Intrigue and revolution: chief rabbis in Aleppo, Baghdad, and Damascus, 1744-1914

"This book provides a rather unusual view of the Syrian Jewish community in that while ostensibly dealing with the appointment and dismissal of chief rabbis between 1744 and 1914 it in fact considers the power struggles within the community in the context of the new secularity that occupied centre stage in the community politics of the period. The story begins with the appointment of Rabbi Zedaqa Hossein as chief rabbi of Baghdad and concludes with the dismissal of Rabbi David Papo from his position in the same community after the revolution of the 'Young Turks'. The book relates these affairs, together with the disputes and controversies that accompanied them, against a background of little-known phenomena in Jewish society, among them crime, power struggles, book-burning, conversions, and even assaults and assassination attempts on rabbis. Using a wide range of testimonies gleaned from Ottoman Jewish, Arabic, and European sources, Yaron Harel paints a colourful picture of the fabric of Jewish society, very different from the commonly accepted image of Jewish communities in the Fertile Crescent:--Provided by publisher.