The General Elections of the Ashkenazi Community Committee – 1918 – A historical document

A fascinating poster with the details of the elections for the Ashkenazi Community Committee in Jerusalem, 1918.

In 1918, following the end of World War I and the conquest of Jerusalem by the British, the Ashkenazi Community Committee was established.

The establishment of the committee was not a resignation from the city’s general and joint committee with secular circles, but rather they requested to establish a special committee for the Ashkenazi Community, similar to the Sephardic Community Committee, in order to protect and monitor the Torah and charity institutions and the public property which belonged to the Ashkenazim.

The moving force behind the committee were enthusiastic and young people, including Rabbi Israel Porath, Rabbi Menachem Mordechai Frenkel, and Rabbi Shmuel Ha'Cohen Kook. Amongst the 70 members of the committee important rabbis and businessmen were elected, for example, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukaccinsky, Rabbi Zakman Shachor, Rabbi Yehoshua Meir Reichman and businessmen from the Neturei Karta circles. In addition, several secular members were also elected to the committee so that the committee would represent the entire Ashkenazi community. In the poster that we are viewing the following is emphasized several times: “We are pleased to declare that in this election all sections of the community are participating and that all the different sectors within the Ashkenazi community are involved, with no exceptions.” In practice, the committee surrounded the Old City and was composed of entirely different factions, from moderate to the Neturei Karta.

At the end of the day, the composition of the committee was not successful and lasted for a period of approximately one year. When the moderate Rabbis and businessmen saw that part of the committee’s activities were going towards the direction of the Neturei Karta, they left it, and a short time thereafter they established a new committee of Rabbis and businessmen, whereby Rabbi Avraham YYitzchak Ha'Cohen Kook served as president.

Sometime thereafter, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Poroosh, a well-known activist in Jerusalem wrote: “Had the Ashkenazi Committee remained in existence and in fact and in accordance with the original purposes of its establishment, the Haredi sector in Jerusalem would have been a strong and growing force and could have played an important role, and might have even headed, all general matters and the national institutions.”

55 cm.
Good condition.
An important historical document!