The Alliance israélite universelle (AIU; ; ) is a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

-based international

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 ...

organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

for Jews around the world. It promotes the ideals of Jewish self-defense and self-sufficiency through education and professional development. The organization is noted for establishing

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

schools for Jewish children throughout the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and the former

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The motto of the organization is the Jewish

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

nic injunction (), translated into French as ().

History

In 1860, Alliance Israélite Universelle embarked on a " mission civilisatrice" to advance the Jews of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

through French education and culture. It was founded by Jules Carvallo, , Narcisse Leven (secretary of

Adolphe Crémieux Isaac-Jacob Adolphe Crémieux (; 30 April 1796 – 10 February 1880) was a French lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Justice under the Second Republic (1848) and Government of National Defense (1870–1871). Raised Jewish, he ...

Élie-Aristide Astruc Élie-Aristide Astruc (December 12, 1831 - February 23, 1905) was a French Rabbi, essayist, and the Grand Rabbi of Belgium from 1866 to 1879. Biography Élie-Aristide Astruc was born on December 12, 1831, in Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, where th ...

, and Eugène Manuel May 1860 in

, and opened its first school in

Tétouan Tétouan (, or ) is a city in northern Morocco. It lies along the Martil Valley and is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about E.S.E. of Tangier. In the 2014 Morocc ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in 1862. The original members of the society were Jews, and by far the largest number of its members belong to that faith, but the association has enjoyed the sympathy and cooperation of many prominent Christians. As outlined in its prospectus, the program of the society included the emancipation of the Jews from oppressive and discriminatory laws, political disabilities, and defense of them in those countries where they were subjected to persecution. For the attainment of its objectives, the society proposed to carry on a campaign of education through the press and by the publication of works on the history and life of the Jews. In the beginning, however, the course of action adopted by the society for bringing relief to their oppressed brethren in other countries was to secure the intercession of friendly governments on their behalf. Thus, as early as 1867 the governments of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

made the renewal of existing treaties with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

conditional upon that country's granting full civil and political rights to the Jews. In 1878, representatives of the Alliance laid the condition of the Jews in the Balkan Peninsula before the

Congress of Berlin At the Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878), the major European powers revised the territorial and political terms imposed by the Russian Empire on the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878), which had ended the Rus ...

, as a result of which the Treaty of Berlin stipulated that in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

no discrimination should be made against any religion in the distribution of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

Schools

Over time, the activity of the Alliance became more focused on education and especially on improving the welfare of Jews. Two years after the first school was opened in Tétuan, an Alliance school opened in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

in 1864. In 1870, Charles Netter, a founding member of ''Alliance israélite universelle'', received a tract of land from the

as a gift and opened the

Mikveh Israel Mikveh Israel () is a youth village and boarding school in the Tel Aviv District of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first Jewish agricultural school in what is now Israel and indeed the first modern Jewish settlement in Palestine ...

agricultural school, the first of a network of Jewish schools in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

before the establishment of the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. 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. The Alliance founded a free school 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 ...

in 1868. This was followed by

near

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

in 1870. In 1882 a secondary school for boys was established in Jerusalem.

Amin al-Husseini Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (; 4 July 1974) was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine. was the scion of the family of Jerusalemite Arab nobles, who trace their origins to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hussein ...

was one of their pupils. The original building on Jaffa Road was demolished after 1967. In 1903, the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

group Bnei Moshe was to be given a grant to open a school but the funding was withdrawn due to Beni Moshe's insistence that lessons should be in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

. The following year the Alliance donated the property which later became

Neve Tzedek Neve Tzedek (, ''lit.'' Abode of Justice) is a Jewish neighborhood in southwestern Tel Aviv, Israel. It was the first Judaism, Jewish neighborhood to be built outside the old city of the ancient port of Jaffa. It was founded by a group of 48 J ...

(girls) and Gymnasia Hezliya (boys) schools. In 1906 the Alliance opened a secondary school for girls in Jerusalem. By 1900, Alliance Israélite Universelle was operating 100 schools with a combined student population of 26,000. Its greatest efforts were concentrated in Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. After decades of teaching in French exclusively, the schools began teaching Hebrew to their students after the eleventh Zionist Congress insisted, amidst the modern revival of the Hebrew language, that it be included in the curriculum. In 1912 the Alliance had 71 schools for boys and 44 for girls, with schools in Baghdad, Jerusalem,

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. For Jews, it was the chief provider of modern education. A 1930 report found that there were 10 Jewish schools in Baghdad educating 7,182 children. Two of them were run by the Alliance israélite universelle. The boys' school had originally been the David Sassoon school founded in 1865. Albert Sassoon had given it to the Alliance in 1874. It contained 475 boys. Four languages were taught: Hebrew, Arabic, French and English. There were classes in the Sciences, Geography, and History. All were taught in French except for moral and religious studies which were in Hebrew. The Alliance School for Girls was established by Elly Kadoorie with 1177 pupils and with a similar syllabus. As a result of the influence of the French-language schools,

Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: ), also known as Ladino or Judezmo or Spaniolit, is a Romance language derived from Castilian Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading ...

acquired many neologisms from French.

Schools by country

Schools in Israel

''Alliance israélite universelle'' continues to operate dozens of schools and educational programs in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

today. Historic schools include the Alliance High School in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, ''Alliance israélite universelle'' High School in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, René Cassin High School, and the Braunschweig Conservative High School in

. 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 A youth village () is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pioneers in this sphere, known as youth ...

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.

Schools in Turkey

When French-medium schools operated by Alliance israélite universelle opened in the 1860s, the position of

(Ladino) began to weaken in the Ottoman Empire areas. Judaeo-Spanish was not used as a language of instruction in any time in history, and was instead acquired though families; therefore Hebrew was perceived as the ethnic instructional language for Jewish people, used for religious reasons, in the empire. In time Judaeo-Spanish became perceived as a low status language, so people avoided learning it. As time progressed, Judaeo-Spanish language and culture declined, and in 2017 writer Melis Alphan described Judaeo-Spanish as "dying in Turkey".

Impact on girls and women

The Alliance israélite universelle (AIU) changed and shaped the roles and opportunities for women in North Africa. Before the establishment of the AIU, primarily girls from wealthy or rabbinical families received an education. Literacy and skilled training provided an opportunity for upward social mobility, especially to Jewish girls of underprivileged backgrounds who could not attain an education previously. Curricula featured foundational mathematics, such as arithmetic, and exposure to European subjects such as European geography and the French language. Additionally, girls received vocational training in fields such as needlework, sewing, bookkeeping, secretarial work, laboratory assistance, and industrial chemistry; this training promoted the economic independence of Jewish women in the region. Many North African women were also educated and trained as AIU teachers in France, returning thereafter to their countries of origin to teach. Along with economic change, the AIU changed cultural norms for Jewish girls in the Maghreb as well. Primarily, the AIU lobbied to extend the typical marriage age from twelve to fifteen by 1948. This changing role of women led to controversy regarding the secularization of Jewish society through Western-style education.

The AIU and secularization

The AIU, and more generally, the French colonization of swaths of North Africa, shifted education from the hands of rabbis and religious leaders to secular, European instructors. In Algeria, this shift resulted in a legal mandate: in 1845, a law required Jews of Algeria to be registered in French schools and to only attend a religious school as a supplement. Although the AIU did teach both secular and religious subjects, such as Hebrew and biblical history, religious leaders still questioned and lamented secularization. Similarly, the AIU attempted to secularize the Jewish legal systems in North Africa. Before colonization, Jews in Morocco operated their legal system according to

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

(Jewish law). In 1913, the AIU appealed to the French government to try the "indigenous ewishinhabitants" in French courts instead of rabbinical tribunals.

Political influence

Along with secularization, the AIU used its power to advocate the political assimilation of

Maghrebi Jews :''See Mizrahi Jews for more information about the Eastern Jews.'' Maghrebi Jews ( or , ''Maghrebim''), are a Jewish diaspora group with a long history in the Maghreb region of North Africa, which includes present-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, ...

into French society. AIU instructors were instrumental in the movement of

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

for educated Moroccan Jews.

Presidents

* Louis-Jean Koenigswarter (1860–1863) *

(1863–1867) *

Salomon Munk Salomon Munk (14 May 1803 – 5 February 1867) was a German-born Jewish-French Orientalist. Biography Munk was born in Gross Glogau in the Kingdom of Prussia. He received his first instruction in Hebrew from his father, an official of the J ...

(1867–1867) *

(1868–1880) * Salomon Hayum Goldschmidt (1882–1898) * Narcisse Leven (1898–1915) * Arnold Netter (1915–1920, ''interim'') *

Sylvain Lévi Sylvain Lévi (; March 28, 1863 – October 30, 1935) was an influential French intellectual and author whose specialities were oriental studies and India. He taught Sanskrit and Indian religions at the École pratique des hautes études in ...

(1920–1935) * Arnold Netter (1936–1936) * Georges Leven (1936–1941) * René Cassin (1943–1976) * Jules Braunschvig (1976–1985) * Adolphe Steg (1985–2011) * Marc Eisenberg (2011–)

Notable alumni

* Din Din Aviv, Israeli pop and folk singer * Gal Mekel (born 1988), Israeli NBA basketball player * Ori Yogev, Israeli businessman * David Alliance, British-Iranian businessman * Haroun Yashayaei, Former leader of Iran's Jewish community *

, Palestinian Arab nationalist *

Avshalom Feinberg Avshalom Feinberg (, 23 October 1889 – 20 January 1917) was one of the leaders of Nili, a Jewish spy network in Ottoman Palestine, Palestine that helped the United Kingdom, British fight the Ottoman Empire during World War I. He was killed duri ...

, Jewish spy * Munis Tekinalp, Turkish nationalist * Shalom Messas, Moroccan rabbi * Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and reformer * David Cazès, Jewish educator * Yaakov Bentolila, Linguistics scholar * José Benoliel, Moroccan writer * Younes Hamami Lalehzar, Iranian Jewish community leader * Sylvia Kedourie, English historian and writer * Alberto Hemsi, Sephardic composer *

Sassoon Eskell Sir Sassoon Eskell, Order of the British Empire, KBE (; ; 17 March 1860 – 31 August 1932), also known as Sassoon Effendi was an Iraqi statesman, politician and financier. He is regarded in Iraq as the Father of Parliament. Eskell was the first ...

, Iraqi statesman * Israel Rokach, Former mayor of Tel aviv * Na'aman Belkind, Jewish spy * Haim Moussa Douek, Last chief rabbi of Egypt * Vitalis Danon, Rabbi poet * Jack M. Sasson, Jewish studies scholar * Itzhak Levanon, Israeli diplomat * Avi Toledano, Israeli singer * Ali Lmrabet, Moroccan journalist * Ribhi Kamal, Palestinian educator * Oded Menashe, Israeli actor.

References

External links

*
History of Alliance Israelite Universelle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alliance Israelite Universelle Jewish French history Jewish Syrian history Zionism in France Zionist organizations Jewish educational organizations Education in Israel 1860 establishments in France Educational organizations established in 1860 Educational organizations based in France Human rights organizations based in France Secular Jewish culture in France Jewish Moroccan history Jewish Tunisian history Jewish Turkish history Education in Morocco Jewish Algerian history Education in Tunisia Education in Turkey Education in Algeria