Żydowskie instytucje opiekuńcze w Lublinie w XIX wieku
Jewish Care Institutions in 19th Century Lublin

Summary/Abstract: For centuries, the standard of welfare and health care among the Jews has been quite high. Wherever a Jewish community was established, various initiatives came along, aimed at assisting those who were hit hard by fate and were not able to secure their subsistence on their own. The Jewish community was settling in the Lublin area already in the Middle Ages and by the end of the 19th century accounted for a significant part of the population. By then the number of Jews in the region was in the region of 180,000, with 43 rabbinates (17 districts, 60 synagogues, 84 houses of prayer). Until the mid-19th century Lublin was the second largest concentration of Jews in the Kingdom of Poland after Warsaw. Between 1819 and 1864 their number in the town rose from 4,771 to 12,922 persons while the percentage of the total population rose from 48.3% to 59.2%. Given these numbers, there must have been some persons in that community who found themselves in a difficult situation and required aid from fellow believers. In Lublin in that period there was a hospital that by the end of the 19th century was the most advanced establishment of this king in the whole Kingdom of Poland. In addition, there was a shelter house in the city and an orphanage with a section used as care home for the elderly. All these institutions were doing their best to assist the poor and suffering members of the Jewish community, contributing in this manner to the building of an advanced system of health care, welfare and social work.

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