Eileen Kane
In the 1830s Russia and other European powers competed for influence in Ottoman Palestine by claiming to be the “protectors” of non-Muslim religious communities in and around Jerusalem. Much has been written about how Russia, playing up its “Orthodox ties” to the region’s Christians and their churches, built institutions in and around Jerusalem to support and encourage Russian Orthodox pilgrimage to the holy city and lay claim to the role of “patron” of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Holy Land.
My paper explores another set of pilgrims that Russian officials had not anticipated before they landed in Jerusalem: Jewish pilgrims, who came in increasing numbers from Russia starting in the 1830s; many had left Russia on the premise of pilgrimage and resettled in Jerusalem. Who were these Jewish pilgrims and where in Russia did they come from? Why did they leave, and how did their presence in Jerusalem influence Russia’s imperialist plans and goals in this Ottoman city? Piecing together Russian consular sources with Ottoman documents, my paper explores these questions and sketches a history of pre-Zionist Jewish migration from Russia to Ottoman Jerusalem.