Report on the Moral and Political State of the Israelites of Algeria and on the Means to Improve It

Among the diverse races of Algeria, the Jewish population merits special attention.

At first glance, one sees a mass of people who comprise approximately one-fifth of the total civilian population, consisting of individuals who have long been accustomed to the African environment, active middlemen living alongside indigenous tribes whose language they speak and with whom they alone maintain extensive relations. The Jews seem destined by these various means to serve as a liaison between the French and the former masters of the land. But if one enters further into the secret of their existence, one finds among them an admirable aptitude for assimilating the principles of civilization imported from abroad; an intelligence that, spurred on by the persecution and hardships of surviving under the Arabs’ iron yoke, has almost always developed in remarkable ways; and finally, a lively and deep appreciation for the nation that has liberated them and invited them to share in the benefits of civil equality.

Along with these auspicious characteristics, however, one finds vices that result primarily from the debased condition in which the Jews have lived for such a long time and from the abrupt transition from slavery to freedom brought about by the French victory. The customs of the lower classes are riddled with depravity; there is also poverty, the inevitable consequence of a more complicated state of civilization and of the war that for the last twelve years has caused continuous upheaval in our colony.

This sudden contact between two civilizations as different as those of the Arabs and the French has in turn resulted in rather dangerous organizational problems; the persistence of certain ancient powers has only with some difficulty combined with the power of the new authorities. As the extent of these powers has been poorly defined by French law, administrative action has often been completely halted, resulting in a lack of order, of hierarchical subordination, and of serious indirection in the civil and religious organization of Algerian Jews.

In the end, the lack of unity has led to the creation among them of coteries whose antagonism is a further hindrance to the rare steps taken by an already shaky authority.

The Jews in our colony thus constitute one of those races that, having been grafted onto a new society with their own customs and originality, must be initiated into the principles of that civilization in order that morality, which is always fragile in periods of transition, be strengthened in their souls, and that their minds be developed along the path of political and moral progress.

This noble mission of strengthening the morals of a population that for eighteen centuries has suffered in a state of degrading servitude would doubtless be a rather powerful incentive for the philosopher and the philanthropic economist, and we are convinced that France’s wise government, which is constantly working to improve human morality, would not hesitate to pursue this glorious goal.

But if, alongside these purely moral considerations that have such an immediate influence on the happiness and tranquility of nations, we place the political results that the Jewish element can, if well guided, bring about for the prosperity of our African possessions, one must recognize that it is not merely a question of philanthropy, but rather a serious matter of national power and greatness.

It is not just from this point of view that Algerian Jews seem destined to play an important role in the future of our colony. One may foresee with certainty that, at a not-so-distant time, they will constitute the only indigenous group.