Jews' Temporary Shelter

The Jews' Temporary Shelter is a charity in London which helps homeless Jews.[1][2]

Russian refugees in the Leman Street shelter, drawn by Ellen Gertrude Cohen for the Illustrated London News in 1891

Around 1879, a Polish immigrant baker, Samuel Cohen, began to shelter Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe (particularly Poland and Russia) in his bakery in Whitechapel's Church Lane.[3] The accommodation was improvised with sacks of flour being used as bedding and, in 1885, a sanitary inspector closed it.[3] A public meeting was held at the Jewish Working Men's Club and a group of wealthy Jews led by Hermann Landau, established the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter.[4] The first location was in Great Garden Street but a more permanent shelter was established in Leman Street on 11 April 1886.[3][5]

In 1973, the Shelter relocated to Willesden.[6] Today the charity provides maintenance grants rather than supplying accommodation directly.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Jews' Temporary Shelter, Charity Commission
  2. ^ Vivian David Lipman, "Jews' Temporary Shelter", Encyclopaedia Judaica
  3. ^ a b c Klaus Weber (2013), Tobias Brinkmann (ed.), "The Jews' Temporary Shelter in London, 1885–1939", Points of Passage: Jewish Migrants from Eastern Europe in Scandinavia, Germany, and Britain 1880-1914, Berghahn Books, pp. 85–104, ISBN 9781782380306
  4. ^ Prue Baker, Philip Walker (ed.), "House of a Thousand Destinies", Jewish East End of London
  5. ^ Aubrey Newman (2005), "The Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter: An Episode in Migration Studies", Jewish Historical Studies, 40 (40): 141–155, JSTOR 24027029
  6. ^ a b Quine, Alice. "The Jews' Temporary Shelter". Jewish Museum London. Retrieved 5 October 2021.