Empowerment: tzedakah, philanthropy and Inner-Jewish shtadlanut

Abstract

The shift of European Jewish Philanthropy from local tzedakah to global actions dictated significant changes in Jewish politics in the late nineteenth century. Jewish politics ceased to be defined only by shtadlanut, and instead centred on welfare, creating social tensions between giver and receiver. Philanthropists became addressees of shtadlanut, and Jewish politics was rearranged around a new agenda. In this essay, the changes are addressed through the prism of Jewish philanthropy in Jerusalem.