Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-04
MONEY TO Be LOANED FREE
FORMED BY ADAS
ISRAEL CONGREGATION.
Purpose to Help the Needy and
Eliminate Objectionable Features
Of Borrowing System.

Planning to eliminate all of the
Objectionable features of money lending
and money borrowing. members of the
congregation of the Adas Israel Syna-
gogue have formed an organization under
the name THE Hebrew Free Loan AS
ISOLATION of the District Of Columbia -
The organization was incorporated Sep
TENDER p, and the first mass meeting was
held yesterday afternoon in the syna-
gogue. julius Baumgarten, president OF
the association, acted as chairman of
the meeting, and he Joined Rabbis L. G.
Egleson, Abram Simon and G. Silver
stone in explaining the objects Of the
society.
The speakers pointed out the difficulties
borrow money, and declared their belief
that the formation of a body such as
the Hebrew Free Loan Association
offered the only solution to the
problem of heleping the needy without
pauperizing them by the exaction of ex-
orbitant interest charges on the one hand.
or of giving them money outright on the
other.
Endorsed by Rabbi Simon.
Rabbi Simon in particular praised the
work projected by the association.
the formation of this society" he said.
II wish 1t had been started in my own
congregation. but inasmuch as you have
shown the wisdom and practically Of 1t
you are deserving of unstinted felicia
tions. A blessing has been pronounced
on the lender and the 10TH Psalm car
ries an apt example of it in the verse.
He is a good man who IS gracious and
lendeth; he shall sustain his words in
t,,1t flns how nIn ant,
sary to the adjective good: our verse in
sists on two besides the usual ones which
are understood. To be gracious here
means to be generous In giving.
1T Is not such. a task to urge people to
give. l have found that man Is most
ready to relieve distress and aid the I'M
fortunate. But l have also found that
the constant and unwise giving has bred
pauperism and robbed the recipient of
his most precious possession, his self-re-
broken spirit to a position of dignity and
independence
The cart Of Giving"
II insist that one way to accomplish
this is to educate men in the proper art
of giving. Often not giving Is truer
charity. Very often lending Is the best
charity. becuse it is founded on justice.
on the just relation of man to man: not
on pity and subservience A little more
full-blooded justice in the world would
enable us to dispense with a great deal
of our anemic charity.
Il know what is often said when one
uses the phrase lend money Unfortu-
nately. the popular estimate of novel and
drama ranks us as money lenders, and
Shylock is always cited as a proof Of 1t.
This kind of unsavory reputation should
not interfere with our formation of q
free loan society, where the borrower
may be advanced some money and yet re-
tain his honor and his manliness. You
thus save him from falling into the hands
of the broker and the money shark, and
you stand by him as friend and coun.
selor. You movement has my heartiest
approval"
Membership Fee 81 Year.
Loans of from S. to $50 will be made
by the association, and upon these sums
no interest will be charged, the sole stip-
ulation being that per cent of the
amount borrowed must be returned each
week. About $500 has already been
raised as a fund to be used as loaning
basis. and it is expected this amount Will
be increased by several thousands Of dol
lars. A charge of 81 per year is made
against each member as dues The ASSOC
citation will begin its work at once, and
all applications for assistance will receive
consideration. Each application must be
Endorsed by two friends of the prospective
borrower.
The officers Of the association are: julius
Baumgarten, president; B. BergaZin, first
vice president; H. Blumenthal, second
vice president; J. Wolf, secretary. and S.
Gordon, treasurer. The board Of directors
has twenty-one members who are officers
of the corporation and the following:
M. K. Yoelson, NJ. norman. c. Rape
port. H. Dodeck. l.. Brice. M. Goldman,
S. Atlas. /. Miller, NJ. D. Miller. B.
Schlosberg, J. Hornstein. S. B. Robin, L.
Portion, A. Weiner, B. Hoffenberg and L..