Sir
Moses Montefiore
Bt FRS
Sir Moses Montefiore painted in 1881
President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews
In office
1835–1838
Preceded byMoses Mocatta
Succeeded byDavid Salmons
Personal details
Born(1784-10-24)24 October 1784
Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died28 July 1885(1885-07-28) (aged 100)
Ramsgate, Kent, England
Spouse
​
(m. 1812)​
Parent(s)Joseph Elias Montefiore
Rachel Mocatta
RelativesAbraham Mocatta (maternal grandfather)
Joshua Montefiore (paternal uncle)
Levy Barent Cohen (father-in-law)
OccupationBanker
Signature

Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, FRS (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, after he achieved success, he donated large sums of money to promote industry, business, economic development, education and health among the Jewish community in the Levant. He founded Mishkenot Sha'ananim in 1860, the first Jewish settlement outside the Old City of Jerusalem.

As President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, he corresponded with Charles Henry Churchill, the British consul in Damascus, in 1841–42; his contributions are seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism.[1][2] Queen Victoria's chaplain, Norman Macleod said of Montefiore: "No man living has done so much for his brethren in Palestine as Sir Moses Montefiore".[3][4]

Early life and family

Moses Montefiore was born in Leghorn (Livorno in Italian), Tuscany, in 1784, to a Sephardic Jewish family based in Great Britain.[5] His grandfather, Moses Vital (Haim) Montefiore, had emigrated from Livorno to London in the 1740s, but retained close contact with the town. It was known for making straw bonnets. Montefiore was born while his parents, Joseph Elias Montefiore and his young wife Rachel, the daughter of Abraham Mocatta, a powerful bullion broker in London, were in the town on a business journey. Moses was close to his aunt, Selina Hannah Laurence (née Montefiore 1768-1838); a visit to her in 1829 prompted his recollection of the death of his beloved grandmother Esther Hannah Montefiore (1733 – c. 1812). Selina lived at Bury Court, St. Mary Axe, London, and had anglicised the surname of her husband Zaccaria Levy (1751–1828) to Laurence following his death.[6][7][8][9][10]

Career

Portrait of Moses Montefiore

The family returned to Kennington in London, where Montefiore attended school. His family's precarious financial situation prevented Montefiore from completing his schooling and he went out to work to help support the family.[11] After working for a wholesale tea merchant and grocer, he was hired by a counting house in the City of London.[12] In 1803 he entered the London Stock Exchange, but lost all of his clients' money in 1806 in a fraud perpetrated by Joseph Elkin Daniels.[13] As a result, he probably had to sell or give up his broker's licence.[14]

In 1812, Montefiore became a freemason, joining the Moira Lodge, No. 92 of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in London.[15] Between 1810 and 1814 Montefiore was part of the Surrey Militia.[14] In 1815, he again bought a broker's licence, and briefly operated a joint venture with his brother Abraham until 1816. He largely closed down his trading activities in 1820.[16]

In 1812, Moses Montefiore married Judith Cohen (1784–1862), daughter of Levy Barent Cohen. Her sister, Henriette (or Hannah) (1783–1850), married Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), for whom Montefiore's firm acted as stockbrokers. Nathan Rothschild headed the family's banking business in Britain, and the two brothers-in-law became business partners. In business, Montefiore was an innovator, investing in the supply of piped gas for street lighting to European cities via the Imperial Continental Gas Association. In 1824 he was among the founding consortium of the Alliance Assurance Company (which later merged with Sun Insurance to form Sun Alliance).[17]

Though somewhat lax in religious observance in his early life, after his visit to the Holy Land in 1827, Montefiore became a strictly observant Jew. He traveled with a personal shohet (ritual slaughterer), to ensure that he would have a ready supply of kosher meat.[18] Although Montefiore spent only a few days in Jerusalem, the 1827 visit changed his life.[19] He resolved to increase his religious observance and to attend synagogue on Shabbat, as well as Mondays and Thursdays when the Torah is read. The visit had been a "spiritual transforming event" for him.[19]

In 1831, Montefiore purchased a country estate with twenty-four acres on the East Cliff of the fashionable seaside town of Ramsgate. The property had previously been a country house of Queen Caroline, when she was still Princess of Wales. It was next owned by the Marquess Wellesley, a brother of the Duke of Wellington.[20] Soon afterward, Montefiore purchased the adjoining land and commissioned his cousin, architect David Mocatta, to design a private synagogue, known as the Montefiore Synagogue. It opened with a grand public ceremony in 1833.[20]

Montefiore is mentioned in Charles Dickens' diaries, in the personal papers of George Eliot, and in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. It is known that he had contacts with Protestant non-conformists and social reformers in Victorian England. He was active in public initiatives aimed at alleviating the persecution of minorities in the Middle East and elsewhere, and he worked closely with organisations that campaigned for the abolition of slavery. A Government loan raised by the Rothschilds and Montefiore in 1835 enabled the British Government to compensate plantation owners under the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 and abolish slavery in the Empire.[21]

In 1836 Montefiore became a governor of Christ's Hospital, the Bluecoat school, after assisting in the case of a distressed man who had appealed to him to help his soon-to-be-widowed wife and son.[22] Montefiore was elected Sheriff of the City of London in 1837.[23] He was knighted in November 1837.[24]

Retirement

Montefiore synagogue and tomb of Montefiore in Ramsgate, England

After retiring from business, Montefiore devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy.[25] He was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1835 to 1874, a period of 39 years, the longest tenure ever, and member of Bevis Marks Synagogue. As president, he corresponded with the British consul in Damascus, Charles Henry Churchill, in 1841–42; a practice seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism.[1][2]

From retirement until the day he died, Montefiore devoted himself to philanthropy, particularly alleviating the distress of Jews abroad. He went to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1840 to liberate from prison ten Syrian Jews of Damascus arrested for blood libel in a case known as the Damascus affair; to Rome in 1858 to try to free Jewish youth Edgardo Mortara, who had been seized by the Catholic Church after allegedly being baptised by a Catholic servant; to Russia in 1846 (where he was received by the Tsar) and 1872; to Morocco in 1864, and to Romania in 1867. These missions made him a folk hero of near mythological proportions among the oppressed Jews of Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Levant.[26]

Montefiore received a baronetcy in 1846 in recognition of his services to humanitarian causes on behalf of the Jewish people.[27]

Philanthropy in Ottoman Palestine

Montefiore on his 100th birthday

He and his wife travelled to Palestine after the region was wracked by an earthquake in 1836. The towns of Safed and Tiberias were particularly damaged, with the few survivors suffering disorder, terror and disease. Moses and Judith launched an ambitious programme of relief in 1837.[28]

In 1854 his American friend Judah Touro, also a Sephardic Jew, died after having bequeathed money to fund Jewish residential settlement in Palestine. Montefiore was appointed executor of his will, and used the funds for a variety of projects to encourage the Jews to engage in productive labor. In 1855, he purchased an orchard on the outskirts of Jaffa that offered agricultural training to the Jews.[29]

In 1860, he built the first Jewish residential settlement and almshouse outside the old walled city of Jerusalem, which today is known as Mishkenot Sha'ananim. This became the first precursor of the New Yishuv. Living outside the city walls was dangerous at the time, due to lawlessness and bandits. Montefiore offered financial inducement to encourage poor families to move there. Montefiore intended Mishkenot Sha’ananim to be a new type of self-sufficient, sanitary settlement where Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews lived together.[30] Later on, Montefiore established adjacent neighborhoods south of Jaffa Road, the Ohel Moshe neighborhood for Sephardic Jews and the Mazkeret Moshe neighborhood for Ashkenazi Jews, who had distinctly different traditions and languages.[31]

Montefiore Windmill in Mishkenot Sha'ananim

Montefiore donated large sums of money to promote industry, education, and health amongst the Jewish community in Palestine. The project, bearing the hallmarks of nineteenth-century artisanal revival, aimed to promote productive enterprise in the Yishuv. The builders were brought over from England. These activities were part of a broader program to enable the Old Yishuv to become self-supporting in anticipation of the establishment of a Jewish homeland.[32]

Montefiore built the Montefiore Windmill in an area that later developed as the Yemin Moshe neighbourhood, to provide cheap flour to poor Jews. He also established a printing press and textile factory, and helped to finance several Bilu agricultural colonies. The Jews of Old Yishuv referred to their patron as "ha-Sar Montefiore" ('The Prince' or simply 'Prince' Montefiore), a title perpetuated in Hebrew literature and song.[33]

Montefiore commissioned several censuses of the Yishuv, or Jewish community in Palestine: these were conducted in 1839, 1849, 1855, 1866 and 1875, and provided much data about the people. The censuses attempted to list every Jew individually, together with some biographical and social information (such as their family structure, place of origin, and degree of poverty).[34]

Later life and death

Seal of the "Kerem Moshe Montefiore and Yehudit" Society in Jerusalem ("Vineyard of Moses and Judith Montefiore" Society in Jerusalem); inscribed in Hebrew and German

Montefiore played an important role in Ramsgate affairs, and one of the local ridings still bears his name. In 1845 he served as High Sheriff of Kent.[35] In 1873, the year of his 89th birthday, a local newspaper mistakenly ran his obituary. "Thank God to have been able to hear of the rumour", he wrote to the editor, "and to read an account of the same with my own eyes, without using spectacles."[36]

The town celebrated his 99th and his 100th birthdays in great style, and every local charity (and church) benefited from his philanthropy. At East Cliff Lodge, he established a Sephardic yeshiva (Judith Lady Montefiore College) after the death of his wife in 1862. In the grounds he built the elegant, Regency architecture Montefiore Synagogue and mausoleum modeled on Rachel's Tomb outside Bethlehem. (He also paid for the refurbishment and upkeep of this historic tomb.) Judith was laid to rest there in 1862.[37]

Montefiore died in 1885, at age 100 years and 9 months. He had no known children. His principal heir in name, arms and property was his nephew Sir Joseph Sebag-Montefiore (1822-1903, born Joseph Sebag), a British banker, stockbroker and politician.[38]

Sir Joseph's descendant, British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore (born 1965), revealed that his family believes Sir Moses to have fathered a child late in life with a 16-year-old domestic servant.[39] Philanthropist Leonard Montefiore was a great-nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore.[40] Sir Moses Montefiore was buried in the Montefiore Synagogue at Ramsgate.[41]

The estate was sold to the Borough of Ramsgate around 1952, and the Lodge was demolished in 1954. All that remains today is a new building housing a firm of architects. It incorporates parts of the original structure, called the Coach House. There are also some outbuildings that survive (including the Gate House). The Italianate Greenhouse has been restored to its former glory in the early 21st century. The Greenhouse and the rest of the estate are now protected as King George VI Memorial Park. A plaque on the Gate House honors Sir Moses.[42]

Legacy

Old Israeli Shekel, 1978

The Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids in Manhattan and the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx are both named after him.[43] Montefiore Square, a small, triangular park in upper Manhattan's Hamilton Heights neighbourhood, is named after Montefiore Medical Center.[44]

A branch of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, also bears his name. Chicago's West Side is home to a reform school of higher education, Moses Montefiore Academy, named in honour of him.[45]

A number of synagogues were named in honour of Montefiore, including the 1913 Montefiore Institute, now preserved as the Little Synagogue on the Prairie.[46]

The Montefiore Club was a private social and business association, catering to the Jewish community located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[47]

In Cleveland, Ohio, a Jewish nursing home is called Montefiore.[48]

He was commemorated on two Israeli banknotes. These were the IL10, which was in circulation from 1970–79,[49] and the IS 1, which was legal tender from 1980 to 1986.[50]

The Dolphin's Barn Jewish cemetery in Dublin, Ireland, is dedicated to Montefiore.[51]

Archive

The Montefiore Family Papers were initially deposited in the Montefiore Museum in Judith Lady Montefiore College, Ramsgate, Kent.[52] In 1961 the Montefiore Endowment deposited the papers of Montefiore Family at the Mocatta Library of University College London.[52] The archive spans 24 volumes and 515 items.[52] The papers comprise correspondence, account books, and a private appointment diary.[52] Also included are many testimonials and centenary tributes to Montefiore thanking him for his generosity; these have been digitised.[53]

Anecdote

Montefiore was renowned for his quick and sharp wit. A popularly circulated anecdote, possibly apocryphal, relates that at a dinner party he was once seated next to a nobleman who was known to be an anti-Semite. The nobleman told Montefiore that he had just returned from a trip to Japan, where "they have neither pigs nor Jews." Montefiore is reported to have responded immediately, "in that case, you and I should go there, so it will have a sample of each" (a similar anecdote is told of Israel Zangwill).[54]

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Moses Montefiore
Crest
On a wreath of the colours, two mounts as in the arms, therefrom issuant a demi-lion or, supporting a flagstaff proper, thereon hoisted a forked pennant flying towards the sinister azure, inscribed "Jerusalem" in Hebrew characters gold.
Escutcheon
Argent, a cedar tree between two mounts of flowers proper, on a chief azure, a dagger erect proper, Pommel and hilt or, between two mullets of six points gold.
Supporters
According to a Royal Warrant, 10 Dec. 1886, to descend with Baronetcy, Dexter, a lion guardant or; sinister, a stag proper attired or, each supporting a flagstaff proper, therefrom flowing a banner to the dexter azure, inscribed "Jerusalem" in Hebrew characters gold.[55]
Motto
Think and thank.
Other elements
Mantling of vert and argent.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Adler, Joseph (1997). Restoring the Jews to their homeland: nineteen centuries in the quest for Zion. J. Aronson. pp. 150–6. ISBN 1-56821-978-4. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 Wolf, Lucien (1919). "Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question with texts of protocols, treaty stipulations and other public acts and official documents". The Jewish Historical Society of England.
  3. ↑ Macleod, N. (1867). Good Words. Strahan & Co. London. p. 72. Retrieved 16 November 2022. No man living has done so much for his brethren in Palestine as Sir Moses Montefiore....
  4. ↑ Creation of Israel. "Israel and You" (C) 2013 All Rights Reserved. 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2022. The modern legal attempts to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people began in 1839 with a petition by Sir Moses Montefiore to the Khedive of Egypt, for a Jewish homeland in the region of Palestine.
  5. ↑ Levine, Menachem (8 November 2018). "Sir Moses Montefiore – A Brief History". Aish. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  6. ↑ Klein, Emma (1996). Lost Jews: The Struggle for Identity Today. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-333-61946-9.
  7. ↑  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Mocatta, Frederic David". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  8. ↑ "Jewish Will Extracts 18th – 19th Century: LEVY, AKA LAURENCE Selina Hannah, aka Simha aka Esther Ann". One stop gateway to Anglo Jewish Community records. Synagogue Scribes Jewish GenealogyPrivacy Policy. 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore. Chicago: Belford Clarke Co. 1890. p. 67. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  10. ↑ "LEVY AKA LAURENCE Selina Hannah aka Simha aka Esther Ann". Synagogue Scribes. Synagogue Scribes Jewish Genealogy. 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023. Usually residing at Bath Somerset but now Bury Court St. Mary Axe London...Following the death of her husband all of their children were baptised and none remained in the Jewish custom. She was baptised Suffolk 12 March 1835. Her son Joseph was baptised 17 November 1814 St. Mary Woolworth London. When Joseph married Penelope Jackson her grandmother Penelope Laurence Jackson specified in her will 1824..."It is my earnest wish that they may change their names to my family name of Laurence and may use their best endeavours to obtain that change by authority of parliament". Joseph agreed and changed his name by Deed Poll on 26 December 1826 – all his brothers adopted Laurence as their last name as did their mother. The Joseph Levy aka Laurence line links to Tim Laurence who married the Princess Royal in 1992. In her will provision was made by Selina for her son Alexander. He appears to have suffered from mental issues during his life and was cared for privately but later admitted to Camberwell Lunatic Asylum in 1856 and died in the institute in 1858.The family lines are well documented and include relatives who settled in Australia.Her husband Zaccaria is buried in the Novo Cemetery and a plot was reserved for his wife. However, she is buried as Mrs Selina Hannah Laurence in Stoke Newington Churchyard.
  11. ↑ Moshe Samet, "Moses Montefiore – Reality and Myth", Carmel, 1989, 20–22 (in Hebrew).
  12. ↑ Abigail Green, Moses Montefiore, 2010, 25.
  13. ↑ Green 2010, 26–27.
  14. 1 2 Samet 1989, 23.
  15. ↑ "Jews in English Freemasonry". Jewish Communities and Records. 20 April 2015.
  16. ↑ Samet 1989, 27.
  17. ↑ "Records of Sun Fire Office". National Archives. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  18. ↑ Goodman 1925, p. 214
  19. 1 2 Page, Judith W. (2004). Judith Montefiore's Private Journal (1827): Jerusalem and Jewish Memory. Imperfect Sympathies. pp. 105–132. doi:10.1057/9781403980472_5. ISBN 978-1-349-38811-0.
  20. 1 2 "The Montefiore Synagogue and Mausoleum at Ramsgate - Sir Moses Montefiore". montefioreendowment.org.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Bank of England apologises for role of former governors linked to slave trade". Fintech Futures. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  22. ↑ Christ's Hospital, The Observer 1 February 1836, p 3
  23. ↑ Barton, Henry D. (1840). Analytical Digest of Cases Published in the Law Journal, Volume 9, Part 2. E.B. Ince.
  24. ↑ "No. 19558". The London Gazette. 14 November 1837. p. 2922.
  25. ↑ "History Cooperative - A short history of nearly everything!". historycooperative.org. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  26. ↑ Sebag Montefiore, Simon (2016). The Romanovs. United Kingdom: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 373.
  27. ↑ "No. 20618". The London Gazette. 30 June 1846. p. 2391.
  28. ↑ Gustafson, Zadel Barnes. "Sir Moses Montefiore". London: Harper's Monthly Magazine, European Edition, June-November 1883. pp. 890–898.
  29. ↑ "The Mountain of Despair". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  30. ↑ "Jewish Communities in Jerusalem". Parallel Histories. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  31. ↑ "Colonel Charles Henry Churchill's letter to Sir Moses Montefiore, a first in supporting a Jewish state in Palestine". Jerusalem Post. 26 June 2018.
  32. ↑ Levine, Rabbi Menachem (8 November 2018). "Sir Moses Montefiore: A Brief History". Aish.com. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  33. ↑ Birnbaum, David (2012). Jews, Church & Civilization, Volume V: 1822 CE-1919 CE. New Paradigm Matrix. p. 31. ISBN 978-0984361915.
  34. ↑ Kessler, Daniel (2016). "The Jewish community in nineteenth century Palestine: evidence from the Montefiore censuses". Middle Eastern Studies. 52 (6): 996–1010. doi:10.1080/00263206.2016.1198323. S2CID 151473627.
  35. ↑ "No. 20439". The London Gazette. 4 February 1845. pp. 315–316.
  36. ↑ Green, Abigail (2010). Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero. Cambridge, MA. ISBN 9780674064195.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  37. ↑ Goodman 1925, p. 127
  38. ↑ "Montefiore". London Times. 5 September 1885. p. 9f. The Queen has granted to Mr. Joseph Sebag, nephew and residuary legatee of the late Sir Moses Montefiore, and his successor in the East Cliff estate, Ramsgate, her Royal licence to use the surname of Montefiore after his own paternal name, and to bear Sir M. Montefiore's arms.
  39. ↑ "Sebag Montefiore remarks". Archived from the original on 14 June 2017.
  40. ↑ "Montefiore". Jewish Encyclopedia.
  41. ↑ Goodman 1925, p. 211
  42. ↑ "King George VI Memorial Park". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  43. ↑ "The Home for Chronic Invalids". The New York Times. 27 October 1884. p. 5. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  44. ↑ Moscow, Henry (1990). The Street Book. Fordham University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780823212750.
  45. ↑ VICE News (4 April 2014). "Expelled From Every Other School: Last Chance High (Episode 1)". Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via YouTube.
  46. ↑ Rhonda Spivak (31 July 2008). "A synagogue lost then found" (PDF). UpFront. p. 32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012.
  47. ↑ "Montefiore Club". ManilaClub.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  48. ↑ "Non-Profit Nursing Home | Jewish Assisted Living | Montefiore". www.montefiorecare.org. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  49. ↑ "10 lirot banknote..."
  50. ↑ "Error-2010-f5". BankIsrael.gov.il. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  51. ↑ Erwin R. Steinberg. "James Joyce and the Critics Notwithstanding, Leopold Bloom Is Not Jewish". Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1981–1982), pp. 27–49 JSTOR 3831274
  52. 1 2 3 4 UCL Special Collections. "Montefiore Family Papers". UCL Archives Catalogue. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  53. ↑ "Montefiore Testimonials". UCL Library Services. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  54. ↑ Novak, William. The Big Book of Jewish Humor. Harper, 1981. p. 83.
  55. ↑ "Armorial families : a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour". archive.org. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

Bibliography

  • Goodman, Paul (1925). Moses Montefiore (PDF). The Jewish Publication Society of America.
  • Levine, Rabbi Menachem (2018). Sir Moses Montefiore: A Brief History. Aish.com.
  • Green, Abigail (2010). Moses Montefiore: Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press.
  • Jaffe, Eliezer David (1988). Yemin Moshe – The Story of a Jerusalem Neighborhood. New York: Praeger and Greenwood Press.
  • Kochan, Lionel. "The Life and Times of Sir Moses Montefiore". History Today (Jan. 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 1, pp. 46–52 online.
  • Samet, Moshe (1989). Moses Montefiore - Reality and Myth (in Hebrew). Carmel.
  • Wolf, Lucien (1885). Sir Moses Montefiore: a Centennial Biography. Harpers Brothers.
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