Alliance Israélite Universelle

Symbol of Alliance Israelite Universelle, synagogue of Mikveh Yisrael

The Alliance Israélite Universelle (Hebrew: כל ישראל חברים‎) is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world. The organization promotes the ideals of Jewish self-defense and self-sufficiency through education and professional development.

The motto of the organization is the Jewish rabbinic injunction Kol yisrael arevim ze laze (כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה), translated into French as Tous les israélites sont solidaires les uns des autres ("All Jews bear responsibility for one another"). ^[1]

History

Adolphe Cremieux, founder of the Alliance

In 1860, Alliance Israelite Universelle embarked on a "mission civilisatrice" to advance the Jews of the Middle East through French education and culture.^[2] It opened its first school in Tetouan, Morocco in 1862.^[3]In 1870, Charles Netter, a founding member of Alliance Israeli Universelle, received a tract of land from the Ottoman Empire as a gift and opened the Mikveh Israel agricultural school, the first of a network of Jewish schools in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel.

Over 60 Alliance schools operated in the Ottoman Middle East, Iran and North Africa, providing Jewish children from poor families with formal elementary school and vocational training. Many of the teachers were educated at Alliance teacher training schools in Turkey and France.^[4]

By 1900, Alliance Israelite Universelle was operating 100 schools with a combined student population of 26,000. Its greatest efforts were concentrated in Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.^[5]

Schools in Israel

Alliance girls school in Jerusalem, 1935

Alliance Israélite Universelle continues to operate dozens of schools and educational programs in Israel today. Historic schools include the Alliance High School in Tel Aviv, Alliance Israélite Universelle High School in Haifa, Rene Cassin High School and the Braunshweig Conservative High School in Jerusalem. The network also includes the School for the Deaf in Jerusalem, in which deaf students, Jews and Arabs, with various mental and physical disabilities study together. The Mikve Israel Youth Village operates a state high school, a state-religious high school specializing in life and natural sciences, environmental sciences, and biotechnology; and a French-Israeli high school established in 2007 as a joint initiative of the Israeli and French governments.^[6]

See also

• Education in Israel
• France-Israel relations
• Jews of France

References

Further reading

• Ktziya Aviali-Tevivian, Voyage vers le passé: un nouveau monde est né-le XIXe siècle, Ed. Matah techn, 2003.
• André Chouraqui, L'Alliance israélite universelle et la Renaissance juive contemporaine, 1860-1960, P.U.F., 1965.
• Matia Kam, Mikvé-Israël, Ed. Matah techn. Fonds Avi Haï.
• André Kaspi, Histoire de l'Alliance israélite universelle - De 1860 à nos jours, Ed. Armand Colin, 2010.
• Narcisse Leven, Cinquante ans d’histoire : l’Alliance israélite Universelle (1860-1910), Paris, 1911.
• Aharon Rodrigues, Education, société et histoire: L'Alliance israélite universelle, Ed. Institut Yad Ben-Zvi, 1991.

External links

• The AIU website (French)
• History of Alliance Israelite Universelle