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 i i
 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 TO 
 
 THE JEWS, 
 
 IMPROVEMENT IN REFERENCE 
 TO THEIR 
 
 CHARITIES, EDUCATION, 
 
 GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 BY A JEW. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 [fACK PRINTED BY JOHN WERTHEIMER AND CO., 
 
 CIRCUS PLACK, FINSBURY CIRCUS 
 AND MAY BE HAD OP 
 
 G. GALABIN, 91, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. 
 
 * 
 114 1844 - 
 
 519
 
 SUGGESTIONS, 
 
 " As the twelve tribes had many interests in common, 
 and, in some respects, formed but one political body, the 
 magistrates of all the tribes met in general assemblies to 
 consult for the good of the nation." 
 
 John's History of the Hebrew Commonwealth. 
 
 WHOEVER regards the state of our community in this 
 country, must come to the conclusion, that we have 
 arrived at an important period, when we can no longer 
 defer the consideration of matters of vital interest, if 
 we would escape the well merited condemnation of the 
 world at large, or the just reproaches of conscience in 
 ourselves. We stand in a position where the past, the 
 present, and the probable future are alike presented 
 to our view; the first to instruct and warn us, 'and 
 the two latter to furnish us with every motive to 
 exertion which can be gathered from the impulses of 
 hope and fear, from a perception of our own best 
 interests and of those of our posterity. That the honour 
 and reputation of the Jewish body are and have been 
 at stake, must be granted by those who admit, as facts, 
 the circumstances to which it is the aim of this 
 Pamphlet to draw the public attention. The great 
 majority of our poor are uneducated in the holy tenets 
 of our creed in their duties as citizens in the proper 
 arts of life ; while poverty and distress abound in the 
 dwellings of vast numbers of our brethren, partially 
 mitigated, indeed, not permanently provided for, by 
 the many excellent and worthy charitable societies 
 which surround us. These are truths which painfully 
 arrest the attention of individuals ; and it becomes the 
 duty of the whole, to seek the means of meeting the 
 
 207142:1
 
 difficulties of the case. In the ensuing pages I venture 
 to suggest some propositions for the purpose. 
 
 In all well constituted societies, it has been found 
 necessary to have a head, from which all government, 
 laws and regulations, have emanated. These govern- 
 ments have been formed either of one person or more, 
 the object being, " a means to an end," or more fully 
 speaking, " the production of the greatest possible 
 amount of human happiness." This fact is so univer- 
 sally admitted, that associations for every object, 
 whether religious or political, scientific or trading, 
 have recourse to a governing body for carrying out 
 their particular views; and, perhaps, I am not far 
 wrong in stating, that the only exception in Great 
 Britain of an extensive religious community being 
 without a government is to be found amongst the 
 Jews, not because the exigency is less, but because, 
 from their first establishment in this kingdom, the 
 want was never so much felt as at the present moment ; 
 their position has now become matter of inquiry to 
 every enlightened mind, and many circumstances have 
 recently shewn the disadvantages which a want of 
 system has entailed upon those who profess the Jewish 
 religion in this country disadvantages which will be 
 particularised as we proceed. 
 
 In the peculiar position of the Jewish people, I can- 
 not find a term by which to distinguish them, and 
 must therefore apologise for adopting those terms 
 which are already in use. They are called a nation ; 
 and I avail myself of the word : but in what consists 
 their nationality? They are termed a body: in what 
 do they assimilate? They are designated the British 
 Jews : how are they identified with the title ? The 
 phrase, " Members of a certain Synagogue," conveys
 
 to the mind the only idea to which we can find any 
 corresponding reality ; for, in truth, beyond what it 
 implies, the Jews are not united for any definite design 
 or purpose ; and while it would have been reasonable 
 to expect, a priori, that the votaries of a faith set 
 apart from all others, should have had some common 
 bond of union in their affairs, we are startled by the 
 consideration that there exist at this moment in Lon- 
 don alone, a number of distinct Jewish Congregations, 
 independent of each other, with separate wants and 
 interests, having nothing in common but their reli- 
 gion : and all the great and noble advantages to be 
 obtained by numbers, having a unity of purpose, are 
 either unrecognised, or merged and lost in that sepa- 
 ration of interests which makes the respective pecuniary 
 benefit of each Congregation the greatest, if not the 
 only object of its existence. 
 
 The provincial Congregations ar^ precisely in the 
 same injurious position, and sensibly feel the want of a 
 defined and constituted authority to decide upon many 
 differences that arise to interfere for the extinction 
 of animosities (trifling in themselves, but made gigantic 
 by continued contest) easy to be reconciled by a power 
 to which all would feel compelled to bow yet as preg- 
 nant with important consequences, if unchecked, as 
 those causes which led for a period to the downfall of 
 monarchy in these realms. The evil appears, so far 
 as regards the Metropolitan Congregations, to have 
 originated at, and been continued from, the period of 
 the second settlement of the Israelites in this country. 
 To the rapid increase of numbers and wealth, during 
 the absence of one efficient regulating power, we can 
 trace the successive formation of so many distinct 
 communities. 
 
 To those elements which ought to have contributed
 
 to our strength, we thus owe our weakness, and that 
 disorganisation and separation of interests which 
 characterises the various proceedings of our body, 
 in the formation of the necessary places of worship, 
 and in other affairs. Had our ancestors provided a 
 government at the outset, or placed us under the 
 control of an adequate authority, no material dis- 
 agreements would have taken place. But the narrow 
 policy which led to the formation of parties, compelled 
 them to take what might have been wisely and 
 nobly given, created feelings of aversion where the 
 affection of parent and offspring ought to have existed. 
 The wealth of the newer branches generated, on their 
 part, a feeling of pride equally to be deplored ; and in 
 losing sight of the necessity for general co-operation, 
 and for one common fund, every kindly feeling gave 
 way to mutual jealousy. The example once set, was 
 soon followed, and continues to be so on every oppor- 
 tunity: we blindly press onward in the same irra- 
 tional course, without staying to consider that we 
 impoverish the source, by continually increasing the 
 number of the streams. 
 
 The same spirit of division (it cannot be called 
 independence) enters into the details of all the affairs 
 of the Israelites in their respective undertakings: it 
 marks their general social position, and leads to a 
 universal separation of interests. Every charity is 
 encountered by another for similar purposes, in the 
 east or west, as the case may be, to be supported by 
 private exertion, and by opposing parties. One coun- 
 teracts the other ; both contend with all the force and 
 feelings of competitors for public favour. The strength 
 which would be tenfold if united, is wasted in petty 
 rivalries, and in endeavours after show, instead of 
 being employed in seeking the advantage of the
 
 objects to be benefited. Yet views of charity and 
 religion, which the Jews entertain in common, and 
 the sympathy that unites them, as it does individuals 
 of every class possessing a similarity of belief or 
 feeling, render it desirable to resort to a plan of 
 centralisation and union, by which not alone the whole- 
 some regulation of charitable institutions would be effected, 
 but the 'education of the poor, and the intellectual ad- 
 vancement of the entire community, would be accom- 
 plished. 
 
 The anxiety of the poor Jews for instruction, of 
 the trading classes for moral improvement, of the 
 wealthy for a removal of civil disabilities, of the 
 religious for some alteration in the mode of worship, 
 in short, of every portion and member of the Jewish 
 community, for an amendment of its social position, 
 is so evident, that the following suggestions are put 
 forth in the hope and belief that they contain the 
 elements of a plan, which, if boldly and fully carried 
 out, will tend to elevate the Jews from their present 
 degraded and certainly unmerited position ; and while 
 it would improve them, it would enable the Christian 
 world to do that justice to their talents and probity, 
 for which at present, in an ignorance of their true 
 characteristics, little credit is given to them; not 
 because Englishmen are now indisposed to act fairly 
 or kindly to their countrymen of a different religion, 
 or from their indifference to the wants of our co- 
 religionists, but because (in the fear of thrusting 
 themselves before the public, where insult and con- 
 tumely have too frequently awaited them) the Jews 
 have not collectively manifested any desire for intel- 
 lectual culture, nor attempted to disabuse the minds
 
 of their neighbours from the prejudices of what, as 
 towards the Jews, may be termed an illiberal and bigoted 
 education. As, however, it forms no part of my plan 
 to recapitulate the oppression of the one party, or the 
 quiet suffering of the other, nor to analyse the causes, 
 but to take the Jews as I find them, I will leave to 
 others the task of commenting upon the past, nor will 
 I, by any invidious remarks, prove that they have 
 always been an ill-used body; yet I cannot refrain 
 from stating, that in no similar number of men in 
 Great Britain, labouring under the same social and 
 political disadvantages with themselves (unprovided 
 for by the government, uninstructed, and with very 
 few attempts made, until recently, by their brethren, to 
 instruct them), will be found more humanity, kind- 
 ness, honesty, and a disinclination to heinous crimes, 
 than in the body hitherto scornfully designated Jews. 
 Attempts at extensive improvements are always 
 termed visionary; and every effort towards advance- 
 ment has been always met by the clamours of the 
 ignorant and the interested. The general spread of 
 knowledge has had to contend with the opposition of 
 party and personal feelings; but these have never 
 been enabled to stem the onward progress of en- 
 lightenment with any strength: I would, therefore, 
 entreat those who with myself are seeking to carry 
 out this scheme, and to arrive at a better state of 
 things, to persevere, nothing daunted at the first 
 repulse, but to continue their course, rising superior 
 to the paltry prejudices that may and will assail them, 
 until they have succeeded in procuring for their 
 brethren, a name and a station worthy of them in the 
 ranks of society 
 
 " For freedom's battle once begun, 
 Bequeath'd by suffering sire to son, 
 Though baffl'd oft, is ever won!"
 
 9 
 
 Let us not forget, therefore, that it is our duty to 
 enlist the earnest co-operation of every individual that 
 is to be benefited, and in that designation is comprised 
 every member of the community. As a crime com- 
 mitted by a Jew, an illegal act, even an examination 
 before a magistrate upon suspicion, is made a disgrace 
 to the race, and reflects discredit upon the whole, the 
 entire body the very religion suffers from it. Every 
 living Jew the very memory of the dead demands 
 justice; and as individuals have it in their power to 
 contribute to the general honour or disgrace, it is our 
 duty to implant the purpose that animates us in the 
 hearts and understandings of all our brethren. 
 
 In a subsequent part of this pamphlet will be found, 
 in brief detail, a plan, which the necessity of the case 
 itself seems to suggest as the best means for amelio- 
 rating the condition of the Jewish body; and I only 
 refer to it shortly here, in order to state succinctly 
 the objects to be attained, and previously to an at- 
 tempt, to show our brethren of all classes and of 
 every grade, how intimately the interest of each is 
 bound up with that of the whole. It is clearly ad- 
 mitted that the children of the poor are not sufficiently 
 educated, or sufficiently instructed in the means of 
 procuring their subsistence, an evil which not only 
 affects the present generation, but spreads its baneful 
 influence wide and deep into the future, and may 
 affect all the interests of our posterity. One great 
 portion of the plan, therefore, is to provide the means 
 of education, to be governed and guided according to 
 rules which experience and observation have proved 
 to be the best, as selected from various institutions 
 and from Schools of Industry in this country. Ano- 
 ther principal feature of it is, to enlarge and strengthen 
 the power of the numerous charitable societies in
 
 10 
 
 existence, by providing a building adapted to the whole, 
 and which, by creating a unity of purpose and ma- 
 nagement among the various administrations, will give 
 a much larger scope of action to the respective charities. 
 A third portion of the plan regards an adequate pro- 
 vision for an Anglo- Jewish press, which will be found 
 not only subsidiary to the objects already alluded to, 
 by publishing to our brethren every thing connected 
 with those objects, but will be seen to be in itself a 
 most powerful instrument for our mental advance- 
 ment ; and as it is requisite that such great and import- 
 ant ends as these should be guided and controlled 
 by one power, so that each portion of this plan should 
 lend to, and receive mutual assistance from, the others, 
 so that no differences of view should intercept or 
 mar the common benefit, it has been considered re- 
 quisite to provide for the constituting of a super- 
 vising committee or central council, who would have 
 the superintendence of all matters not ecclesiastical. 
 
 Let us contrast in our minds, for one moment, the 
 present state of things, with what an advantageous 
 position we should hold, as a community, if a plan 
 like the above were in full and fair operation. Let us 
 "look upon this picture, and on that;" and who is 
 there among us that will not say, in the communings 
 of his own soul, " This is a concern in which it behoves 
 me to exert every energy and power which the Divine 
 Author of our faith has bestowed upon me"? And 
 while all can bring their meed of power and energy 
 to the task, to each, according to his views, his feel- 
 ings, or his rank in life, some peculiar inducement 
 appears for taking part in so laudable an undertaking. 
 
 I would ask the religious man, be he Jew or not, Is 
 not a proper observance of religion to be expected 
 rather from the instructed than the debased mind?
 
 11 
 
 Putting aside every high command to assist the needy, 
 is it not a duty to improve the worldly welfare of your 
 fellow man, giving him, at the same time, means which 
 will develop his mental faculties, and induce him to 
 join you in prayer, and lead him to the better observ- 
 ance of all his religious duties? To you, then, wor- 
 shipper of the Supreme Being, I appeal to join in this 
 undertaking: your future hopes, as well as your 
 worldly welfare, are linked with the fate of the poor 
 and unenlightened Jews. Assist them instruct them 
 extend the provision for them in old age let not 
 the prejudices which spring from worldly differences, 
 or the rancour of sectarian feeling, blind you to the 
 great good you may achieve. Join early in the glorious 
 work come even singly to combat with darkness and 
 disgrace. Every man may be the vanquisher of one illi- 
 terate spirit, and bear him from ignorance and evil to 
 knowledge and the brightness of everlasting good. It 
 is your duty especially, preachers of the word of truth, 
 to disseminate these principles from your high places ; 
 for by opening the minds of the ignorant you teach 
 them to laugh to scorn the sophisms of conversion- 
 ists, and enable them to judge better of their religion 
 and THEMSELVES. Unite yourselves then, ye pastors ; 
 cry aloud, " There is a feeling of hope stirring 
 among the JCAVS they seek for instruction, let us 
 help them ! " Address your exertions to inform those 
 who know less than yourselves and you will have the 
 inestimable satisfaction of perceiving that the precepts 
 of morality and virtue will make their way with re- 
 doubled force to the hearts and understandings of 
 your hearers ; that you will be enabled to impart to 
 all, whatever religion affords of hope and consolation 
 and gladness ; cheering the afflicted in the hour of his 
 adversity proving to the doubting spirit that " truth
 
 12 
 
 and good are one," and, in the exercise of your sacred 
 functions on unclouded minds, 
 
 " Allure to brighter worlds and lead the way." 
 
 In the prosecution of this scheme many advantages 
 are offered, which to the trader and mere man of the 
 world are of considerable importance, by bringing all 
 our charities to a focus. Setting aside the great saving 
 that could and would be effected in the management by 
 united efforts, a much larger sum might be given to 
 the legitimate object of each charity, and a systematic 
 and efficient check upon each person receiving relief 
 could be accomplished. 
 
 The vast sums annually given to established charities 
 and benevolent institutions, form but a small item in 
 the sum total of expenditure for charity. Tradesmen, 
 and indeed individuals of every class, are in the habit 
 of making continual donations to persons unknown, 
 and frequently unworthy. To those, then, whom 
 these considerations principally affect, I would say, 
 Put all your charities under a salutary control, and, 
 under a united management, sink for once the mere 
 desire to be chairman, committee-men, and managers. 
 Act with others, and not as if you only were patrons 
 and founders of the institutions you wish to see 
 flourish. Unite for the purpose of doing good, not 
 for granting patronage. Assist in educating the poor 
 and needy, whether orphans or otherwise, and in after- 
 wards placing them as apprentices. As the honesty 
 of their character, and the diligence with which they 
 exercise their calling become developed and known, 
 so will your reputation as honourable tradesmen in- 
 crease. As they will have received the advantage of an 
 education, in which religion and morality will have 
 been combined with whatever is necessary for their
 
 13 
 
 support through life, no imputation of chicanery no 
 supposition of dishonesty will attach itself to them, 
 and your word will be taken. When their religious 
 observances are known, they will be appreciated ; and 
 your pledge of honour as a Jew will be guarantee for 
 the quality of your commodity. Thus everything is 
 to be gained, and the accomplishment is within your 
 own power. Will you quietly sit by and hear vitupe- 
 ration heaped upon your creed and upon yourselves, 
 without being roused to the slightest effort? I will 
 readily admit that it is only the prejudices of the 
 ignorant and vulgar which draw the .distinction be- 
 tween yourself and the Christian : enlighten him there- 
 fore where requisite; associate as much as possible 
 with him; let your press address him; prove by your 
 acts, your words and dealings, the falseness of his 
 assertions against you, and his sneer loses all its sting 
 from its inapplicability. Let the phrase, " He is a Jew 
 in his dealings" be an honourable testimonial, equally as 
 desirable to you as that " He acts like a Christian" 
 is to our fellow- citizens of the faith alluded to : and 
 let those who think that the only worth of the Jewish 
 religion is to be measured by the purchase-money 
 offered for apostasy from it, find that the price they 
 pay is only a bribe for seeming assent from the outcasts 
 of society, and that the very worst and lowest Jew is 
 sufficiently informed to know that he will not be 
 raised by becoming a bad Christian, or an infidel. It 
 is equally clear that a bad Jew will never make a 
 good Christian : and I am not quite sure if we ought 
 not to be thankful for the removal of such an excres- 
 cence from our body. 
 
 In turning to those who are sometimes termed our 
 aristocracy, that is to say the wealthy portion of the
 
 14 
 
 Jewish community, I would ask, Are you contented 
 that the stigma which unjustly presses on the Jewish 
 name should longer continue? I am free to admit 
 that the Christians rather than the Jews require to be 
 enlightened upon this point ; but have you attempted 
 this? What has been done by you for the elevation of 
 your brethren? But let all that is practicable in this 
 respect be attained, and yon will ascend with them; 
 as the majority become refined in their manners, ta- 
 lented in their professions, known in their dealings, 
 so will you, always the most conspicuous, be exalted 
 with them. Honour will emanate from the people 
 and be reflected upon the leaders. Every onward 
 movement of the middle and lower orders must press 
 you, the more advanced, into higher eminence: and 
 it is therefore necessary on your parts to procure for 
 the body of which you are a portion, the means of 
 making its members of every class useful and excel- 
 lent citizens. While the poor are left to obloquy 
 no matter who the rich may be all will be desig- 
 nated by one common term of reproach. 
 
 While the great mass of the population is progres- 
 sing in intellectual power, the Jews cannot stand still 
 and be at the same time respected. The aristocratic 
 class of the Jews is formed of men of wealth of 
 wealth honourably acquired, and thus open to every 
 man: but unless the strictest regard be had to the 
 education of our co-religionists, we shall have that 
 class, noted only for its money and its ignorance, 
 shamed into an unenviable notoriety by an indifference 
 to the wants of the majority, and dragged downwards 
 with them into one general obscurity. As wealth is 
 within the attainment of poorer orders, the requisite 
 education should be at once provided for them the 
 characters of all formed upon honest principles the
 
 15 
 
 minds of all cultivated and embued with useful know- 
 ledge and the manners, so far as is practicable, 
 trained with a view to what is decorous and proper 
 in social life. Punish by your frowns, by public 
 scorn and private avoidance, the wretch who would 
 cast dishonour on you by the dishonesty of his deal- 
 ings. The poorest youth of character may justly 
 aspire in this country to the honours of every station, 
 and he will be the more honoured and sought as his 
 fair fame expands itself an example to his fellows 
 an ornament to his friends an honour to his country. 
 One false step in early life (which, had he possessed 
 that education we contend for, might have been 
 avoided), and he not only closes the portals of dis- 
 tinction on himself not to be reopened by golden 
 keys but he becomes a source of injury to all his race. 
 I should but imperfectly fulfil my task, if I omitted 
 to address the fairer portion of our community for 
 their aid in this noble undertaking. To those who 
 know the deep extent of their influence, although 
 exerted within the limited sphere of the hallowed 
 precincts of home, I need not say one word in vindi- 
 cation of an appeal to them: and who among us, 
 either as husband, son, or brother, does not possess a 
 knowledge of this influence? Glorious hereditary 
 traits distinguish, in the eyes of every Israelite, the 
 daughters of his race. The pr.ro affection that charac- 
 terises them inspires all their actions, and repays 
 him, in the hours spent in the bosom of his family, 
 for the toils, the trials, and the hardships of the 
 world. From an influence so founded, what may 
 not be expected from her who is entrusted with 
 the formation of the mind at that period when it is 
 susceptible of every impression for good or ill : nearly 
 everything we possess of the better and purer feelings
 
 16 
 
 of our nature, we can trace to the hours of childhood, 
 when all is subjected to the maternal sway. 
 
 Even the tales with which she lulls to sleep may 
 lead to pursuits of honour ; for as we find a prejudice 
 firmly imprinted on the memory from nursery stories, 
 so may nobler views of men and actions be lessons 
 from the cradle never to be eradicated, but strength- 
 ened by subsequent tuition. 
 
 In after-age, woman controls and influences the 
 stronger passions of our nature: and no shape, no 
 circumstance of life can occur, but where, directly or 
 indirectly, the relation in which she stands to us 
 affects every occurrence, and retards or gives an 
 impulse to the current of our lives ; and as surely as 
 her support is sought for by her offspring, and her 
 affection relied upon by her husband, so is she capable 
 of achieving all that is desirable in her family. 
 Looking then to each family among us for some sup- 
 port for this undertaking, we may hope to have done 
 something towards its fulfilment, when the mothers 
 and daughters of Israel shall become acquainted and 
 penetrated with its aim and tendency. They can im- 
 prove the condition of their race to their under- 
 standings no suggestion is necessary as to what course 
 to pursue to their hearts no stimulus required as 
 an inducement to assist in a course which concerns 
 the intellectual advancement and the happiness of 
 their people. "Where ends like these are to be gained, 
 they will be the first to perceive how much of what is 
 purely domestic, and within their own immediate 
 sphere, may derive advantage from their participation 
 and advocacy. 
 
 The humbler portion of my brethren, in whose 
 direct and more especial interest a part of this under- 
 taking has been contemplated, will, it is to be hoped
 
 17 
 
 and expected, give it that assistance which the case 
 demands from them. Their welfare is the great object 
 sought; and I implore them, for whom so much is 
 desired, not to meet with coldness these efforts on 
 their behalf I implore them to be advised, taught, 
 guided and improved by those who only seek their 
 own advantage in common with that of the poor 
 themselves. 
 
 To smooth the rugged path of their toils to elevate 
 them above the occasional frowns and ill-temper of 
 those whom fortune has more highly favoured to 
 alleviate their misery to provide for their wants 
 to recognise their claims to prove that they are the 
 objects of solicitude to their true friends among the 
 richer Jews will be the great result, as it is the 
 great purpose, of this plan : but how can their condi- 
 tion be improved, unless with an earnest disposition 
 on their own part towards it ? Is obtaining occasional 
 charity, that relieves them only for a short period, 
 the sole aim of their lives? Is not the welfare of 
 their children an all-powerful feeling with them? 
 Does the destitution of old age never occur to their 
 thoughts, until the moment that it commences, when 
 helpless infirmity assails them? Is not the thought 
 of an hereafter sometimes present to their minds ? If 
 their answers, their opinions upon these subjects, are 
 what they should be, and what must naturally be 
 expected, I am sure they will add, that they are 
 prepared to go with me in the scheme for their im- 
 provement and welfare ; they will remove their children 
 from the contamination of vice allow them to be 
 taught honest trades as they grow up let them 
 become men of use to the community, their cheerers 
 and supporters in- affliction and age; and when not 
 blessed with offspring, there will still be a reward for 
 the uprightness and integrity of their conduct in that
 
 18 
 
 Asylum, which I hope we shall soon see erected for 
 their reception, when their strength and powers of 
 exertion shall be exhausted, where their labours shall 
 cease, and where the doors shall be opened for their 
 future ease, without the interference of private friends 
 or their personal solicitations to a patron. 
 
 Having somewhat concisely shewn the advantages 
 to be gained by adopting a scheme to be founded on 
 the foregoing hints, I would solicit the co-operation 
 of all friends to my views, to commence forthwith the 
 formation of a General Committee or Council, con- 
 sisting, in the first instance, of those who are disposed 
 to give their personal or pecuniary assistance; and 
 afterwards, during the operation of the project, also 
 of members selected by the public and popular election 
 of the Jews in all parts of Great Britain. The ulti- 
 mate aim of this Committee or Council should be to 
 become (as they would, by their superior knowledge 
 and management) the governing body of the Jews in 
 this country in all secular matters. They should pos- 
 sess the confidence of the community from their num- 
 bers, education, wealth, and footing in society. From 
 their public elections from their ready compliance 
 to entertain and adjudicate upon all matters coming 
 before them from their public deliberations and well- 
 weighed judgments in general assembly from all parts, 
 at stated periods, their position would be independent, 
 yet subject to the wholesome control of the press and 
 the opinions of their constituents. 
 
 The necessity for such a governing body becomes 
 daily more apparent ; and the advantages that would 
 arise from it are incalculable. Without giving any 
 opinion on the merits of the question in the recent 
 dispute at Liverpool, if a government had been in ex-
 
 19 
 
 istence, would the unpleasant result of the establish- 
 ment cf a fresh congregation, another independent 
 and irresponsible party, have arisen, with all its ex- 
 pensive appurtenances and its future jealousies, to say 
 nothing of the fact of another disagreement among 
 the Jews, being trumpeted forth by those who watch 
 for opportunities to defame us. 
 
 The truth is so apparent, that we think it requires 
 little argument to prove to the minds of those who 
 will give the subject some consideration, the propriety 
 of immediately forming a Council, vested with powers 
 alike for the control and supervision of old congrega- 
 tions, as for the supporting of new ones for pro- 
 posing and carrying out laws and regulations in fur- 
 therance of the philanthropic and educational portions 
 of this scheme, and for assimilating all Jewish arrange- 
 ments, either provincial or metropolitan. 
 
 The Society of Friends (whose social constitutions 
 and government must be the theme of praise even to 
 the most casual observer) I would in this as in many 
 other details take as my model; for they are spread 
 over as large a surface as the Jews consist, like them, 
 of merchants and traders similar in numbers su- 
 perior in education, (although not in mental capacity) 
 with a well-ordered and responsible government 
 and we consequently hear of no distress or disorganiza- 
 tion among them ; yet it is not to be doubted that as 
 many causes for interference occur in that body as in 
 our own, but education, discipline, and a well-regulated 
 system for their poor enable them to grapple with 
 every question of good or evil, whether of retrogression 
 or advancement as it arises. 
 
 The same advantages would so soon shew them- 
 selves in our own case, that all the Jews would gladly 
 accord with the arrangement, and as the Council
 
 20 
 
 would have an ultimate influence on the management 
 of the funds, and have an opportunity of investigating 
 into and advising upon their distribution, an efficient 
 system of relief would be formed the aged would be 
 provided for the ignorant instructed and, as a 
 general consequence, the character of the Jew re- 
 garded with the homage that every man pays to ex- 
 cellence under every denomination. 
 
 Not to enter fully into further particulars upon the 
 various subjects within the immediate province of the 
 Council, there is yet one of great importance, hitherto 
 wholly disregarded, but intimately connected with any 
 extended plan of education and philanthropy, which 
 might be well submitted to their supervision. By a 
 registration of the names of every man, woman, 
 and child of the Jewish persuasion, a large amount 
 of statistical information would be obtained, and 
 the concentration of the community facilitated no 
 claimant for any purpose of education or charity, 
 could or would be recognised, unless upon the register 
 thus offering an inducement for every member of the 
 Jewish body to enter his or her name upon it; for 
 this registration a small charge, say one shilling, should 
 be made, which would produce an annual amount of 
 about 1500 to be added to the general funds, for the 
 benefit of all; affording material assistance to the 
 objects now contemplated ; and, while giving an interest 
 to each person in the public concerns, the required 
 sum would be very trifling to the poorest, when con- 
 sidered as giving them defined claims as recognised 
 members of a community. 
 
 That the various Synagogues have the means of 
 largely assisting a liberal and progressive policy, not 
 the most prejudiced upholder of the present state 
 will deny nor will it be urged that they have con-
 
 21 
 
 tributed to their fullest extent towards the education 
 and enlightenment of the rising generation. In a 
 pecuniary point of view, they could and would gain 
 largely by adopting fully the views now advocated; 
 for they would transfer from their funds to those 
 of the Jewish public, all their pensioners : but they 
 ought to be the leaders in encouraging the objects, 
 from a desire of improvement, instead of mere pecu- 
 niary gain. In proposing the instruction of all the 
 Jewish children, therefore, and in taking charge of all 
 the offspring of the poor, I take from them all the 
 claim generally resorted to for the charitable inter- 
 ference of the Synagogues ; as the poor will have very 
 little difficulty in maintaining themselves, if we 
 maintain all their children, to do which, it would be 
 necessary to remove them to a suitable establishment, 
 properly provided and superintended, in connection 
 with a school of industry, in which all the trades and 
 useful arts of life should be inculcated. The school 
 (Aubin's) at Norwood gives the system as far as it 
 can be properly acted upon; or a new system, if 
 necessary, could be arranged, having for its object the 
 instruction of the younger children, and the making 
 artizans of the more advanced in age. The expences 
 of this arrangement would be much less than generally 
 imagined, and a considerable part of them could be 
 defrayed by the industry of the pupils ; and the schools 
 of the Society of Friends at Ackworth, Sidcoat, &c. 
 should likewise be our examples, but accommodated 
 to the necessary differences of the case. 
 
 In conjunction with this establishment, I would 
 recommend the formation of a superior school for a 
 limited number of boys in the neighbourhood of the 
 London University, where the most talented of the 
 scholars from the former school should be placed, at
 
 the public charge, under the tuition of Hebrew, French, 
 and German classical teachers. The expenditure for 
 board and lodgmg, and for attending the classes during 
 the term at the University school, and at the Univer- 
 sity, should be defrayed out of the general fund ; and 
 some of these youths might and should be trained to 
 all the offices and duties of our clergy, others to the 
 professions of law and medicine, and all other superior 
 attainments of education. Accommodation should be 
 afforded at this place for a number of private or 
 paying pupils, to have the advantages of all the means 
 of instruction provided, and of the general manage- 
 ment of the house, with the privilege of attending the 
 University, and of having their studies likewise super- 
 intended at the house by the professors engaged. The 
 fees for their admission and support would consider- 
 ably lessen the expences of the whole establishment, 
 and enable the younger branches of the Jews to 
 receive a sound, religious, and classical education. 
 This would give an opportunity for the development 
 of all the higher attributes of the mind ; and as the 
 youth assembled there would be all of the best in- 
 structed of the rising and future generations, every 
 province in England and the Colonies would naturally 
 come there for its tutors and clergy. Inducements thus 
 held out for the cultivation of talent in all classes, 
 would be gradually to render the whole body of the 
 Jews well informed. 
 
 It is unnecessary to say more here upon this sub- 
 ject. The minor points, being for the consideration 
 of the Council, shall be forthcoming at the proper 
 time : but I believe the removal of the young from 
 the old, at an early age, very desirable ; for, the con- 
 tamination of evil example, of vicious and dishonour- 
 able pursuits, tends to undo the instruction they re-
 
 23 
 
 ceive at present, and is the cause of so small a number 
 attending the places already provided for their instruc- 
 tion. The object must be, therefore, to make the 
 school attractive to the children, and an advantage to 
 the parents. 
 
 By the amalgamation of the Jewish charities is not 
 to be understood the depriving of any of the present in- 
 stitutions of their funds, or of their control over them, 
 nor do I wish to divert legacies or the accumulations 
 of years from their legitimate channels, but to secure 
 an efficient centralisation, with wholesome and neces- 
 sary control ; for it must be admitted that, independent 
 of the money so liberally bestowed by the wealthy 
 portion of the Jews, the humblest as well as the most 
 distinguished give continually large sums in propor- 
 tion to their incomes. 
 
 Not a Sunday, and scarcely a day, passes, but con- 
 tributions are solicited from the poorer traders of the 
 Jews, to which the most indigent add their pence, 
 with the true feelings of Jewish benevolence, in the 
 hope of mitigating the poignant sufferings of the ap- 
 plicants. " The charity which plenty gives to 
 poverty is human and earthly, but it becomes divine 
 and heavenly when poverty gives to want." 
 
 The great sums distributed in known or public 
 charities are more than doubled by the continual call 
 upon the purses of the donors; and being so well 
 answered, it is impossible to calculate the amount. 
 
 The wealthy are daily subjected to these visitations, 
 and in few instances is the immediate pecuniary relief 
 refused. It is scarcely necessary to point out the ex- 
 pensiveness of this mode of relief, it being self-evident ;
 
 24 
 
 but that is a very small portion of the evil it entails. 
 If it ended here, I would say, Send not a mendicant, no 
 matter what his creed or country, from you unre- 
 lieved ; as the very necessity that induces the applica- 
 tion is sufficient reason for relief, should even the 
 applicant be thought unworthy: but the mischief 
 STOPS not here; it is only the commencement it en- 
 courages, instead of checking, mendicity it produces 
 beggars where it should make artizans it encourages 
 consumers instead of helping producers it assists 
 idlers when its object is and should be to support the 
 industrious.* 
 
 All indiscriminate charity must therefore be an evil 
 to the body, an injury to the community : it begets a 
 class of persons that spend the easily obtained funds 
 as improperly as they were procured it degrades the 
 minds of the recipients, while the wealthy donors look 
 more frequently with disgust than compassion on the 
 receiver; in short, no persons can become more de- 
 based in mind and body than habitual beggars, of 
 which a very large number exists among the Jews 
 uncontrolled, unchecked, and unprovided for in 
 spite of all the efforts of the " charities" and Syna- 
 gogue funds, nearly all of which are casual. The sums 
 thus distributed should, and would, suffice to main- 
 tain all the paupers of the Jews ; but the inefficiency 
 of the administration permits them to devote their 
 entire time in successfully preventing one charitable 
 institution from arriving at the knowledge of what 
 they receive from another, and to extort from private 
 sources as much as possible. 
 
 " By false compassion we injure the community: industry will go 
 to ruin ; sloth will predominate; men will no longer depend on them- 
 selves, but, having from their own conduct nothing to hope or fear, 
 they will look to their neighbours for support ; they will first abandon 
 their duty, and then be a burden on the public." Tacitus.
 
 25 
 
 These are facts known to us all : but, in the chari- 
 tableness of our hearts, we fear to come boldly forward 
 and provide at once entirely for all these mendicants, 
 who should be properly taken care of, clothed, fed, 
 and housed; and the expenditures of the present day 
 would be sufficient, if carefully arranged. 
 
 By the withdrawal from the public eye of all these 
 unfortunate beings, a great improvement would appear, 
 and certainly be very soon effected. The pernicious 
 example would be unknown to the young ; and the idly 
 disposed would find the fee simple of their present 
 estates devoted to the purchase of useful, industrious, 
 and honest means of procuring them their sub- 
 sistence. 
 
 Through the want of a well-regulated system of 
 relief, under check and control, every beggar is an 
 independent member of the Jewish commonwealth, 
 employed in seeking, the entire day, whom to devour, 
 considering himself entirely at liberty, morally and 
 physically, to devote his entire time to the readiest 
 way of getting money honestly if he can, that is, by 
 persevering importunity, but frequently by false repre- 
 sentations, and other more disreputable means, of 
 which the law takes no immediate cognizance. 
 
 We continually see the state to which this reduces 
 him, but HE feels not the degradation to which he has 
 become familiar, habit reconciling and making attrac- 
 tive his course of life, whatever may have been his 
 feelings at the commencement of it. The persons 
 who condemn are those who have driven him to this 
 base means of existence; the facility with which 
 money is obtained from those who give (through the 
 habit of doing so from having seen their parents do 
 it, or because they believe the distressed is a poor Jew 
 and has no recognised refuge), induces an opinion that.
 
 26 
 
 this is the proper and legitimate mode of Jewish cha- 
 rity : but no really laudable feeling enters the mind of 
 either; nor does the giver always think he is con- 
 ferring a benefit: he treats the applicant for relief 
 generally as " a fugitive and vagabond on the earth," 
 forgetting entirely that the debasement of this mind, 
 the ignorance of this man, the slur that is cast upon 
 the Jews by this individual, is entirely their own act. 
 They, the wealthy, the honored, the enlightened, the 
 pride of the people, are the culprits not the poor, 
 the ignorant, the destitute. Cheerfully might these be 
 induced to regard the means of supporting themselves 
 by their own industry. How gladly would they avail 
 themselves of a reputable institution to receive them, 
 a house to shelter them a supervision to protect, 
 an asylum to support them! But have the leaders 
 attended to this? 
 
 It is true, and honourable, and worthy of the 
 highest praise, that many sources of relief exist, 
 founded by the thoughtful, supported by the cha- 
 ritable, governed by the indefatigable; but many of 
 these even, it is reported, have been commenced by 
 those who are but little elevated above poverty in the 
 neighbourhood where the distress has been most evi- 
 dent, and maintained subsequently by the personal 
 interference of individuals, and the stringent appeals 
 of private friends, which could not have been refused 
 if wished, which dared not be neglected. An excep- 
 tion, the Jews' Hospital, was the emanation of a 
 noble mind, and, backed by disinterested perseverance, 
 induced all to contribute to so bold an under- 
 taking, commencing from the highest: its sphere of 
 benefit is, however, very limited. Unfortunately, few 
 among us investigate whether any good, or what, is 
 achieved by other societies to which all are ready and
 
 27 
 
 willing contributors. But the time has come, hastened 
 by the Anglo-Jewish press, when we all see the 
 necessity for action to the purpose, and immediate. 
 We can do it well, at less expense ; with less trouble, 
 with more dignity to ourselves, and with more honour 
 to our successors, than any class of conversionists can 
 do it for us; and certainly much more effectually 
 when we commence, as years of ineffectual effort on 
 their part have proved. 
 
 Our motives cannot be impugned ; the object being 
 the purest and holiest command " to honour and suc- 
 cour the aged ;" persons unknown to us, unconnected 
 in every way with us except by their adoration and 
 worship of the Creator by the same means, forms, 
 and language. 
 
 I would suggest to all the charities as at present 
 constituted, while their usefulness must be admitted, 
 that their government, although it is to a limited 
 extent good, does not answer many of the purposes 
 that are desirable ; nor does it prevent an individual 
 obtaining from all sources the donations they distri- 
 bute ; nor do the present methods provide entirely for 
 the object to be benefited. 
 
 Let, then, the present funds of all the charities be 
 united, with grants from the congregations, and gifts 
 or loans from private individuals. These will amount, 
 in a very short time, to a sum sufficiently large to 
 build one house for the reception of the aged decayed, 
 the blind, the deaf and dumb, the idiotic, the helpless, 
 and the temporarily destitute: the really destitute 
 only to be admissible. Relief from all other quarters 
 should be withheld, or a proper officer for the distri- 
 bution of charity appointed ; but if the friends of any 
 of the inmates can contribute to their maintenance, 
 they should do so to the general fund. This building
 
 [ 28] 
 
 should be divided into wards, each separate ward to 
 be under the control, and supplied by the funds of 
 the charity to which it at present approximates 
 nearest : the objects of their solicitude would thus be 
 under their immediate observation, and deriving much 
 greater advantages than it is possible now to give. 
 The existing committees would receive the voluntary 
 subscriptions as at present, and devote them to the 
 same purposes; but the infirm and poor would be 
 entirely provided with every necessary, and a home. 
 The details, however, must be left until the rules for 
 general management are arranged : but it should be a 
 fundamental principle, that every member of each 
 committee should be a member of the general board ; 
 and a part of the details, that the beds in wards 
 for the aged should be fitted as those at Greenwich 
 Hospital ; and that every committee man should have 
 the power to inspect every ward. For the purpose of 
 .example, let us supppose the ward for the aged desti- 
 tute established; the society whose object approaches 
 nearest should take the management, and subscribe 
 towards the general fund according to its means, say 
 1000. 
 
 Their subsequent annual contribution must be 
 arranged in proportion to its revenue: for if their 
 present income is 150 per annum, they can now 
 only disburse 100, the remainder being swallowed 
 up for various expenses. It would be desirable and 
 easy for them to devote the larger sum, or nearly 
 their entire means, to the purposes of the ward. 
 
 The same system adopted throughout the house 
 would be ample for its support; and each charity 
 would be carrying out to its greatest extent the object 
 of its formation. In every ward there should be a tablet 
 with the names of the Founders, Committee, and
 
 29 
 
 Subscribers above a certain sum. A portion of the 
 expences of the establishment would be yielded by 
 itself; the money now expended in managements 
 would be produced by the registration ; and any other 
 deficiency, by the general fund. 
 
 The Society of Friends have a general register ; and 
 every member contributes to the local funds, these 
 again to the general : thus sufficient sums are obtained 
 for all proper and legitimate purposes. A somewhat 
 similar modus operandi I would advocate for our 
 adoption: the country congregations, being relieved 
 from all expences except those of a religious or con- 
 gregational character, would be enabled to support 
 with more honour and better remuneration the clergy 
 who, feeling themselves (as their education should 
 command) independent of obligation to their audi- 
 tory, would preach the noblest and highest precepts 
 of their creed, and urge a better worldly bearing. 
 
 To this advantage, which would be an indirect 
 although certain result of a proper administration of 
 the funds, would be added a beneficial influence on 
 the head of the clergy who, being the leader of 
 highly educated gentlemen, would find it impossible 
 to govern, unless possessing the same learning and 
 acquirements ; and thus we should ensure an elevated 
 clergy, to which the most wealthy might with honour 
 aspire. 
 
 In the execution of a scheme which depends greatly 
 upon the majority of the community, for whom it is 
 intended, taking not only a clear and comprehensive 
 view of their present position, but upon their becom- 
 ing deeply, and daily more deeply, interested in the 
 amelioration of that position which relies upon ex- 
 tending to all the feelings of a part, and will be suc- 
 cessful in the highest degree whenever anything like
 
 30 
 
 this unanimity of feeling prevails the power of a well- 
 directed press must be admitted not only to be great, 
 but the necessity of it in a measure to be indis- 
 pensable. What has been effected for mankind at 
 all periods, since it has become within possibility to 
 move the springs of feeling and of volition by this 
 more than electric force, after having illuminated the 
 mind by floods of light from the concentration of 
 opinions, the wisest and most just, is matter of no- 
 toriety to all: and it cannot be necessary, at this 
 time of day, to enumerate those great events, whose 
 earliest origin being traced to some important want 
 of the human race, or to some one of the great and 
 abiding principles of our nature, yet owe their con- 
 summation wholly to the facility by which mind 
 communicates with mind, enabling the truth of those 
 principles to be tested by the universality of their 
 reception, and by which the objections of prejudice 
 and ignorance being destroyed, truth and justice 
 themselves are at last brought into action 
 
 " Immutable, immaculate, immortal." 
 
 With an Anglo- Jewish press devoted to the propo- 
 sitions here advocated, and to the general cause of 
 Judaism prepared to vindicate the Jews at all times 
 from the aspersions of interested and prejudiced 
 writers, enabling all of us to understand the wants of 
 our community capable by the force of its reasoning 
 or the keenness of its satire, of improving the manners, 
 tastes, habits, and pursuits of all placing us before 
 the eyes of our Christian fellow-countrymen in our own 
 just characters, to correct the false impressions they 
 may have received with a power such as this press- 
 ing upon the general consideration, a large and liberal 
 scheme of charity and education, and enforcing the 
 wise decisions of our central Council with such a
 
 31 
 
 press might we not reasonably hope that a few short 
 years would behold 
 
 " The Jew an honored name !" 
 
 A journal to subserve such purposes ought necessarily 
 to be placed on an independent footing : and it would, 
 therefore, become the immediate duty of the Council, 
 on its formation, to look to its establishment or to its 
 support. It is admitted that a journal exists ; but the 
 apathy which meets the efforts of individuals among 
 the Jews to benefit their brethren, has extended itself 
 to this : but it still might be made available for all the 
 ends we seek, by means within the powers of the 
 Council, which would yet leave the press perfectly 
 unfettered. 
 
 It cannot come within the province of this pamphlet 
 to state at length what the contents of such a journal 
 ought to be; but, besides those general objects already 
 stated, it might be made the vehicle for affording a 
 large amount of statistical information on the numbers, 
 callings, and education of the Jews the incomes and 
 expenditures of charitable societies and Synagogues. 
 It should, by extracts from our authentic historians, 
 etc. make us better acquainted with the knowledge of 
 the past, and at all times, by researches into the con- 
 stitutional principles of this nation, and by asserting 
 the just right of human kind, convince Englishmen 
 that we are their COUNTRYMEN, and that, by birth, 
 we are as much entitled to the privileges of our country 
 as the proudest noble who traces his pedigree from 
 the Conquest. 
 
 I cannot conclude without imploring the Jews to 
 shake off that terrible apathy and coldness which have 
 from time immemorial grown upon them, which have
 
 32 
 
 hitherto depressed their energies, and left them the 
 sport and passive creatures of circumstance. If they 
 have sunk into a state of listlessness, in the first place, 
 from the oppression which their ancestors endured in 
 past times and if they have continued in that state, 
 from a variety of causes, some of which are faintly 
 shadowed forth in the preceding pages, I yet hope, 
 and most devoutly hope, that the hour and the day 
 are arrived for the first step towards regeneration to 
 be taken. The mists of prejudice, it is indeed evident, 
 are slowly giving way before the power of truth ; and 
 it remains for our own exertions, well directed, under 
 the blessing of the Deity, to enable us to stand forth 
 before the world at large, in the clear noon-day light, 
 in the possession of intelligence and virtue, and hon- 
 oured and respected accordingly; demonstrating that 
 in England, integrity, patriotism, and good conduct, 
 meet their reward, when known, under whatever creed 
 they present themselves. 
 
 * # * As the object of the writer of this pamphlet is to ensure 
 the co-operation of all those Members of the Jewish community 
 who agree with him in the desire of attaining the objects sug- 
 gested, he solicits their communications to be addressed F., at 
 at G. Galabin's, Printer, 91, Bartholomew Close. 
 
 London, 
 March, 29th, 1844. 
 
 3. Wertheimer & Co., Printers, Circus Place, Finsbury Circus.
 
 
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