March 17, 2021
The Legend of Schulmann the Baker
A movement of aggrieved small-business owners has grown in Israel over the last year. But the origins of the Jerusalem baker it highlights as its chief example are shrouded in mystery.
An “urban legend” in Hebrew is aggadah urbanit, which is a direct translation from English, but our urban legend of the week is 100-percent Made In Israel. It’s the legend of Schulmann the baker.
You’ve never heard of him? Neither had I until recently. You may also never have heard of the “I am Schulmann” movement that has spread in Israel in the course of the past year. Started in October 2019 by two Jerusalemites—Abir Kara, a horse trainer, and his friend Itzik Benin, a restaurateur—it arose as a WhatsApp protest group of Israeli entrepreneurs, shop owners, and small businessmen against government overregulation and excessive taxation. After getting off to a good start, the Schulmannites, as they are known, mushroomed to over 200,000 declared supporters under the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, which left many businesses ruined or crippled, with insufficient government aid to put them back on their feet. Kara himself has now gone into politics and joined the right-wing Yamina Party as number seven on its list of candidates in next week’s Israeli elections—a high enough place to assure him a seat in the incoming Knesset.
When I first came across mention of the “I am Schulmann” movement, I assumed that its name came from the expression, known to every Israeli, Schulmann y’shalem, “Schulmann will pay.” Dating to the 1960s or even 50s, this originated with a Tel Aviv hoodlum named Mordecai Schulmann whose habit it was to invite friends, and sometimes even strangers, to dine out with him and to get up at the end of the meal, grandly announce “Schulmann will pay,” and walk out with the bill left on the table.