Sepher HaChukim asher LeAgudath Benei Berith. Translated by David Yellin.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

Abraham Moses Lunz, circa

Jerusalem

1888

Hebrew text.

This Hebrew translation of the constitution of the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith (adopted by a general convention in New York in 1885) was rendered by David Yellin and published by the Jerusalem lodge. The Hebrew translation was authorized by the B’nai B’rith leadership in America and a letter attesting to this was printed at the end of the pamphlet. B’nai B’rith, “the world’s oldest and largest Jewish service organization,” was established as an American fraternal order in New York in 1843, it later branched out to other countries. American B’nai B’rith expressed an interest in the Land of Israel as early as 1865, when it contributed a large sum to assist the victims of a cholera epidemic. The first lodge in the Land of Israel was established in the Jerusalem in 1888 (it was named “Jerusalem”). “The lodge established a library called Midrash Abarbanel ve-Ginzei Yosef, which ultimately became the Jewish National and University Library. It was the first lodge where Hebrew was spoken, and its members included both Ashkenazim and Sephardim. The lodge actively opposed conversion of Jewish children by Christian missions. It inaugurated the first Hebrew kindergarten in Jerusalem, acquired the site for the village of Moza near Jerusalem, and established a home for new immigrants. It also initiated other lodges.” (EJ)