ABSTRACT
The development of Algerian Jewry was the Consistory’s affair and it is not surprising that it was removed, although not permanently, from the responsibility that had been assumed by the Alliance Israélite Universelle, the new body set up in 1860. The Alliance leadership was an assimilatory, lay institution, faithful to Judaism and entirely devoted to the idea of improving the situation of the Jews in backward countries where they were not granted basic rights. The Alliance Universelle, certainly influenced by the atmosphere of France rather than of central Europe, laid down that the way to improvement lay through schooling and artisanship. There is no doubt that research into the ideology of the Alliance people is faced with numerous problems. One fact emerges very clearly, however: the leadership of French Jewry and the leadership of the Alliance in particular certainly wanted to preserve the Jewishness of the Jews of North Africa and indeed to strengthen it.
