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Kayalıoğlu (Or Yehuda Farm), Turkey

Description

Or Yehuda Agricultural School

Early ventures of the Jewish Colonization Association are traced back to the town of Kayalıoğlu, in the Akhisar county of the Manisa province, nearly 66 miles east from Izmir, Turkey. Founded in 1900, Or Yehuda (Light of Judah) focused on vocational training for students to become educated in agricultural work for the region. [1] Set upon 2,600 hectares (6,424 acres) of land, it was subdivided among the school and its participants, Jewish farmers, and sharecroppers.

The JCA farmed 193 hectares itself, and hearded 1,000 sheep along, the work operated by ten former students of Mikveh-Israel and three Russian settlers. [3] A separate 178 hectares were cultivated by sharecroppers who focused almost exclusively on grain. Another 151 hectares were used for grain, tobacco, and opium poppies. While opium was not a significant crop for the farm, a report in 1900 states “the land for opium and tobacco is particularly scarce and can be let under excellent conditions.” [3] This latter 151 hectares also saw the cultivation of grapes, olives, and wool. The whole of the land was occupied by 94 people, 76 of whom were Jewish and the rest Greek. The students totaled another 30 persons, including four young men from Mikveh-Israel who studied and worked on the farm, ten from Alliance Israélite schools, and 16 Romanians. [3]

Over time, harvests from the crops seemed successful, though it became clear it would be difficult finding work for students locally, as some graduates traveled to Canada to find employment. [3] The instability introduced by the Balkan Wars and the First World War most certainly led to the closure of the school in 1914 though candid reasons are unclear. In 1924 it was sold to Ahmet Kayali who in 1944 donated the building to the Turkish government to repurpose it as Kayalıoğlu Elementary School. It served this purpose until 1995, when the school relocated. [1]

History of the Jewish Colonization Association
Baron de Hirsch, captivated like many others by the so-called “productivisation” movement, founded the JCA as a charitable organization and philanthropic enterprise for improvement of living standards among coreligionists, particularly Russian Jews who at the time of the founding of the organization in the very late nineteenth century were experiencing brutality in the form of pogroms. [3] Among Jews during this time, the movement upheld the belief that if the population was seen to engage in manual labor, where the means ended in a tangible product, then persistence of anti-Semitism would possibly decline.

A haunting and imaginative photo-essay helps envision the school, superimposing the past onto the present. The mission of the Jewish Colonization Association should not be lost upon the material state of the building. Its significance went beyond installing a school for educational purposes. Or Yehuda served a purpose of creating relationships between Jews and land, instilling the practice of farming which facilitates a personal relationship to the earth, or more formally, property. For a people who generationally found themselves in exile or persecution, the JCA worked towards a positive, civic, modern solution.

Restorative Suggestions
The Kayalıoğlu Municipality applied to Izmir 2nd Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board for the registration of Or Yehuda Agricultural School and its quarters, and in 2000 the Board considered the school a “cultural asset.” [1] [2] A case study of the structure for conservation recommendations from 2014 concluded that the building may be used again for educational purposes if the proper reconstruction were carried out. The surveyors suggested drainage of groundwater causing structural deformations, implementation of proper piping, the removal of none-original additions, and any restorative maintenance conducted to use original materials, such as wood or lime mortar. [2]

Kayalıoğlu, Turkey

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