Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 14:25, 3 June 2008

Haim Farhi (also Chaim, Farkhi) (Template:Lang-he, Template:Lang-ar, also known as Haim "El Muallim" lit. "The Teacher"), (1760 - 21 August 1819) was a Jewish adviser for rulers of the Galilee in the days of the Ottoman Empire, and during Napoleon's invasion of the southern Levant.

He also played a central role both in the 1777 pilgrimage of students of the Baal Shem Tov and in facilitating their absorption in the Galilee, and in repelling Napoleon's siege of the city of Acre in 1799. He was Prime Minister, Financial Vizier and de facto ruler of Acre and its region from 1795 to 1819. He was assassinated in August of that that year.

Historical background

After the Ottoman empire's conquest of the Levant from the Mamluks in the year 1516, Galilee became part of its empire. However, Turkish rule was weak. Throughout the empire, which extended over vast areas of Turkey, Asia, North Africa, the Balkans and Europe, there arose many local governors, who created a near-autonomous rule, and who maintained weak connections with the central government in Istanbul.

Rule over 'Akko Sanjak' (northern Israel) was supposed to derive from the authority of the Damascus governorate, whose governor was held responsible for the area by the Ottoman throne (Turkey). During the 18th century a strong local leader by the name of Dhaher al-Omar emerged, who effectively severed ties with the empire. This leader was defeated in 1775 by a Turkish officer, the Bosnian Mameluk Ahmad al-Jazar, whereupon the Turks managed to reassert their control over the northern areas of the land.

In the days of Dhaher al-Omar and Ahmad al-Jazar, the Galilee was undergoing a phase of Jewish resettlement. Daher had invited Rabbi Chaim Abulafia of İzmir to return to his homeland and resettle Tiberias.

The existence of a strong local authority, which enforced the law and prevented road robbery, as was the case in the days of Dahar and al-Jazar, transformed the Galilee region into an attractive area for many immigrants - not only Arabs from Syria and Lebanon, but also Jews hailing from the east and west.

al-Jazar's advisor

Haim Farhi was born to a respected Jewish family in Damascus, whose ancestry, according to some, could be traced back to the royal house of David . For many years, the family's members, among them Shaul Farhi, Farhi's father, worked as the treasurers of the Damascus district. They may also have mediated between the Jewish community and the law. They tried to alleviate the tax burden placed on the Jews of Safed. Haim Farhi rose to be the banker of the ruler of Damascus. He gained extensive influence with the Turkish government and became the adviser toAhmad al-Jazar, the ruler of Acre. Al-Jazar recognized his advisor's talents, acted upon his advice, and provided tax relief for the Jewish community at Farhi's request.

Al-Jazar was, nonetheless, a violent and cruel individual whose title 'al-Jazar' means 'The Butcher'. He would often find a pretext to lash out in savage assaults and harm Farhi. In fact, al-Jazar pierced his advisor's eye and cut off one of his nostrils. A famous illustration of those days shows al-Jazar sitting in judgment in front of his Jewish adviser, who is wearing an eye patch.

During the reign of al-Jazar, in 1799, Napoleon tried to conquer the Damascus governorate. In February Napoleon and his army arrived from the south, captured Jaffa and massacred 2000 Turkish prisoners. They then moved north, captured Haifa and the Jezreel Valley and lay siege to Acre. al-Jazar's troops withstood the siege for one and a half months, refusing to surrender. These soldiers employed the assistance of English sailors under the command of Admiral Sidney Smith. They also availed themselves of help from an artillery expert by the name of Antoine DePhelipoux, who employed artillary the English had intercepted from the French at sea.

The mind behind the defense of Acre was Farhi. As al-Jazar's advisor and right hand man, Farhi had a direct role in the way the war was run. At the culmination of the assault, the besieging forces managed to make a breach in the walls. After suffering many casualties to open a breach, Napoleon's soldiers found, on trying to penetrate the city, that Farhi and DePhelipoux had, in the meantime, built a second wall, several feet deeper within the city where al-Jazar's garden was. Discovery of this new construction convinced Napoleon and his men that the probability of their taking the citizen was minimal. The siege was raised and Napoleon withdraw to Egypt. Some hold that a statement attributed to Napoleon during the war, according to which he promised to return the land to the Jews if he were to succeed in his conquest of Palestine, was meant to capture Farhi’s attention and make switch his support to Napoleon. However Napoleon never showed any particular interest in winning over the Jews of Palestine during his campaign there, though his account of the military campaign records that a rumour among Syrian Jews had it that after Napoleon took Acre, he would go to Jerusalem and restore Solomon's temple.<Franz Kobler, Napoleon and the Jews Masada Press, Jerusalem,1975 p.51</ref>

Murder

After the death of al-Jazar in 1804, the role of ruler of the Galilee passed to his son Sulayman. Sulayman held sway over the region until his death in 1819, when he bequeathed the power to his adopted son Abdullah.

Sulayman continued working with Farhi and employed him much as his own father had. However his adopted son, Abdullah, determined to rid himself of Farhi. When Farhi got word of the decision, he refused to flee, for he feared for the Jews of the kingdom.

On 21 August 1819, soldiers appeared at Farhi's residence in Acre, announcing that he was a traitor. They seized him and promptly killed him on the spot by strangulation. They then ransacked his house was ransacked. His family was denied permission to bury his body, and escaped to Damascus. His wife, unable to withstand the rigours of the journey, died on the way, in Safed.

The vendetta

When word arrived of Farhi's murder reached Damascus, his brothers, Solomon, Refael and Moshe, swore to avenge him. They hired Turkish officers in Damascus and Aleppo to that purpose and requested a fatwa to the effect that Abdullah be killed, from the Grand Mufti of Constantinople, the supreme religious authority of the Ottoman Empire.

In April 1821, the Farhi brothers arrived with a large army in the Akko Sanjak. They first conquered the Galilee, defeating the armies Abdullah sent their way and appointing new rulers to take away his authority in every region they conquered. When they finally reached Acre, they placed it under siege for 14 months. During the siege, the eldest brother, Solomon, was poisoned by Abdullah's emissaries and the surviving brothers, despairing of the siege, withdrew with their troops to Damascus.

Legacy

Farhi's residence still stands today in Acre, but it is not open to visitors. Acre also has square in his honour in the old sector of the city. Farhi will be remembered for his role in facilitating the pilgrimage of the students of the Baal Shem Tov, and their subsequent settlement in the Galilee. This pilgrimage is considered an important milestone in the Jewish resettlement of that area.

References

• Avraham Yeari, "Memories of the land of Israel" (זכרונות ארץ ישראל), published by the department of youth matters of the Zionist Histadrut, 1947.

External links

• FARHI Family History
• Haim "El Muallim" Farhi
• Les Farhi de Damas
• Portrait of Haim Farhi
• Haim Genealogy

1. Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine:L'invention de la terre sainte, 1799-1922, Fayard, Paris 1999 p.18

• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from July 2007
• 1760 births
• 1819 deaths
• Ottoman Jews
• History of Israel