Moses Montefiore’s One Hundredth Birthday

Photo Credit: Saul Jay Singer

Probably the most famous Anglo-Jew of the 19^th century, the much-beloved Moses Montefiore (1784-1885) was scrupulously observant of his faith and used his personal standing to further the cause of oppressed Jews everywhere. Between 1827 and 1875, he visited Eretz Yisrael seven times, often with his wife, and he donated large sums of money to promote industry, education and health. These activities were part of a broader program to enable the Jews of Eretz Yisrael to become self-supporting, in anticipation of the establishment of a Jewish homeland.

Five decades before Herzl’s Der Jundenstaat, Montefiore was arguably the first contemporary Zionist. He acquired land in Eretz Yisrael to enable Jews to become self-supporting through agriculture; established the Yemin Moshe quarter – and the famous windmill named for him; and launched modern Jerusalem by building Mishkenot Shaananim, the first modern Jewish housing project outside the walls of the Old City. Among his other projects were launching the first Jewish printing press in Jerusalem; building a shrine over Rachel’s Tomb and an agricultural farm near Jaffa; establishing a textile weaving workshop and a trade school for girls in Jerusalem; carrying out a series of censuses of Jews living in Eretz Yisrael; and erecting the windmill at Yemin Moshe to provide inexpensive flour to poor Jews, which continues to stand today as the endearing and enduring symbol of his prominence.

Exhibited here is a page from the November 1, 1884 Illustrated London News, which was accompanied by the following description of the service at the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London commemorating Montefiore’s 100^th birthday:

At this time last year, when the venerable Jewish citizen of London and benevolent patron of so many works of charity and mercy, Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart. [Baronet], entered the hundredth year of his age, we published some illustrations of his past life, and the festivities and congratulations with which that period was celebrated by his neighbors at Ramsgate. His birthday this year, by the Jewish computation of time, occurred last Monday, but according to the Gregorian or European Calendar it fell on Saturday last. On that day, being the Jewish Sabbath, a special Thanksgiving Service was performed in the ancient London Synagogue in Bevis Marks, where Sir Moses Montefiore used to worship at the time of his residence in London.

We present some illustrations of this religious service, including the ceremony of bringing in a new Scroll of the Law, presented by Mr. Joseph De Castro in memory of his daughter and the preaching of a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler, Delegate Chief Rabbi. There was special prayer and thanksgiving, in which mention was made of the good old man, Moses Montefiore, and his departed wife, Judith, Lady Montefiore.

At the Jewish synagogue at Ramsgate, on Monday, there was also a special service, at which Sir Moses was present, and he afterwards spoke a few grateful and pious words to those around him. His house in that neighborhood was visited by many friends, and he received about eight hundred letters and six hundred telegrams, one from the Queen, to offer him affectionate congratulations. The Jewish Freemasons of London had a festive dinner on the occasion, and there were public rejoicings at Ramsgate, with a dinner, fireworks, and torchlight procession.

Rabbi Adler (1839-1911) received broad recognition as the representative of English Jewry and played an important role in raising the position of Chief Rabbi to one of great nobility and significance. Under his leadership, the United Synagogue maintained full Jewish observance while also exhibiting broad tolerance to non-Orthodox English Jews. He was noted for his work to improve the conditions of Jews in Britain and abroad, including particularly the Jews of Russia, as he represented the Russo-Jewish Committee at Berlin (1889) and Paris (1890). He served as principal and later president of the Jews’ College, and he became known for his extensive efforts in countering Christian misrepresentations of Jewish scripture. One of the most prominent figures in English philanthropic circles, Edward VII, referred to him as “my Chief Rabbi.”

Exhibited here is an October 1884 publication by the Trieste Jewish Community in which it discusses the celebration of Montefiore’s 100^th birthday, with particular reference to the Damascus Affair:

In the evening of the sanctification of the holiday, the 8^th day of Marcheshvan, the very great man, Moshe, when the leaders of the nation gathered together with the entire congregation of Israel here in Trieste for the great holiday to celebrate, to thank and to praise within audiences the great officer who is above all blessing and adoration, Minister Moshe Montefiore, upon his completion of the 100^th year of his life and to recall all his great deeds that he did to amaze the nation for all our brothers, near and far, as he stood to their right during the time of great anguish when he returned from prison those who sat in darkness and for whom he planted for their charity and splendor.

The youth Aharon [name] in the name of his brothers who dwell in this city rises up in honor of the above-named nobleman (i.e., Montefiore) this donation is made with a pure heart and joyous spirit and integrating the prayers of many praises to Hashem, may he be blessed, so that He will keep His eyes on the soul of the above-named tzaddik and extend his days with good and pleasure, contented and filled with blessings.

Underscoring Moses and Judith Montefiores’ dedication to the welfare of Jewish communities around the world, they spent five days in Trieste during a May 1855 trip. During their stay in the city, they participated in synagogue services and welcoming addresses were delivered by the ministers and spiritual heads of the Jewish community.

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HaMelitz, the first Hebrew-language newspaper in Russia, ran the headline “From Moses to Moses there arose none like Moses” – a play on the inscription that appears on the grave of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (aka the Rambam, aka Maimonides) in Tiberias, which compared the greatness of the Rambam to the biblical Moses. Though Montefiore was a passionately devoted Orthodox Jew, his philanthropic generosity transcended religious differences; thus, for example, addressing Sir Moses on his 100^th birthday, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Board of Delegates on Civil and Religious Rights declared that “Not for Israel alone have you labored. Whenever the cry of distress reached your ears, you opened wide the hand of relief without stint or question, regarding the needy and the poor of all sects and creeds as brethren.”

In honor of Montefiore’s milestone birthday, Chovevei Tzion (“Lovers of Zion”) created an album; exhibited here are the cover and two pages from that album. The album contains paeans of praise to Montefiore from twenty Jewish communities (ten from Poland and ten from Russia) and was signed by some 1,300 Jewish leaders – including, for example, Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spector, who was the first signatory on the Kovno page – before the individual leaves were sent to Warsaw, where the final product was assembled and bound by Nurma Nirnstein. The binding was very lavish, decorated with woodcarvings in relief, including Montefiore’s initials and coat of arms, and various biblical verses were included in the spaces between the carvings. While the album is a most important item for assessing Sir Moses’ accomplishments and broad appeal, it is perhaps even more important for its historical data which provides unique information about the structure and leadership of Chovevei Tzion at the time.

Montefiore’s 100^th birthday, which was declared a public holiday, was celebrated not only across the Jewish world, but also internationally throughout the secular world. Britain’s leading newspaper, The Times, marked Sir Moses’ 100^th birthday with a leading article in which it declared that “Englishmen without distinction of creeds contemplate Sir Moses Montefiore’s career with as much pleasure as his co-religionists.” Nor was the enthusiasm for him limited to Englishmen; for example, among those who sent congratulatory messages were the Freemasons of Chile and the Annual Convention of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union in West Virginia, and even leading journals in St. Petersburg, including the anti-Jewish Nowoje Wremja, joined in the universal celebration of the Montefiore centenary. Even commercial enterprises hopped on the Montefiore bandwagon; for example, in an advertisement published in the Illustrated London News and the Jewish Chronicle, the producers of Richmond Gem Tobacco proclaimed – most ironically – that “All may not reach Sir Moses Montefiore’s great age, but all may prolong their lives and add to their enjoyment by smoking Allen & Ginter’s absolutely pure Cigarettes.”

Many leading non-Jews joined in extending blessings to Montefiore on his hundredth birthday. For example, on October 5, 1884, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894), renowned American physician, poet, polymath and the father of Supreme Court Justice Holmes, wrote to Sir Moses as follows:

Venerable and Beloved Sir:

I send my congratulations across the Atlantic to join the unnumbered tributes which will greet you on your first centennial anniversary. A useful and noble life has made the occasion memorable. Others have counted as many years – [but] how few have filled them so full of good deeds!

If the G-d of Israel would prolong your days until you counted as many centuries as the oldest of the Patriarchs, the world would still feel that you were taken away prematurely when you were called to leave it.

This note comes to you with all the best and warmest wishes for your prolonged life and health and happiness from one who has climbed three quarters of the way from the cradle to the summit of years upon which you are now standing.

Believe me, with highest respect,
Most truly yours,
Olliver Wendell Holmes

John Greenleaf Whittier, a renowned American Quaker poet and abolitionist, sent the following correspondence:

To Sir Moses Montefiore, on His 100^th Birthday.

Let me earnestly and reverently congratulate thee on reaching the great age of one hundred years, years devoted to the service of our Common Father in heaven by ministering to the needs of his children on earth, and by promoting every good cause which he has inspired and blest.

His love and peace be with thee

l Oak Knoll Danvers, [Massachusetts] U. S. A., Oct. 5, 1884

In early 1884, a group of New York philanthropists, looking for a way to honor Montefiore on his 100^th birthday, established the original Montefiore Hospital as a medical facility care for all people in need.

Even a cursory review of the hundreds of beautifully calligraphed and decorated items celebrating Montefiore’s hundredth birthday will evidence a unique mirror of the multi-faceted Jewish civilization in the 19^th century. Mostly written in Hebrew, English, Italian and German, the tributes, which feature thousands of signatures of ordinary members of now defunct Jewish communities, congregations, associations and institutions, and religious and political leaders, testify to the admiration of Montefiore’s contemporaries.

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Sadly, only a few months after his one hundredth birthday, Sir Moses died, leading to thousands of dirges and tributes across the world. He was buried next to his wife on the Montefiore family estate in Ramsgate.

Exhibited here is a postcard hand-written and signed by Rabbi Solomon Mandelkorn, postmarked Leipzig July 31, 1885, in which he uses beautiful imagery in a poetic expression of grief at Sir Moses Montefiore’s passing:

Lamentations for the most righteous and virtuous of men, Sir Moses Montefiore. May his name and good deeds be remembered forever until the end of time!

You walked with us in the land of the living like one of the Holy Ones,

and you performed your great and excellent deeds in the pleasant and holy land.

You dedicated your life to the welfare of the holy nation,

and you built tents of study to the Torah of the living G-d atop the sacred mountains!

You demonstrated the righteousness and virtue of the Jewish people to all the nations of the world,

and you acquired for yourself a good name amongst all sons and daughters!

Through your companion, Judith, you made a life’s vow and you directed your efforts like one of the holy Seraphim to the land of life,

and you rose to walk before G-d in the Holy of Holies!

Born among the chassidim of Kotzk, R. Mandelkorn’s (1846-1902) singular contribution to Jewish scholarship is his monumental Biblical Concordance, Heikhal ha-Kodesh (1896), the first concordance to follow the Jewish biblical arrangement and the fruit of twenty years’ scholarly labor. A strong supporter of Chibbat Tzion, he came to the United States to solicit buyers for his Concordance (1899). While he also began work on a Talmudic and Midrashic concordance, it remained fragmentary and was never published. He was also a noted poet and he translated many great works into Hebrew, German, and Russian.

Richmond (New York), Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Woburn (Massachusetts), and Grand Forks (North Dakota) are among cities who have a Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery, and Lowell (Massachusetts), Appleton (Wisconsin) and Bloomington (Illinois) all boast synagogues named after him, and the first synagogue in the New Mexico Territory (1886) was named for Sir Moses. In 1902, one of the Jewish agricultural settlements established in Argentina was named the Colonia Montefiore; attempts were made to launch colonies in Kansas (1884) and in Western Canada (1910), both of which bore the Montefiore name; and the Montefiore Agricultural Aid Society of New York sponsored a Kansas colony in 1884, the year of Sir Moses’ centenary. The world-famous Montefiore Medical Center in New York carries his name, as does an organization for the care of the elderly in Cleveland, and a Chicago public school was named for him. His yahrzeit is observed annually by the institutions which are maintained even today from the funds he donated.

In his album, Ani Yerushalmi (“I am a Jerusalemite”), Israeli singer Yehoram Gaon ends his Shir Montefiore (“The Song of Montefiore”) as follows (the Hebrew is so beautiful, and if you’ve never heard it, or haven’t for some time, its is available for listening on YouTube):

And when the Sar was a hundred and one more year,
the angels gave him a one final kiss.
And so, he closed his eyes,
requesting only that he have a Jerusalem stone under his head.

Wrapped in a silk tallit, resting in his coffin,
Sar Moshe completed his final journey.
But there are still people ready to swear,
that sometimes at night, when it’s dark all around,
they saw Sar Montefiore beside his carriage.

And he went up into his carriage,
saying diyo! to the horses.
And here he placed a secret gift, and there a donation,
and here a pinch on the cheek or a loving caress.
And all the Jews felt happiness and pride,
and all honor to the Sar!