That the various Synagogues have the means of largely assisting a liberal and progressive policy, not the most prejudiced upholder of the present state will deny—nor will it be urged that they have contributed to their fullest extent towards the education and enlightenment of the rising generation. In a pecuniary point of view, they could and would gain largely by adopting fully the views now advocated; for they would transfer from their funds to those of the Jewish public, all their pensioners: but they ought to be the leaders in encouraging the objects, from a desire of improvement, instead of mere pecuniary gain. In proposing the instruction of all the Jewish children, therefore, and in taking charge of all the offspring of the poor, I take from them all the claim generally resorted to for the charitable interference of the Synagogues; as the poor will have very little difficulty in maintaining themselves, if we maintain all their children, to do which, it would be necessary to remove them to a suitable establishment, properly provided and superintended, in connection with a school of industry, in which all the trades and useful arts of life should be inculcated. The school (Aubin's) at Norwood gives the system as far as it can be properly acted upon; or a new system, if necessary, could be arranged, having for its object the instruction of the younger children, and the making artizans of the more advanced in age. The expences of this arrangement would be much less than generally imagined, and a considerable part of them could be defrayed by the industry of the pupils; and the schools of the Society of Friends at Ackworth, Sidcoat, &c. should likewise be our examples, but accommodated to the necessary differences of the case.
In conjunction with this establishment, I would recommend the formation of a superior school for a limited number of boys in the neighbourhood of the London University, where the most talented of the scholars from the former school should be placed, at the public charge, under the tuition of Hebrew, French, and German classical teachers. The expenditure for board and lodging, and for attending the classes during the term at the University school, and at the University, should be defrayed out of the general fund; and some of these youths might and should be trained to all the offices and duties of our clergy, others to the professions of law and medicine, and all other superior attainments of education. Accommodation should be afforded at this place for a number of private or paying pupils, to have the advantages of all the means of instruction provided, and of the general management of the house, with the privilege of attending the University, and of having their studies likewise superintended at the house by the professors engaged. The fees for their admission and support would considerably lessen the expences of the whole establishment, and enable the younger branches of the Jews to receive a sound, religious, and classical education. This would give an opportunity for the development of all the higher attributes of the mind; and as the youth assembled there would be all of the best instructed of the rising and future generations, every province in England and the Colonies would naturally come there for its tutors and clergy. Inducements thus held out for the cultivation of talent in all classes, would be gradually to render the whole body of the Jews well informed.
It is unnecessary to say more here upon this subject. The minor points, being for the consideration of the Council, shall be forthcoming at the proper time: but I believe the removal of the young from the old, at an early age, very desirable; for, the contamination of evil example, of vicious and dishonourable pursuits, tends to undo the instruction they receive at present, and is the cause of so small a number attending the places already provided for their instruction. The object must be, therefore, to make the school attractive to the children, and an advantage to the parents.
By the amalgamation of the Jewish charities is not to be understood the depriving of any of the present institutions of their funds, or of their control over them, nor do I wish to divert legacies or the accumulations of years from their legitimate channels, but to secure an efficient centralisation, with wholesome and necessary control; for it must be admitted that, independent of the money so liberally bestowed by the wealthy portion of the Jews, the humblest as well as the most distinguished give continually large sums in proportion to their incomes.
Not a Sunday, and scarcely a day, passes, but contributions are solicited from the poorer traders of the Jews, to which the most indigent add their pence, with the true feelings of Jewish benevolence, in the hope of mitigating the poignant sufferings of the applicants. "The charity which plenty gives to poverty is human and earthly, but it becomes divine and heavenly when poverty gives to want."
The great sums distributed in known or public charities are more than doubled by the continual call upon the purses of the donors; and being so well answered, it is impossible to calculate the amount.
The wealthy are daily subjected to these visitations, and in few instances is the immediate pecuniary relief refused. It is scarcely necessary to point out the expensiveness of this mode of relief, it being self-evident; but that is a very small portion of the evil it entails. If it ended here, I would say, Send not a mendicant, no matter what his creed or country, from you unrelieved; as the very necessity that induces the application is sufficient reason for relief, should even the applicant be thought unworthy: but the mischief STOPS not here; it is only the commencement—it encourages, instead of checking, mendicity—it produces beggars where it should make artizans—it encourages consumers instead of helping producers—it assists idlers when its object is and should be to support the industrious.[A]
All indiscriminate charity must therefore be an evil to the body, an injury to the community: it begets a class of persons that spend the easily obtained funds as improperly as they were procured—it degrades the minds of the recipients, while the wealthy donors look more frequently with disgust than compassion on the receiver; in short, no persons can become more debased in mind and body than habitual beggars, of which a very large number exists among the Jews—uncontrolled, unchecked, and unprovided for—in spite of all the efforts of the "charities" and Synagogue funds, nearly all of which are casual. The sums thus distributed should, and would, suffice to maintain all the paupers of the Jews; but the inefficiency of the administration permits them to devote their entire time in successfully preventing one charitable institution from arriving at the knowledge of what they receive from another, and to extort from private sources as much as possible.
These are facts known to us all: but, in the charitableness of our hearts, we fear to come boldly forward and provide at once entirely for all these mendicants, who should be properly taken care of, clothed, fed, and housed; and the expenditures of the present day would be sufficient, if carefully arranged.