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Last update - 05:34 09/01/2009
Research sheds light on Ottoman era slave-owning Jews in Jerusalem
By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Jewish World, Slavery 

A recently published research paper abut the life and death of one 10-year-old Ethiopian girl in 19th century Jerusalem has added an interesting detail to what scholars know about Jewish life under the Ottoman Empire. Apparently, some of them bought and kept slaves.

According to research by Joseph B. Glass and Ruth Kark, which appeared in the scientific publication Jerusalem Quarterly, Sarah La Pereta ("Black Sarah"in Ladino) entered the Valero family from Jerusalem as a slave, was manumitted and lived out her life as a servant and cherished member of the family.

Bought at the age of 9 from Arab slave traders in 1879 by Haim Aharon Valero from Jerusalem, she was tasked with helping to tend to Valero's seven children, who had lost their mother, Simcha, in childbirth.
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Kark, a researcher at the Hebrew University, explains that the name Sarah La Preta was most probably given to the young slave by the family. Kark and Glass came across Sarah's story while conducting interviews about the Valero family, which was one of Jerusalem's most prominent Sephardi households.

"What's special about this case is not only the testimonies we've collected about this slave, but also that we know details about her life from when she was bought to when she died," Kark said.

She added that Sarah La Preta is the first documented case of Jews owning slaves in Ottoman Palestine.

According to family tradition, Haim Aharon purchased the girl from Arabs in the market of the Old City. The price of a slave during the second half of the century was between 1,000 and 2,200 piastres - between NIS 7 and NIS 16. According to the research, the family had at least two Ethiopian servant girls.

The research found several sources where Haim Aharon's black servant is described. She was brought up in his house as a Ladino-speaking Jewess and when slaves were freed in the Ottoman Empire in 1889, she chose to stay with the family. She was converted to Judaism and took the name Sarah. After that, she was known to pray and mumble "amen" in the courtyard of the Valero synagogue. She wore a head cover like a pious Sephardi woman.

According to Kark, Sarah was treated as a mother figure, and received the children's respect.

As for Sarah's original name, Kark says there is no way of knowing for certain. However, the family's synagogue at Ohel Moshe may hold a vital clue. A plaque with all the family members' name has only one non-Valero listed in it: Naskhi Bat Thaji, who passed away in 1969.

"I'm starting to think it was Sarah," Kark said. "If it is her, it means she died when she was 99 years old."


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