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This exhibition features forty-two historical documents which provide a fascinating glimpse of Jewish life in Jerusalem during the British Mandate. Known in Hebrew as kruzim, these documents are examples of broadsides; single sheets of paper printed on one side and intended for mass distribution. Produced by religious authorities and local merchants, they were plastered on the walls of Jerusalem to inform the public of current religious rulings and to advertise newly available merchandise. Drawn from the library's extensive collection, these broadsides shed light on the religious, political and economic climate of the Jews of Jerusalem in the first half of the twentieth century. The majority of the broadsides exhibited here were posted on the walls of Me'ah She'arim, a community which was founded towards the end of the Ottoman rule in 1875. One of the first neighborhoods to be built outside of the Old City walls, Me'ah She'arim was established by devoutly religious members of the "old yishuv" (pre-Zionist Jewish community). The community had a code of social conduct based on strict observance of Jewish law. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, successive influxes of settlers produced a more modern and secular community, known as the "new yishuv". Many of these newer immigrants did not adhere to the strict religious standards established by the older community. Subsequently, the social fabric of Jerusalem began to change with the introduction of secular education and the public desecration of the Sabbath. The tensions between the tradition-bound old yishuv and the more modern, Zionist new yishuv is clearly evident in many of these announcements. In one broadside, a public fast day is decreed due to the lack of religious observance and to the prevailing "immorality"; another laments the playing of soccer on the Sabbath. |
Kruzim served as an invaluable method for communicating the immediate concerns and social standards of the time. Broadsides announcing etrogim for sale were placed side by side with proclamations prohibiting women from participating in elections. These documents were used to notify the community of practical religious concerns (locations to sell leaven for Passover), to re-enforce halakha(a warning to women not to be alone with a male doctor) and to advise the community of the current political situation (extended hours of the curfew imposed by the British authorities). These proclamations, announcements and advertisements, relating to the matters of daily life, allow us an intimate view of the issues facing the Jews of Jerusalem during the British mandate. |
