History of The Jews in Philadelphia - Maimonides College and Jews' Hospital

Maimonides College and Jews' Hospital

On December 4, 1864, a meeting was held which resulted in the establishment of the first Jewish theological seminary in America. The need of such an institution was strongly felt, as there were numerous synagogues in the country, but few persons capable of filling the rabbinical office. The seminary was established under the joint auspices of the Hebrew Education Society and the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, and was named "Maimonides College"; it was opened October 28, 1867, with Isaac Leeser as its provost. Sabato Morais, Marcus Jastrow, Aaron S. Bettelheim, L. Buttenwieser, William H. Williams; and the provost comprised the faculty. At a later date Hyman Polano and George Jacobs were added to this number. Abraham Hart was president, and Mayer Sulzberger secretary, of the board of trustees. Moses A. Dropsie and Isidore Binswanger acted successively as president of the college. After an activity extending through six years the work of Maimonides College was discontinued owing to lack of support (Dec., 1873). The work of the Hebrew Education Society had met with great success during the 1880s and 1890s. In 1892 the society received $15,000 (today $388,000) from the estate of Ellen Phillips. Louis Gerstley acted as its president for many years, and David Sulzberger had been its secretary since 1876. It is largely owing to the latter's activity that the society has greatly extended its work to meet the new conditions due to the growth of the population and the Russian immigration. Edward Wolf is now president of the society.

The first Jewish hospital in Philadelphia originated in a suggestion of Abraham Sulzberger, who insisted in 1864 that a hospital was an urgent necessity in the community and that steps should be taken at once to secure the funds necessary to establish one. The first officers were Alfred T. Jones (president), Isidore Binswanger (vice-president), Samuel Weil (treasurer), Mayer Sulzberger (secretary), Henry J. Hunt (corresponding secretary). The association was incorporated September 23, 1865. The first site of the hospital was at Fifty-sixth street and Haverford road. Within a decade the needs of the first hospital had outgrown its accommodations, and in 1873, during the presidency of Abraham S. Wolf, it removed to Old York road. In 1901 Meyer Guggenheim presented to the association $80,000 (today $2,230,000) for the purpose of erecting a private auxiliary hospital. Mrs. Sarah Eisner has recently built a Home for Nurses. Among other buildings on the hospital grounds are the Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites, the Loeb Operating Building, the M. A. Loeb Dispensary, and the Lucien Moss Home for Incurables. The Jewish Hospital is one of the best-equipped and best-managed institutions in the United States. William B. Hackenburg succeeded Abraham S. Wolf as president in 1878, and has served in that capacity ever since. To them is due, in a great measure, the success of the hospital. The Jewish Maternity Association was founded November 3, 1873. In addition to the maternity hospital there is a training-school for nurses, of which Mrs. S. Belle Cohn is president.

In 1855, the ladies of the various congregations of the city, "deeply impressed with the necessity of providing a home for destitute and unprotected children of Jewish parentage," organized the Jewish Foster Home. Its first building was in Eleventh street, near Jefferson street, and was dedicated in May, 1855. Mrs. Anna Allen was its first president. In 1874 the control of the home was transferred to a board of male directors, aided by a ladies' associate board. The home was moved in 1881 to Mill street, Germantown, its present quarters. Isidore Binswanger was president for fifteen years, and during his term of office the home became one of the best institutions of its kind in the country. Mason Hirsh was president for a number of years; Leo Loeb now fills that position, and S. M. Fleischman is superintendent. The Orphans' Guardians, or Familien Waisen Erziehungs Verein, an institution with a mission similar to the foregoing, was organized March 26, 1868, chiefly through the efforts of R. Samuel Hirsch of the Congregation Keneseth Israel. Instead of keeping the children together in one institution, this society endeavors to find homes for them among respectable Jewish families.