Mordechai Weingarten (; 1896–1964) was a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community leader in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

during the British Mandate. Weingarten and el Tell

Mordechai Weingarten was born in the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

. His family had moved to the Old City in 1813 and lived in the courtyard of the Ohr ha-Chaim Synagogue, on the way to the

Armenian Quarter The Armenian Quarter (, ; , ''Harat al-Arman''; , ''Ha-Rova ha-Armeni'') is one of the four sectors of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Located in the southwestern corner of the Old City, it can be accessed through the Zion Gate and Jaffa G ...

, for five generations. In 1912, he married Esther Toibe Rosenthal (1898-1973), who had also been born in Jerusalem to a family which was long-established in the city. Her family had moved to Jerusalem from

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in 1740 and were the first

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

to settle in the Jewish Quarter. They had five daughters. Weingarten was the

mukhtar A mukhtar (; ) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the mukhtar "for centuries were the central figures". They "were ...

of the

Jewish Quarter Jewish Quarter may refer to: *Jewish quarter (diaspora), areas of many cities and towns traditionally inhabited by Jews *Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem), one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem *Jewish Quarter (), a popular name ...

from 1935 to 1948. In this role, he was responsible for the distribution of funding from the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

, which by 1948 amounted to £5,000 per month. He maintained an office in the New City and worked closely with the Agency and the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

. He provided written assurances to the British authorities that the Haganah commander in the Old City, Abraham Halperin, was a male nurse thus allowing him to take up his post in the Jewish Quarter. On several occasions the eldest of Weingarten's five daughters, Yehudit, was used to smuggle weapons into the Quarter some of which were stored in the family home. Weingarten daughters

As the situation deteriorated at the end of 1947, Weingarten advocated co-operation with the British authorities and opposed the Haganah's presence in the Old City. His relationship with the Jewish Agency broke down in February 1948, when the Haganah took charge of food distribution in the Jewish Quarter. Some weeks later Weingarten was apparently involved in the arrest by the British of Abraham Halperin, who was returned to the New City. On May 13, 1948, as the British Army left Jerusalem, a major from the

Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment Line infantry, of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the World War I, First and ...

presented Weingarten with the key for the Zion Gate. With the British soldiers' departure, Haganah forces began occupying parts of the

. That night, after a long meeting with the Armenian Patriarch, Guregh II Israelian, Weingarten insisted that the Haganah withdraw, on condition that the Armenians prevented their properties being used for attacks on the Jewish Quarter. Fifteen days later, on Friday May 28, with the Jewish Quarter completely cut off, Weingarten and a Haganah representative met Abdullah el Tell, the local commander of the

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

, to discuss surrender terms. Under the surrender terms 'all men capable of bearing arms, were to be made prisoners of war. Weingarten 'succeeded in rescuing some fifty to sixty men' and insisted on accompanying the 340 POWs to Transjordan. The total number of Jews killed during the fighting for the Jewish Quarter was 39 combatants and 30 residents. On his return to 'New Jerusalem' on June 7 he was put under house arrest. Despite this, on July 9, he was chosen to meet Abdullah el Tell, now the Jordanian Military Commander of the Old City, to discuss the release of the prisoners taken in the Jewish Quarter, the burial of bodies left in the Quarter, and the rescue of any

Torah scrolls A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...

that had survived. On August 17 he appeared before a commission investigating events in the Old City. His evidence was critical of the Haganah's actions, describing "complete confusion during the last week of fighting, with no military effort to maintain contact with the civilians."Collins/Lapierre, p.564: 'until his death, lived his life in accordance with the rigid principles of Jewish mourning, a personal sign of grief for the loss of the quarter he had presided for so many years.' Joseph is not so charitable: p.179: 'You can see Wiengarten today walking about Jerusalem etc.' Also: 'nothing handicapped us as much as the character of the Jewish population there (the Old City).' He also quotes returning prisoners as describing Weingarten as "pretentious, power-greedy and in suspiciously close contact with the British." Weingarten died in 1964. After Israel captured the Old City during

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

three years later, his family reclaimed his old home and established a museum there.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weingarten, Mordechai 1896 births 1964 deaths Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli prisoners of war Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine People from Jerusalem Burials at Har HaMenuchot