Bar Kokhba Society

The Cairo Bar-Kochba Zionist Society (1897–1904) was the first Zionist organization in Egypt and in the Islamic world.[1] It was founded in 1897 by Joseph Marco Barukh, a Zionist activist from Istanbul who arrived in Egypt in 1896.[2][1][3]: 115–121  It was the focal point of Zionist activity in Egypt at the turn of the 20th century.[1] It was dissolved in 1906.

History

Upon arriving in Egypt July 1896, Joseph Marco Barukh founded a Zionist circle with two local businessmen: Jacques Harmalin and Joseph Leibovitch.[4] After some months, it became the Bar Kokhba Society, established with 30 founding members.[4]

Its elected council was led by Jacques Harmalin and it was composed entirely of Ashkenazi Jews of Egypt's middle and lower classes.[1] Its early attempts to recruit non-Ashkenazi members were unsuccessful.[1] In November 1900, it opened a Zionist school in which 100 students learned Hebrew in addition to the curriculum set by the Egyptian government.[1] It also established Bene Zion, a youth group for those at least 15 years old.[1] Although the school closed in the summer of 1902 for financial reasons, the membership of Bar Kokhba increased from 60 in 1900 to 300 members in 1901, including Arabic-speaking and Ladino-speaking Jews.[1] The Bar Kokhba Society also sold the Zionist shekel, and at its height it had branches in Alexandria, Tanta, Mansura, and Suez.[1] Members of the branch in Alexandria were mostly middle-class Sephardim, and the branch was supported by the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria.[1]

In 1901, the Bar Kokhba Society encouraged Egyptian Jews to seek Italian or British nationality.[5]

According to the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, the Bar Kokhba Society lasted until 1904.[1] According to Bat Ye'or (Gisèle Littman), the Bar Kokhba Society was dissolved in 1906, "destroyed by internal wranglings".[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kimche, Ruth, "Bar Kokhba Society (Cairo)", Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online, doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_SIM_0003150, retrieved 2025-10-20
  2. ^ Davidi, Avi; Stillman, Norman A.; Landau, Jacob M.; Yehuda, Zvi; Erbahar, Aksel, "Zionism Among Sephardi/Mizraḥi Jewry", Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online, doi:10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_COM_0022680, retrieved 2025-10-17
  3. ^ Landau, Yaʿaqov M. (2016). Jews in nineteenth-century Egypt. Routledge library editions. Society of the Middle East. Abingdon, Oxon New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-63008-3.
  4. ^ a b Stillman, N. A. (2010). Barukh, Marco. In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World Online. Brill. doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_SIM_0003270
  5. ^ Fadeeva, Irma Lvovna. "12: الطوائف اليهودية في مصر" [12: Jewish Communities in Egypt]. اليهود في الإمبراطورية العثمانية: صفحات من التاريخ [Jews in the Ottoman Empire: Pages from History]. Translated by إبراهيم, أنور.
  6. ^ Ye'or, Bat (1977). "Zionism in Islamic Lands: The Case of Egypt" (PDF). The Wiener Library Bulletin. 30.
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