Lady Judith Cohen Montefiore

“ Monday, October 11th.—When, at the meeting of the Board of Deputies, Alderman Philips presented the address, he said, "that, in doing so, he deemed it a great honour to be the medium of communicating the sentiments of the Board to one whose uniform kindness and courtesy, and whose veneration for the religion of his forefathers, has won for him the esteem, the admiration, and, he might almost say, the love, not alone of the Jews of this happy land, but of those of the civilised world." ”

“ There were extra trains run, not only from towns in Kent, but even from London, to bring down the crowds anxious to witness the proceedings, or to take part in them. Ramsgate and all the neighbouring towns made the day a general holiday. All the shops and schools were closed; the streets were tastefully decorated with flags and garlands; handsome triumphal arches had been erected, with inscriptions containing good wishes for Sir Moses, and fervent blessings for all the good he had done in his long and noble life; the ships in the harbour were dressed with flags, and salutes were fired. ”

“ My dear Sir Moses,—Manifold feelings of pleasure were evoked within me by the perusal of your kind letter of yesterday, enclosing a cheque for £300 towards the relief of the sufferers by the earthquake in the Island of Chios, irrespective of race or creed; pleasure at knowing that the noble heart of a friend for whom I have ever felt the highest esteem still responds to the call of suffering humanity ”

“ The walls were decked with tablets bearing Hebrew and English prayers and psalms; a lamp was suspended from the cupola above, with a Hebrew inscription, "The soul of man is the light of God." At the sight of the open grave, with the Jerusalem stone therein ready to give rest to the mortal remains of him who had worked all his life for the good of others, the eyes of the bystanders were dimmed with tears. ”

“ Indeed those who rose against the Christians and killed them are not judged according to the ordinary laws of the land, nor is evidence taken in the usual manner; but there has been established what is termed an 'extraordinary tribunal.' Now it appears that it is intended to judge the Jews also by this tribunal, and to condemn them to death upon the mere word of the Christians. This is indeed a great and bitter calamity. How is it possible to compare the condition of the Jews to that of those who rose up against the Christians? ”

“ I have often heard my dear mother, blessed be her soul, say that she and my honoured father had passed many happy days when staying on frequent visits with the best of friends, Moses Haim Racah and his amiable wife, my godmother. My mother frequently spoke of the kindness she ever experienced from them, being more the affection of parents both towards herself and my father. They were both young at the time, having been married only about a twelvemonth. I consider myself most fortunate in having been blessed on my coming into the world with such excellent friends as my godfather and godmother. ”

“ Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart.,
&c., &c., &c.
The eyes of all Israel in the province of Moldavia are directed to you for salvation and consolation, to deliver them out of the power of their enemies, for no violence is to be found in their hands.
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Surely the man Moses will rouse himself as a lion for the rescue of his people, as he has done in days of old, and in former years, to deliver his brethren, the house of Israel, from their sorrow and distress.
May Heaven's blessing rest on his head, inspire his heart, and prosper all the works of his hands. ”

“ Go and cast a glance upon the numerous munificent endowments, upon the munificent institutions, upon the annual contributions, not only in Jerusalem, but in every part of the world—not only by individuals, but by almost every mighty ruler on earth. Notice the war which has broken out within our recollection respecting the privilege of repairing a house of devotion, all for the sole object of supporting religion. And are we Israelites to stand back and say, We are all practical men; let everybody in Jerusalem go and work? ”

“ My dear Sir Moses,—I cannot refrain from writing to you, knowing how your heart must be torn by the distressing news from Russia. It is as if the enemy of mankind was let loose to destroy the souls of so many Christians, and the bodies of so many of your people. ”

“ Most of the Jews hid themselves in the houses of respectable Turks, in cellars and in caves, in company with Christians.
"Is it possible to suppose that one who was in momentary fear for his own life should rise up to kill another? Reason and common sense testify against it. God forbid that such a thought should enter the mind of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen of England or her Government—a queen whose justice and mercy is as that of the kingdom of heaven, and for whose prosperity, honour, and glory we the congregation of Damascus have prayed these twenty years. ”

“ Sir,—Knowing your sympathy for the sufferings of your co-religionists everywhere, I take the liberty to address you on behalf of the Jews of Shiraz, who are at present reduced to great want and misery through the famine which is now devastating Persia. They number, I learn, about three hundred families, and have always suffered great oppression at the hands of their Mussulman masters; you may conceive how abject and degraded is their position when you hear that their protector is the public executioner. ”

“ Every lover of justice will admit you have rendered a great service to the poor and oppressed; the consciousness alone of so noble an act is no doubt the highest gratification to you.—I have the honour to be, Sir, with great esteem, your most obedient servant,
(Signed) "Moses Montefiore. ”

“ There can be no doubt that, as the delegate of our community, any representations that I might be entrusted to make as its organ would acquire great force and significance, while I should be encouraged by the consciousness that I should be acting, not only in accordance with my own sense of duty, but also as the exponent of the earnest wishes of your Board and of the Jews at large, that so unhappy a state of things as is now existing in Moldavia as affecting the Jews of that Principality, may, under the blessing of the Almighty, speedily cease. ”

“ A great evil threatens us, the hatred increases every day and every hour,—there is none to stay the hand. I therefore make known to you, these our troubles and distresses, beseeching you with scalding tears to aid us all in your power, and to defend the cause of oppressed Israel, who are driven from the land of Moldavia.
May the Creator of heaven and earth, the God of Israel help us!
Trouble upon trouble! During the last three days soldiers have been going about the streets molesting the Jews, and with their swords they injured a woman with child. ”

“ Lady Montefiore, Sir Moses said, made, no will, but among her papers was found an unfinished letter to him in her hand writing, in which she most touchingly expressed the wish that a token of her esteem should be handed to relatives whom she named, to friends, and to charitable and educational institutions, when it should please the Almighty to call her away from this world. ”

“ May you rule for many years in refulgent glory over your vast Empire; May you, Sire, have the happiness of seeing all your fervent wishes for peace and lasting tranquillity among the nations realized, so that your Imperial name may for ever be indelibly inscribed on the tablets of the heart of your Imperial Majesty's faithful subjects, and on those of every friend of justice and humanity. ”

“ It has pleased the Almighty to take him from us, and that he should not again behold his loving consort and beloved relatives; he breathed his last in a land endeared to him by hallowed reminiscences. To one so guileless, so pious, so amiable in private life, so respected in his public career, and so desirous to assist with all his heart in the amelioration of the condition of the human race, death could not have had any terror. ”

“ I had hoped, Sir, that even in the East the absurd, yet cruel, calumnies urged against our faith had ceased to obtain credence; but where ignorance and superstition prevail to so great an extent, it is more a subject for sorrow than surprise to find the occasional resuscitation of the bigotry of a bygone age; but, Sir, I cannot refrain from expressing my deep regret that this melancholy event should have been recorded so inaccurately and in so adverse a spirit by the journal in question. ”

“ If a man had been found slain in the highway at the time of the rising of the mob, when all the streets of the Christians, as well as the streets of the Jews and Turks, which are near each other, were filled with the slain, was it in the power of man to prevent a murder from being committed before his own house? ”

“ We have no one to look to for help except our Father in Heaven and His servant Moses. The chief matters we dare not venture to write, out of dread and apprehension, for we are as sheep in the hands of the slaughterer. ”

“ Can our brethren be indeed so indifferent to their natural interests, so blinded by some Jewish journals written in the Roumanian language, as not to penetrate into the real intentions of these persons amongst us? What they strive at just at a time when anarchy prevails in the land, and the ministers are ignorant of their mission, and resign just at a moment when the Hebrews enter the land? ”

“ He then thanked Her Majesty and the Prince, for the Pasha, for their kindness and condescension, and took leave, Colonel Biddulph conducting them to their carriage.
Sir Moses remarked in the entry he made that day in his Diary: "I never in my life witnessed a more lovely picture than the Queen, the Prince Consort, and the Royal children, beauty and goodness combined, a perfect picture of a noble family. May the God of our forefathers bestow on them all good, grant them length of days, continued content and happiness, and may His blessings ever be with them. Long and happy live the Queen." ”

“ With respect to the efforts which I have been privileged to make in foreign countries to advance the position of our co-religionists in the social and moral scale—and to which you have so gracefully and complimentarily alluded in referring to the temporary interruptions of my presidentship—they are, independently of the gratification I derive from your approval of them, a source of enduring, welcome remembrance, both to myself and to Lady Montefiore, who, accompanying me on all occasions, has most cheerfully encountered no inconsiderable amount of fatigue and hardship. ”

“ Sir Moses Montefiore—and Dr Loewe, in expressing his sentiments—has been kind enough to speak of me in this matter. I am glad he has spoken of my wife, because I feel that it is to her that the whole prosperity of this institution is owing, and I will venture to say, though her husband, and in her presence, I believe there is scarcely another woman in England who, under the difficulties she has had to contend against, would have been able to bring the institution to that degree of accomplishment to which it has now attained. ”

“ August the 27th.—Sir Moses had scarcely despatched his appeal to the Shah on behalf of his brethren at Hamadan, in Persia, when a heartrending cry came from the Holy Land, an unusual combination of misfortunes having befallen them. "No rain had fallen for many months, the harvest was spoilt, locusts covered the ground for miles around, the cholera had broken out in all its fury, famine and plague reigned supreme in the Holy Cities. ”

“ I have often had occasion to admire the ability of many females in our community of Jerusalem, not only in respect of their household duties and in needlework of every description, but also in Hebrew lore. I was on one occasion addressed by the mother of two or three children who solicited aid, and, to my surprise, she spoke to Dr Loewe and myself in the Hebrew language with elegance and facility. Subsequently I ascertained that she was a Portuguese, the widow of a German Rabbi, who had recently died and left her in straitened circumstances. ”

“ In England we still live under the barbarous law which makes the property of the married woman over to her husband, and therefore I cordially appropriate all that Dr Loewe has said of her virtues, and take them as if they were my own.
"'In conclusion I beg to return our best thanks to Sir Moses Montefiore for his kindness; tell him we shall certainly offer our prayers that his long life may be blessed, that as he has advanced far beyond the age which the Psalmist regards as the age of man, he may have comforts and blessings poured upon him, and may be kept in such health as his age allows.'" ”

“ About the same time distressing accounts reached him from the Jews at Rome. The supplicants said: "We are now more oppressed than ever; no Christian is allowed to be in a Jew's house, either as servant or companion. The Pope will receive neither an address nor a deputation from the Jews."
This was the same Sovereign Pontiff to whom an address of deep gratitude had been presented for his kind and humane treatment of the Jews.
"Wait on the Lord, and keep His way," said Sir Moses, in the words of the Royal Psalmist; "better days will yet come." ”

“ My dear Sir Moses,—Most deeply do we feel the kindness of your request in wishing me also to sit to Mr Weekes for a bust to be placed in St Peter's Orphan Home. I shall gladly comply, and thankfully accept your great kindness. ”