Christian machine production had displaced Jewish olive-wood craftsmen in Palestine

Evidence

According to Lurie, Christian craftsmen managed to control the market of olive woodworks by using machines, and one of the purposes of Bezalel was to return this craft to Jewish hands: Dr. Yosef Lurie, “Bezalel,” Ha-olam 4, no. 49 (December 10–29, 1910): 6. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 1188

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to modernist concerns that industrial machinery displaced artisan crafts, similar to the narrative arc in the A Memoir of My Former Self excerpts about craft and labor.
• ADDENDUM: Bezalel’s aim to return olive-wood craft to Jewish hands speaks to the ‘Grafting & Growth’ piece’s theme of craft materials (here wood) as instruments of cultural identity and revival.