THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, July 3, 1981 21 Moses Montefiore Pre-Herzl Zionist and Active Jewish Leader JERUSALEM — Israel has issued a commemora- tive stamp honoring Jewish leader Moses Montefiore. Of Moses Montefiore it was said "He loved the people, and his people loved him." In whichever city or country Jews were at- tacked, victimized or abused in the course of the 19th Century, there on the scene was "the Squire" per- sonally intervening to pro- tect them against their rul- ers or the mob; having harsh decrees annulled; re- futing libels against them; protecting their rights and improving their religious, civic and economic situation in his own generous fashion. Not all his efforts were successful, but never did he give up for a moment or spare any effort to lift the spirits of his fellow Jews. He was always there to share his noble Jewish pride with the inhabi- tants of the ghettoes of Eastern Europe or North Africa, pressing for equal rights for the deprived and strenuously oppos- ing the attacks of reli- gious reform and assimi- lation on Jewish faith and tradition. His devotion to Judaism and Jewry was equalled only by his love of the Land of Israel. He visited the country for the first time in 1827 and returned six more times — the last time at the ripe old age of 90. Moses Montefiore was born in 1784 in Leghorn, Italy, to a distinguished Sephardic family living in London. He achieved fame in Victorian England where he spent most of his active life which ended at the ven- erable age of 101. He made most Of his wealth on the London Stock Exchange thanks, in the main, to his connections with the Rothschilds. By the time he was 40, he had es- tablished himself as a weal- thy English gentleman, which permitted him to take up office in a country whose drawing-rooms, municipal and government offices were being thrown open to distinguished Jews, while he simultaneously held the position of president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Montefiore was the first English Jew to be knighted and within a short time he became the "uncrowned king" of the Jewish people through- out the world. but decided to take vigorous steps to increase the Jewish population and enable it to become economically self- supporting. As early as 1839 he realized the possibilities of developing the Galilee area and submitted plans to the Egyptian and Tur- kish authorities and then w2.80 Jr