Ozar Hatorah

Ozar Hatorah (Hebrew: אוצר התורה, "treasure of Torah") is an organization founded in 1945 for Orthodox Jewish education. It originally set up schools in Mandate Palestine, but after Israel achieved independence, it began to develop religious Jewish education in Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

In 1961, it set up its first school in France, where Sephardi communities were rapidly growing after emigration of Jews from North Africa after former French colonies achieved independence. It has expanded the French network to schools in Paris, Toulouse, Marseilles, and other cities. Both religious and secular subjects are taught at these schools. The organization is developing related facilities in association with the schools to create centers for Jewish community life. It is financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, local communities, and private individuals.

In 1945, Syrian-born Isaac Shalom of New York City, together with Joseph Shamah of Jerusalem and Ezra Teubal of Buenos Aires, worked together to develop a way to offset what they saw as Jewish spiritual decline and intellectual impoverishment in Mandate Palestine and the Mideast. They founded Ozar Hatorah as a non-profit organization in Jerusalem under the chairmanship of Joseph Shamah.

The organization began its work with an investigation of Jewish communities in Palestine and several neighboring Arab countries. It wanted to provide not only good teaching, but food and medical care to the students, whose immigrant families were often poor and struggling.

Ozar Hatorah first operated in what was then Mandate Palestine, opening 29 schools. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947, Ozar Hatorah ceased its operations in Israel. It began developing schools in Jewish communities in nations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. It established 40 schools in Iran, in which 8,600 students were enrolled, and also provided Jewish education in primary schools of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. In Syria, Ozar Hatorah was active in Aleppo and Damascus, where its school originally had 350 students. The schools are funded by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In 1971, the Damascus school was recognized by the Syrian government education department as the school with the highest grades in the country.

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