The College

The Montefiore College, established by Sir Moses in memory of his wife Judith who died in 1866, runs programmes of advanced Torah education. Its Semicha course was established to produce a new generation of rabbis for the Anglo-Jewish community. Fifteen of its students have already graduated as rabbis; and new courses start every four years, or more frequently according to demand. A third intake commenced their studies in November 2013.
Its Dayanut course, delivered at the Montefiore College in London by Eretz Hemdah,Jerusalem, prepares suitably qualified senior rabbis with advanced halachic knowledge for Semicha 'Yadin Yadin for the Diaspora' in the topics of Marriage, Divorce and Conversion. The Gap-Year Fellowship Scheme assists school leavers to spend a year in yeshiva or seminary in Jerusalem.

Sir Moses Montefiore

The life and times of Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., described at the peak of Britain's imperial power as "the most famous Jew in the world"; the history and the current activities of the Montefiore Endowment, which has continued until now to administer Sir Moses's bequest in accordance with British Charity Law and in a manner that its trustees are confident he would have approved; and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London of which Sir Moses was a member - the oldest synagogue in England and the one which he lead for many years.

The Montefiore Synagogue and Mausoleum in Ramsgate. Information and how to book visits.

The Collections

The Montefiore Collections include items and papers once belonging to Sir Moses as well as manuscripts, books, silver and vestments from the Montefiore College and Synagogue.
Montefiore Testimonials. Over 400 of which have been digitised and published online, were sent as tributes to Sir Moses from all over the world, mostly on the occasion of his 100th birthday.
The Montefiore Censuses, published here online, were compiled between 1839 and 1875 and cover the Jewish inhabitants of the Holy Land, Alexandria, Sidon and Beirut.
NEW!Work is now in progress to catalogue the hundreds of Montefiore Petitions sent to Sir Moses from all over the world during his visits to the Holy Land.

The Montefiore Ethos

The Montefiore Endowment aims to promote the values of tolerance, social harmony and mutual understanding for wide public benefit in accordance with the teachings of the Torah and as demonstrated in the life and works of Sir Moses Montefiore. It does this through its Conferences and its planned Leadership Courses.

The Montefiore Ethos is also promoted by The Montefiore College in its Semicha Course and in the Gap-Year Fellowship Scheme

Latest news

» The Rabbinical Council of America (22nd September 2016)
Advertises Montefiore Dayanut Course in Current Newsletter [read more]

» Making History (21st September 2016)
Yadin-Yadin for the Diaspora [read more]

» Jewish population of the Holy Land in the nineteenth century (29th August 2016)
Research paper by Daniel Kessler [read more]

» Semicha Course Director (4th July 2016)
Rabbi Mark Daniels completes his term as Course Director [read more]

» "A Giant of a Man", Sir Moses Montefiore (14th June 2016)
Research Paper by Sally Style, Montefiore Librarian [read more]

» Montefiore Testimonials (10th May 2016)
Research paper available [read more]

» Teaching Yoreh Deah for London Montefiore Semicha Course (17th April 2016)
Current arrangements for taeching this part of the Course [read more]

» Help Needed (17th April 2016)
To translate 19th century petitions to Sir Moses Montefiore [read more]

» Rare silver Rimonim from the Montefiore Collections (20th October 2015)
Now on long-term display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge [read more]

» Queries addressed to the Website (9th March 2014)
The Montefiore Collections of Books and Manuscripts [read more]