Jewish Board of Guardians (United Kingdom)

The Board of Guardians for the Relief of the Jewish Poor or, as it is most generally known, the Jewish Board of Guardians, was a charity established by the upper class Jewish community in the East End of London in 1859. The Board sought to provide relief for Jewish immigrants and soon became the central provider of relief for the Jewish poor in London.

After an amalgamation with other charities in the 1990s, the Jewish Board of Guardians became Jewish Care, an organization that still exists today.

The Jewish Board of Guardians was a charity established in the East End of London by members of the Jewish community in 1859. The situation of the Jewish poor in London was increasingly problematic by the late 19th century. Christian missionaries and conversionists targeted the Jewish poor, which became a concern for their co-religionists. Members of the Jewish community deemed existing methods of relief for the Jewish poor in London as insufficient. The Board of Guardians was established to consolidate and effectively provide relief where other charities had failed. The Board of Guardians was established because of the introduction of the 1834 Poor Law amendments by secular authorities. These laws applied a workhouse test to qualify for poor relief; the workhouse was unsuitable for the Jewish community because of their special religious constraints and requirements. The three main Ashkenazi synagogues of London thus established the Board of Guardians. These were the Great Synagogue, the Hambro' Synagogue, and the New Synagogue. These establishments voted in 1958 to establish a conjoint committee to tackle the issue of the Jewish poor. The first meeting of the Jewish Board of Guardians was held at the Great Synagogue chambers on March 16, 1859. The Board was initially led by Ephraim Alex, overseer of the poor for the Great Synagogue, who secured a grant of less than £500 from the three synagogues to assess the Jewish poor in London. The seventeen members who founded the Board were delegates of the Ashkenazi synagogues. They included financiers, businessmen and professionals. Lionel Louis Cohen was the honorary secretary of the Board until he succeeded Alex and became president of the Board in 1869. Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild began terms as Treasurer in 1868 and 1875. The headquarters were initially an extension on the Jewish Soup Kitchen, but later moved to Middlesex Street. On its foundation the Board stated that,

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