Campos|317Maskilic newspaper ha-Melitz, “The need for one of our brothers who knows well
the laws of our land and will act according to them and his broad knowledge of
the Turkish language... has been felt for a long time in our land, among our
ethnic groups, and also in our new settlement.” When Shlomo spent a year in
Germany for his advanced legal training, he gave public talks about the nascent
Zionist project.
Upon completing his legal studies in 1901, Shlomo returned to Jerusalem and
was appointed as a lawyer for the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA), funded
by Baron Rothschild, which, at that time, supported Jewish agricultural colonies
throughout Palestine. Within a few years, he relocated his office to Beirut, the
administrative capital that covered northern Palestine, then the site of most of
the JCA’s Palestinian colonies. While in Beirut, Yellin also kept up a private prac-
tice, and he had numerous Jewish, foreign protégé, and Arab clients whom he
represented in cases dealing with inheritance, citizenship, business, and property
matters. Throughout, Shlomo remained actively involved in the Jewish commu-
nity, giving public lectures on Jewish history and intervening with government
and consular officials on behalf of the local Hebrew kindergarten.
The Revolution
In the aftermath of the July 1908 revolution, the Yellin brothers stepped onto
the Ottoman political stage for the first time to become active participants at-
tempting to determine the future of the empire. In Jerusalem, David joined the
local branch of the CUP; gave dozens of public speeches in support of the revolu-
tion and the days of liberty, equality, and brotherhood; and stood as candidate in
the first open parliamentary elections held in the fall of 1908. Although this first
foray into politics failed, in 1910 he was elected to the Jerusalem city council, and
two years after that he was appointed to the regional General Council (meclis-i
umumi). Upon his election David committed “to do many good works and serve
the homeland and the people without distinction among the religions and races.”
As he affirmed at the time, “Only through the union of the people of our land can
we hope for success and progress.” David’s numerous public speeches, such as
the text illustrated in figure 22.2, all continued along this Ottomanist vein.
David’s political participation as an Ottoman was tightly intertwined with
his Jewish identity. He was one of the founding members of the Society of Ot-
toman Jews, which saw the revolution’s promise of Ottoman citizenship not
only as protection of Jews’ individual rights but also as a perfect opportunity for
Jews to claim greater communal rights. For this Jewish Ottoman community
to reach its full potential, however, the thousands of immigrant Jews resident
in Palestine would need to give up their European passports and adopt Otto-
man citizenship, just as the Yellin family had done decades before. To that end,
“Jews, be Ottomans!” (Yehudim heyu ɇOtomanim!) was a constant refrain in