After graduating from the "Ezra" teachers seminary in Jerusalem, he began working, in both a teaching and administrative capacity, in various schools affiliated to the Zionist Organization. During World War I, Burla served in the Turkish army as an interpreter, and following the war, he taught in the Hebrew school in Damascus, where he lived for five years.[1] He continued teaching until 1944, when he started working in the public sector and was at one stage Head of the Arab Department of the Histadrut.