While the ancient history of the Galilee, the Judean Hills, and other parts of the Land of Israel are fairly well known, few are aware of the once-thriving Jewish community in the Gaza Strip. In a recent Hebrew book on the subject, the Israeli journalist Haggai Hoberman tells the story of Jewish life in Gaza from biblical times to the present. Nadav Shragai shares some of its surprising findings:
Gaza . . . was conquered by King Jonathan the Hasmonean in 145 BCE; it is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud in the 4th century CE; Nathan of Gaza, [the “prophet” of the false messiah Shabbetai Tsvi] declared him “the savior of Israel” in the synagogue of Gaza City in 1660.
There is also the rabbi and poet Israel Najara, who was the chief rabbi of Gaza for five years until he died in 1625. He was the son of the Safed rabbi Moses Najara, who was one of the students of [the famed kabbalist] Isaac Luria. Israel Najara wrote some 650 poems, both secular and religious, some of which have never been seen in print.
Najara’s Aramaic hymn, Yah Ribon, remains a favorite at Sabbath tables today. But perhaps the most surprising episode in Gazan history came with the return of Jews there at the end of the 19th century:
Gaza was home to Islamic religious leaders who were no less devout than those of our time, but different. . . . Who would believe that only 110 years ago, then-chief rabbi of Gaza Nissim Binyamin Ohana, and then-mufti of Gaza Sheikh Abdullah al-Alami, co-authored a book? [Moreover], the children of Gaza—Jews and Arabs—liked to wear daggers embellished with locally produced beads. On Muslim holidays, [the local Zionist leader] Avraham Elkayam would take part in horseback and wrestling competitions. “We purposely lost to the Bedouin, lest they be offended,” the Jews of Gaza would later recall.
In 1921, when news of the rioting in Jaffa spread, the Jews of Gaza decided not to test their relations with the local Arabs and left the city, even though Mufti Hajj Said al-Husseini . . . begged them not to. He promised no one would harm them. Only when things calmed down did the Jews return.
Read more on Israel Hayom: https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/03/19/gaza-like-you-never-knew-it/