pasha to rebuild the Hurva, unsuccessfully. While collecting charity in Germany on his last trip, he received Prussian citizenship and later developed close contact with the Prussian consul in Alexandria. As a result, he was granted authority to issue Prussian protection documents to Jews. A few years later, as a result of his efforts, he was also named to represent the Jews to the council of the governor.
Mohammed Ali, the Governor of Egypt, managed to take over Eretz Yisrael and Syria from under the control of the Ottoman Empire in 1831. He installed his stepson Ibrahim Pasha in Jerusalem. Due to threats against his life, Pasha was too fearful of eating any meal a Muslim had prepared. In his quest to avoid being poisoned, all of his meals were cooked by Jews, one day by a noble Sefaradi family and the next by a noble Ashkenazi family, in alternate.
Rabbi Tsoref's family was one of those chosen to prepare the meals for the Sultan. His son would bring them on a unique copper tray which served as a sign for Pasha's guards to let him in. One day, Rabbi Tsoref himself carried the meal to the Sultan, using the occasion to ask him to rescue the Jews of Chevron, in danger of being massacred by the local population. Pasha sent troops, and the calamity was averted.
Rabbi Tsoref finally succeeded in obtaining a firman for the construction of the Hurva from Mohammed Ali in 1836, in significant part thanks to his proximity to the Prussian consult.
Due to the refusal of the Arab squatters to leave the premises, Rabbi Tsoref was forced to appear in court to request yet another cancellation of the already canceled debts. He pointed out that not only had a firman been passed that absolved the Ashkenazi from paying debts they had not borrowed, but even according to the Turkish State of Limitations, the century-old debts were already null and void.
Partly thanks to Ibrahim Pasha, the court ruled in Rabbi Tsoref's favor. Still, the Arab squatters refused to obey, and due to the lack of enforcement, Rabbi Tsoref was forced to give the squatters and other Arab tribes nearby a yearly bribe for the construction to proceed.
On Chai Elul of that year, the Jews finally began to clear the rubbles and dirt from the lot and discovered the remnant of the burnt synagogue, several mikvaot, houses, and other Jewish buildings. An angry Arab mob surrounded the courtyard and threatened to murder them if they dared to rebuild the compound. Rabbi Tsoref threatened that if any Arab dared cross the threshold, they would be arrested. He then called on the community to come and clear the rubble. Hundreds responded to the call, as Arab onlookers with stones in their hands stood nearby and occasionally threatened them but ultimately did nothing.
His Murder
In 1851, nine years before the birth of Theodore Herzl half a world away, Rabbi Tsoref found himself unable to pay the bribe. The community had grown, new individuals had been put in charge, and, as a result, he was no longer in control of the community's money. Unable to appease them, their anger was soon kindled.
One night, unknown assailants tried to shoot Tsoref as he sat home at night learning Torah, but they missed. One of the shooters, fleeing to one of the surrounding courtyards, tumbled and fell into one of the cisterns of sesame seed oil, where he drowned.
The second time, he had been on his way to synagogue before sunrise to pray vatikin as he usually did. He was attacked from behind and struck in the head with a sword. He fell to the ground, and his attackers fled. His life was saved by Jews nearby who heard the tumult.
As a result of this attempt on his life, he lost his memory. He ultimately never recovered from his injuries, and his soul returned to his maker, as a result, three months later.
Thankfully, on his last day, his memory returned, and he was able to call for all of his family and friends to gather at his deathbed one last time. During these final moments on earth, he made his children swear that they would never leave the Land of Israel. He was buried next to the Tomb of the Prophet Zecharia, and his beloved wife joined him 13 years later.
His sons adopted the surname "Solomon" after their father. His son Rabbi Yitzhak became the supervisor of the construction of the Hurva synagogue. His grandson, Rabbi Yoel Moshe ben Mordechai Solomon, continued his work building the land. He is most renowned for being the founder of Petach Tikvah and various Jerusalem neighborhoods outside of the Old City. Many of his descendants served and are serving In Israel's public sector; six of his offspring died in the Israeli army in service of their country and to keep the dream of Zion alive.