Maccabaeans

Order of Ancient Maccabeans (also Maccabaeans) is an Anglo-Jewish society.^[1] The order is a friendly society established in 1891,^[2] and registered on 8 May 1901, under the Friendly Societies' Act, as amended 1896.^[3]

History

The Maccabaeans were founded in 1891 by Ephraim Ish-Kishor and named after the Maccabees. The order was founded with the goal of cooperation between members and an interest in Judaism. Many members were also part of the "Lovers of Zion".^[2] As is usual for friendly societies, its members had to pay a fee of one shekel and received social and medical support. In addition to that, Jewish and "non-Jewish honorary members"^[2] alike had to profess support for the Zionist movement. The funds were used to support the settling of Jews to Palestine^[3] with a "Maccabean Land Company" being founded in 1911 to help shareholders purchase land in modern-day Israel.^[1]

After a visit by Theodor Herzl in 1896, Herbert Bentwich organized a trip to Palestine which he called the "Maccabaean Pilgrimage". Herzl declined an invitation to the pilgrimage but supported it. According to Maja Gildin Zuckerman, a scholar of modern Jewish cultural history, this was a turning point after which the Maccabaeans' Zionism took a political form rather than religious.^[4]

Past presidents

1891–1903 Raphael Meldola (in whose honour the society awards the Meldola medal for Chemistry)
1903–04 Albert Goldsmid
1904–27 Solomon Joseph Solomon
1927–32 Herbert Bentwich
1932–54 Selig Brodetsky
1982–90 Sir Alan Marre
1990–2000 Sir John Balcombe
2000–present Sir Ian Gainsford

Other notable members have included:

Louis Barnett Abrahams
Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler
Norman Bentwich
Sir Ernst Boris Chain
Marcus Hartog
Rev. Morris Joseph
Chief Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz
Waldemar Haffkine
Sir Ian Heilbron
Sir Bernard Rix
Charles Kensington Salaman
Isaac Snowman
Rev. Joseph Stern
Rev. Charles Voysey (Not Jewish; hon. member)
Chaim Weizmann
Lucien Wolf
Israel Zangwill

References

^ ^a ^b Philipp Israel, "Maccabaens, Ancient Order of". In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd Edition, Vol. 13, p. 316, Thomson Gale (2007)
^ ^a ^b ^c Ilan Pappé, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic, p. 58, London, Oneworld Publications (2024)
^ ^a ^b Nahum Sokolow, History of Zionism 1600-1918, Appendices p.358-388, Longmans, Green and Co. (1919)
^ Pappé (2024), pp. 58-59

History

Past presidents

References

Further reading