Philanthropy and Identity: Gender and Ethnicity in London

Abstract

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, English Jews not only organized extensive charitable networks, they participated actively in philosophical discussions about philanthropy. Analysis of their words and deeds reveals deep tensions in the relationship between middle-class and poor Eastern Euro? pean immigrant Jews as well as anxiety about the image ofthe Jewish community within the dominant Christian society. Using the lens of philanthropy, this paper examines those conflicts and asks how ethnics and religious minorities negotiate the tensions between ethnic solidarity and broader attachments to their country of birth or adoption. Anglo-Jewry combined traditional Jewish and late Victorian approaches to philanthropy. Jewish charity, or tzedakah in Hebrew, comes from the root for righteousness, and was religious obligation. As historian Nancy Green notes, it is collective responsibility and a form of intracommunal solidarity.1 Ac? cording to Jewish tradition donors must act in manner that prevents the needy from feeling shame; ideally both those giving and receiving remain anonymous, implying that philanthropy was unconditional. According to rabbinic tradition, human possessions are really God's and the poor make it possible for the rich to fulfill legal obligation or mitzvah. It was customary for Jewish communities to form societies for visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, and burying the dead; they supported widows, orphans, and scholars, and provided loans to promote self-sufficiency.2 Victorians also emphasized self-help, but were concerned to separate deserving from undeserving. Many were highly sensitive about avoiding pauperization or dependency, and generally Victorian assistance came with expectations of morality, cleaniiness, decorum, and sobriety. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Jewish philanthropic services in Britain grew in size and sophistication with the arrival of Eastern European immigrants. The host Jewish community numbered about 60,000 in 1880 and had an influential middle class that was highly acculturated.3 The community, first settled by Jews of Spanish descent, also included German Jews and Eastern Europeans who began arriving at mid-century.4 Typical of Jewish communities around the world, Britain offered comprehensive religious institutions and ex? tensive social services. A tradition of asylum, jobs, and liberal atmosphere also attracted Jews to England.5 The arrival of poor, foreign-looking Jews, however, aroused conflict for native-born, middle-class Jews. Poor Jews had the option of drawing on various resources, but the estab? lished Jewish community created separate charitable networks for their poor co-religionists, many of which resembied typical Victorian charities. In part this