Family Photos From the Middle East
Introduction
These photos were taken from our Family Tree book, which was arranged and printed by my uncle in Israel. The book is a testimony to our family 's documented strong roots in the Land of Israel going back several generations, mainly in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safad. The photos reveal part of the culture of the Jewish population in the Land of Israel during the last 100 years and beyond, and the connection with the earlier, more ancient Jewish culture in the same land.
Family Portrait, Jerusalem, 1890
This family portrait of my great grandparents and four of their seven children (including my grandfather), was taken in the old city of Jerusalem in 1890. My great grandfather studied in and worked for a Yeshiva called The Great Yeshiva Torath Chaim in the old city of Jerusalem. His son, my grandfather, studied in the same place.
Yeshiva is a house of study for Jewish philosophy, law, customs, etc based on the Bible and on commentaries and writings by Jewish scholars. The concept of this house of study was already known in the Land of Israel at the time of the Hellenistic era. It expanded after the destruction of the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman conquerors, in order to keep the Jewish faith alive . Houses of study had always a presence in the Land of Israel since those ancient times, in particular in Jerusalem and Safad, a town in Galilee.