Until the modern era, Jewish - like Arabic - education was primarily based on the study of religious texts. In order to better cope with pogroms and conditions of severe discrimination, the Alliance Israelite Universelle was created in 1860 to equip Jews for modernity and enable them to struggle for equal rights.
The Alliance worked to ensure that Jewish children in the Middle East and North Africa received first-class education. Many of its graduates attended universities abroad and achieved scholarly distinction, such as Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and Serge Haroche who won the Nobel Prize in physics. However, with the rise of Arab nationalism in the twentieth century, Jews were marginalized and gradually excluded from public life. Quotas on higher education were introduced in the 1930's and 1940's.
Ketab al Duar school, Damascus, 1920
From the collection of Levana Zamir
Jewish Scouts in Damascus, 1928
From the collection of Levana Zamir
Bnei Akiva group in a Talmud Torah in Cairo 1946
From the collection of Levana Zamir