Philanthropy and the Jewish Diaspora in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

The rise of nationalism in Europe, the mass migration to the United States, and the dramatic transformations in the world following World War I were accompanied by an ongoing deterioration in the position of East European Jewry and led to changes in the patterns of governance in the Jewish world. The importance of the organizations addressed in this chapter transcended their philanthropic and political activity in France, Britain, Germany, and America. This manifested in the international nature of their activity, their power to shape the various Jewish communities, and the sense of international Jewish solidarity that they nurtured through their very existence. These Jewish organizations endeavored to create a Jewish nationalism that played down elements of territorial concentration and political sovereignty, opposed the concept of rejection of the diaspora, and emphasized the moral components of Judaism.