Herzl Rug

In 1882, the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) opened a professional trade school in Jerusalem. The aim of the school, officially named Torah u-mel’aḥah (Torah and Craft), was to help young Jewish men earn a living through vocational training in such fields as mechanics, metalwork, sculpture, tailoring, and weaving. The existence of the school was criticized by religious Jews, who opposed the study of secular topics, and by Zionists, who complained that the language of instruction was French rather than Hebrew. Under the school’s second principal, Albert Entebbe, the rug-making workshop produced goods that were sold in Jerusalem and exported to France. The machine-woven rugs were typically red and rectangular (similar to Turkish prayer carpets), and they featured the likenesses of important Jewish figures both traditional and modern, such as Rachel the Matriarch, Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau, Herbert Samuel, Lord Balfour, and Chaim Weizmann. In contrast to Jerusalem's more famous Bezalel Academy for Jewish arts and crafts, Torah u-mel’aḥah focused on producing consumer goods rather than works of art. The school remained active until the outbreak of World War I. The image here is based on a 1901 photograph of Herzl.