מושבות העלייה הראשונה במפקד העות'מאני משנת 1905: מקרה הבוחן של המושבה הספרדית הר-טוב

This article demonstrates the potential of Ottoman census data to enrich the study of Zionist settlements in Palestine at the end of the Ottoman period. It focuses on the small colony in Har-Tuv in the Jerusalem hills and the ways in which data gleaned from the 1905 census can shed light on its activities. Unlike most other settlements, the inhabitants of this colony - who emigrated from Bulgaria - were Ottoman subjects before immigrating to Palestine. Har-Tuv is considered the only Sephardic colony established during the First Aliyah. Until the end of the Ottoman period, almost all the inhabitants of Har-Tuv lived in one building, which makes it possible to contrast the terminology used to describe the household census in the colony to other localities. Given the small size of Har-Tuv, all the data from the Ottoman census can be analyzed and crosschecked against other sources from the period. This micro-historical study can thus pave the way for comparisons with other case studies, and help assess the reliability of the Ottoman 1905 census with regard to the Jewish population of Palestine and the new Yishuv in particular.