2024-03-28T10:02:25Z
https://keydocuments.net/oai
oai:jgo:source-26.en
2018-05-30T00:00:00Z
en
The Committee for the Poor of the German Israelite Congregation: “To the honorable Supervisory Committee of the German Israelite Congregation” (15.4.1863), Hamburg, pp. 1-11
https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-26.en.v1
Armen-Collegium der Deutsch-Israelitischen Gemeinde
Institute for the History of the German Jews
Online Ressource
This open letter, printed as a brochure, must be seen in conjunction
with the recent achievement of civil equality for Jews in Hamburg in
1860. It documents a related problem, namely the question of whether,
in spite of Emancipation, a separate Jewish welfare system ought to
continue. The authors of this document were all members of the
“Committee for the Poor” Armen-Collegium of the German Israelite
Congregation. This body supervised communal welfare activities. The
letter was addressed to the supervisory committee of the Congregation.
The authors positioned themselves in the debate concerning the future
of the Congregation vis-à-vis its welfare institutions, now that the
constitutional changes of 1860 placed the Jews of Hamburg on an equal
footing with non-Jews. Inside the Congregation’s Council, disunity
prevailed as to whether the continuation of a separate Jewish welfare
system was absolutely necessary, given the elimination of
Congregational self-rule. A minority among the superintendents argued
that the Jewish needy should, from now on, turn primarily to the
public domain. The majority saw things differently, and the open
letter reflected its opinion. It spelled out in a particularly
emphatic way the paramount importance of Jewish welfare activities for
the social cohesion and preservation of identity for the Jews of the
Hansa city.
2018-05-30