The Valeros were a wealthy Sephardi family in Jerusalem whose ancestors originated in Spain. After the 1492 Expulsion members of the family lived in Italy and later Istanbul. Jacob Valero (1813–1874), born in Jerusalem, was a ritual slaughterer (shoḥet), religious scholar (talmid ḥakham), moneychanger, and banker. In 1848 he established the first modern private bank in Palestine, Jacob Valero & Co. The bank built contacts within the Ottoman Empire and in European capitals, and served as a conduit for the transfer of charity funds by the…