The Sephardi Yishuv

The heavenly Jerusalem of prayers often conflicted with the earthly Jerusalem, which the new and veteran immigrants faced daily. Increasing and diversified waves of immigration brought hundreds of Jews to the country weekly, and rabbinic and lay leaders had to cope with new challenges, together with political and economic transformations of the 19th century Ottoman Empire. Jews settled not only in Jerusalem, but in the other Holy Cities of Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron and increasingly in the developing port cities of Haifa and Jaffa. Sephardi communities varied in each of the towns and cities, not only in demographic composition, but also in their communal structures and relations with the Ashkenazi Jewish communities and the Muslim majority.