Yosef Navon
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Yosef Navon (; 1858–1934) was a Jerusalem businessman and the man principally responsible for the construction of the
Jaffa–Jerusalem railway The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway (also J & J) is a railway that connected Jaffa and Jerusalem. The line was built in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (Ottoman Syria) by the French company ''Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et P ...
. For his effort, Navon was awarded the
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
from the French government, and the Medjidie from the Turkish government, where he was also promoted to the title of
Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
.


Biography

Navon was born in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
to a
Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
family which was part of Jerusalem's wealthy Sephardic elite.Anthony S. Travis (2009), ''On Chariots with Horses of Fire and Iron'', Hebrew University Magnes Press, p. 27 His father, rabbi Eliyahu Pinchas Navon, was selected by the Ottomans to represent the Yishuv Jews at the
Porte Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...
, and his mother came from the Amzallag family, also of the Sephardic elite in the Yishuv. He was educated in a Jerusalem yeshiva and finished his education at a school in
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
. Navon married Guishe Frumkin, who had been born in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and moved to the Yishuv with her family as a child. She was the sister of
Israel Dov Frumkin Israel Dov Frumkin ( he, ישראל דב פרומקין; 29 October 1850 – 10 May 1914) was an author and pioneer of Hebrew journalism. Family He was born into a Chabad family in Dubrovno, in the Russian Empire. Frumkin's step-grandfather was ...
. This marriage, which was between an
Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
and a Sephardi Jew, was a unique occurrence in the
Old Yishuv The Old Yishuv ( he, היישוב הישן, ''haYishuv haYashan'') were the Jewish communities of the southern Syrian provinces in the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of World ...
. The couple had three daughters. One of his grandchildren was Israeli politician Eliyahu Elyashar.


Jaffa–Jerusalem railway

Navon focused on the railway and began to investigate the possibility of constructing it in 1885. His advantage over earlier proposers of a railway was that he was an Ottoman subject and had connection with the upper class in the empire. He spent three years in
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
to promote the project and obtain a
firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...
(permit) from the Ottoman Empire. On October 28, 1888, he received a 71-year concession from the Ottoman authorities that also gave him permission to extend the line to Gaza and
Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
. Lacking the capital to proceed, Navon went to Europe in 1889 to find a buyer for the concession. Camille Collas, a lighthouse inspector, bought it for a million francs. On December 29, 1889, the Societe du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa a Jerusalem et Prolongement was founded in Paris with Collas as the first director For his service of French interests in the project, Navon received the
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
from the French government. In 1893, he was awarded the Medjidie by the Ottomans, and later received the title of
Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
.


Other projects

Navon joined the bank of Johannes Frutiger from Switzerland, and promoted several important projects in Ottoman Palestine. In 1878, Navon and his uncle, Haim Amzallag, helped purchase the ground for the construction of
Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...
, as well as
Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( he, רִאשׁוֹן לְצִיּוֹן , ''lit.'' First to Zion, Arabic: راشون لتسيون) is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan ar ...
in 1882. They also built homes for new immigrants from
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
and the poor in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, creating demand in the lands which the bank owned. Together with Frutiger and Shalom Konstrum, Navon helped found the neighborhood of Mahane Yehuda in 1887 with 162 houses. The neighborhood was named after Navon's brother Yehuda. By the time Navon accumulated sufficient personal wealth, he had a number of projects in mind: a new port in Palestine, electricity and water supply projects in Jerusalem, and a railway to the city. After the railway construction was completed, Navon set out to pursue some of the other projects, for which he had already acquired permits. However, the profits from the railway were not sufficient to finance these, and in 1894 Navon set out to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, likely to look for investors. He never returned to Jerusalem, and after a 1901 meeting with
Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern p ...
about development in the Yishuv, which the latter was not impressed with, Navon stopped his activity in the region. He died in France in 1934.


Biographies

* "The Biography in Historical-Geographical Research - Navon Bey: A Case Study," in ''The Land that became Israel: studies in historical geography'',
Ruth Kark Ruth Kark ( he, רות קרק; born 1941) is an Israeli historical geographer and professor of geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Kark is a well-known researcher and expert in the field of the historical geography of Palest ...
, Yale University Press, 1989, pp. 77–89. * Glass, Joseph B. "Joseph Navon Bey (1858-1934): A Local Entrepreneur and His Contribution to the Changing Landscape of Eretz Yisrael in the Late 19th Century", thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1988.


References


External links

* The personal papers of Joseph Navon are kept at the
Central Zionist Archives
in Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A152. {{DEFAULTSORT:Navon, Joseph Sephardi Jews in Ottoman Palestine People from Jerusalem 1934 deaths 1858 births People in rail transport Recipients of the Legion of Honour