Maccabaeans

Order of Ancient Maccabeans (also Maccabaeans) is an Anglo-Jewish society.^[1] The order is a friendly society established in 1894, and registered on the 8th of May, 1901, under the Friendly Societies' Act, as amended 1896.^[2]

History

When Theodor Herzl came to England before the First Zionist Congress the members of the Society, who then belonged to the "Lovers of Zion" movement, pledged their adherence to the Zionist cause. The Society is an avowedly Zionist Order, and every member on admission has to declare his willingness to be a Zionist, to pay the shekel and to assist generally through the Order in the work of resettling the Jews in Palestine.^[2] Membership consists primarily of people in the professions, with aims to provide "social intercourse and co-operation among its members with a view to the promotion of the interests of Jews, including the support of any professional or learned bodies and charities."

All persons "of the Jewish faith who declare themselves adherents to the Zionist Movement" can become members; membership also includes similarly minded, non-Jewish 'honorary' members.

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

^ Order of Ancient Maccabeans
^ ^a ^b Nahum Sokolow, History of Zionism 1600-1918, Appendices p.358-388, Longmans, Green and Co. (1919)

History

Past presidents

References

Further reading