1834 looting of Safed

Looting of Safed (1834)
Looting of Safed (1834)
Part of the Arab Peasant Revolt
	Map of the Sidon Eyalet within the Ottoman Empire
Native name	ביזת צפת בשנת תקצ"ד‎
Location	Safed, Ottoman Syria (now Israel)
Coordinates	32°57′57″N 35°29′54″E / 32.96583°N 35.49833°E
Date	15 June 1834 – 17 July 1834; (1 month and 2 days)
Target	Jews
Attack type	Pogrom
Perpetrators	Arabs and Druze

The 1834 looting of Safed (Hebrew: ביזת צפת בשנת תקצ"ד, "Genocide of Safed, 5594 AM") was a prolonged attack against the Jewish community of Safed, Ottoman Empire, during the 1834 Peasants' Revolt. It began on Sunday June 15 (7 Sivan), the day after the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, and lasted for the next 33 days.^[1]^[2] Most contemporary accounts suggest it was a spontaneous attack which took advantage of a defenseless population in the midst of the armed uprising against Egyptian rule.^[3]^[4] The district governor tried to quell the violent outbreak, but failed to do so and fled.^{[citation needed]} The event took place during a power vacuum, whilst Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt was fighting to quell the wider revolt in Jerusalem.^[5]

Accounts of the month-long event tell of large scale looting,^[6] as well as killing and raping of Jews and the destruction of homes and synagogues by Druze and Arabs.^[7] Many Torah scrolls were desecrated^[3] and many Jews were left severely wounded.^[8]^[9] The event has been described as a pogrom or "pogrom-like" by some authors.^[10]^[11] Hundreds fled the town seeking refuge in the open countryside or in neighbouring villages. The rioting was quelled by Lebanese Druze troops under the orders of Ibrahim Pasha following the intervention of foreign consuls. The instigators were arrested and later executed in Acre.

^ Bloch, Abraham P. One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries, 1987. pg. 168.
^ Louis Finkelstein (1960). The Jews: their history, culture, and religion. Harper. p. 679. Retrieved 17 February 2012. Rabbi Isaac b. Solomon Farhi records that the pillage continued for 24 days.
^ ^a ^b Martin Sicker (1999). Reshaping Palestine: from Muhammad Ali to the British Mandate, 1831-1922. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-275-96639-3. However, the insurrection soon lost its original purpose and turned into bloody rioting and excesses directed against the Jewish population. The rioting was most severe in Safed, where assaults and vandalism forced many Jews to flee to safer environments, such as the friendly Arabs of the nearby village of Ein Zetim. Others were afraid to remain in the remote area and decided to relocate to Jerusalem. During the course of the disturbances, some 500 Torah scrolls were destroyed in Safed alone. The rioting continued for thirty-three days, until a contingent of Druze troops from Ibrahim's army arrived to restore order. The governor of Safed and thirteen of the ringleaders were taken captive, summarily tried, and put to death.
^ S. Almog (1988). Antisemitism through the ages. Published for the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, by Pergamon Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-08-034792-9. However, the attacks on the Jews of Safed and Jerusalem in 1834, though part of the general uprising, were only minor episodes in a campaign whose wrath was directed primarily against the Egyptian conquest.
^ Schwartz 1850.
^ Nathan Schur (1992). Twenty centuries of Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Dvir Publishing House. p. 128. In Galilee the Jewish community of Safed was, for a month, subjected to a wild orgy of looting by its Moslem neighbors
^ Dovid Rossoff, Safed: The Mystical City. Feldheim Publishers, 1991 ISBN 978-0-873-06566-5 pp.149ff: The Druze Massacre of Safed
^ Abraham Yaari; Israel Schen; Isaac Halevy-Levin (1958). The goodly heritage: memoirs describing the life of the Jewish community of Eretz Yisrael from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Youth and Hechalutz Dept.. of the Zionist Organization. p. 37. Revolt broke out on the 15th June, 1834. The Arab villagers, together with the townspeople, armed themselves and attacked the Jews, raping their women and destroying their synagogues. The riots in Safed went on for 33 days, but in Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias they ended sooner.
^ Abigail Green (15 March 2010). Moses Montefiore: Jewish liberator, imperial hero. Harvard University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-674-04880-5. During the revolt of the Arab peasantry against Mehmed Ali in 1834, villagers from the surrounding area had sacked the Jewish quarter, assaulting and killing the men, raping the women, plundering and destroying their homes.
^ Ronald Florence (18 October 2004). Blood libel: the Damascus affair of 1840. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-299-20280-4. Retrieved 17 February 2012. There had been pogroms against the Jews in Safed in 1834 and 1838.
^ Gabriel Baer (12 November 2012). "The Structure of Turkish Guilds and its Significance for Ottoman Social History". Fellah and Townsman in the Middle East: Studies in Social History. Routledge. p. 322. ISBN 978-1-136-27872-3. During the same rebellion the fellahs robbed the Jews of Tiberias and Safed "of immense property, as is reported, for there was no one to offer any opposition." An eyewitness has vividly described the pogrom-like attack of the villagers of Upper Galilee on the Jews of Safed on 15 June 1834. The Jews were stripped of their clothes and driven out of the town, the remaining women and youths were violated, the belongings of the Jews were looted and their holy articles were desecrated.

[bloch-1] Bloch, Abraham P. One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries, 1987. pg. 168.

[Finkelstein1960-2] Louis Finkelstein (1960). The Jews: their history, culture, and religion. Harper. p. 679. Retrieved 17 February 2012. Rabbi Isaac b. Solomon Farhi records that the pillage continued for 24 days.

[Sicker1999-3] Martin Sicker (1999). Reshaping Palestine: from Muhammad Ali to the British Mandate, 1831-1922. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-275-96639-3. However, the insurrection soon lost its original purpose and turned into bloody rioting and excesses directed against the Jewish population. The rioting was most severe in Safed, where assaults and vandalism forced many Jews to flee to safer environments, such as the friendly Arabs of the nearby village of Ein Zetim. Others were afraid to remain in the remote area and decided to relocate to Jerusalem. During the course of the disturbances, some 500 Torah scrolls were destroyed in Safed alone. The rioting continued for thirty-three days, until a contingent of Druze troops from Ibrahim's army arrived to restore order. The governor of Safed and thirteen of the ringleaders were taken captive, summarily tried, and put to death.

[Almogha-Yehudit1988-4] S. Almog (1988). Antisemitism through the ages. Published for the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, by Pergamon Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-08-034792-9. However, the attacks on the Jews of Safed and Jerusalem in 1834, though part of the general uprising, were only minor episodes in a campaign whose wrath was directed primarily against the Egyptian conquest.

[FOOTNOTESchwartz1850-5] Schwartz 1850.

[Schur1992-6] Nathan Schur (1992). Twenty centuries of Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Dvir Publishing House. p. 128. In Galilee the Jewish community of Safed was, for a month, subjected to a wild orgy of looting by its Moslem neighbors

[Rossoff-7] Dovid Rossoff, Safed: The Mystical City. Feldheim Publishers, 1991 ISBN 978-0-873-06566-5 pp.149ff: The Druze Massacre of Safed

[YaariSchen1958-8] Abraham Yaari; Israel Schen; Isaac Halevy-Levin (1958). The goodly heritage: memoirs describing the life of the Jewish community of Eretz Yisrael from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Youth and Hechalutz Dept.. of the Zionist Organization. p. 37. Revolt broke out on the 15th June, 1834. The Arab villagers, together with the townspeople, armed themselves and attacked the Jews, raping their women and destroying their synagogues. The riots in Safed went on for 33 days, but in Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias they ended sooner.

[Green2010-9] Abigail Green (15 March 2010). Moses Montefiore: Jewish liberator, imperial hero. Harvard University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-674-04880-5. During the revolt of the Arab peasantry against Mehmed Ali in 1834, villagers from the surrounding area had sacked the Jewish quarter, assaulting and killing the men, raping the women, plundering and destroying their homes.

[Florence2004-10] Ronald Florence (18 October 2004). Blood libel: the Damascus affair of 1840. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-299-20280-4. Retrieved 17 February 2012. There had been pogroms against the Jews in Safed in 1834 and 1838.

[Baer2012-11] Gabriel Baer (12 November 2012). "The Structure of Turkish Guilds and its Significance for Ottoman Social History". Fellah and Townsman in the Middle East: Studies in Social History. Routledge. p. 322. ISBN 978-1-136-27872-3. During the same rebellion the fellahs robbed the Jews of Tiberias and Safed "of immense property, as is reported, for there was no one to offer any opposition." An eyewitness has vividly described the pogrom-like attack of the villagers of Upper Galilee on the Jews of Safed on 15 June 1834. The Jews were stripped of their clothes and driven out of the town, the remaining women and youths were violated, the belongings of the Jews were looted and their holy articles were desecrated.

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