[Tianjin/Tientsin, China] Todrin, M

PROYEKT USTAVA KOMBINIROVAN S PROYEKTOM PRAVLENIYA TEDO PREDLOZHEN M. TODRIN. [TYAN'TSZIN'SKIY EVREYSKOY DUKHOVNOY OBSHCHINY] ПРОЕКТ УСТАВА КОМБИНИРОВАН С ПРОЕКТОМ ПРАВЛЕНИЯ ТЕДО ПРЕДЛОЖЕН М. ТОДРИН. [ASSOCIATION COPY BELONGING TO COMMUNITY LEADER LEO GERSHEVITCH]

Tianjin: No Publisher [The Author?], 1932? Item #42249

No Date (1932?). 1st edition. Original ivory printed paper wrappers, 12mo, [12] pages, 17 cm. In Russian. Title translates as, “DRAFT STATUTES combined with draft board of TEDO Proposed by M. Todrin.” TEDO is a Russian acronym for the "Tianjin Jewish Spiritual Community." A paragraph at the bottom of the front cover lays out, in Russian, the goals of the project at hand: “Create One Community. Unite All Jews Around the Community and Let it Become a Representative of All Jewish People in Our City.” Copy belonging to Leo Gershevitch, President of the Tientsin Jewish Hebrew Association, The Tientsin Zionist Organization, The Tientsin Jewish Union, the Tientsin Hebrew school, the Culture Club 'Kunst, ’ and other Jewish organizations in Tientsin, with his Yiddish stamp on cover. Up until 1904 only ten Jewish families lived in Tientsin. In 1906 the Jews established the Tientsin Jewish Union which rendered various religious services. Side by side with this union the Tientsin Hebrew Association was active in the city and took care of welfare needs such as soup kitchens, hospitals, homes for the elderly, etc. The 1917 Russian Revolution fueled the rapid growth of the city's Jewish population with many Jewish immigrants from Russia, and “in 1920 the community was formally named The Hebrew Association of Tientsin (THA) [The organization named here in this charter booklet]. In this context the community built a synagogue, engaged a Rabbi and a Shochet, and provided full religious services. Committees for Eretz Israel affairs and hospitals were set up. A singular feature of the community was the establishment of the Benevolent Society in 1920, whose aim was to assist Jews in need and help them settle into their new environment.” Tianjin soon became the third largest Jewish community in China, after Shanghai and Harbin. In 1935, the number of Jewish people in Tianjin reached 3,500. Though most Jews left the city after the 1949 Chinese Revolution. (sinojudaic.org/tianjin), large numbers of Jewish refugees had been streaming to Tianjin before and during World War II, with the city occupied by the Japanese from July 1937 to August 1945. For more on the Tianjin/Tiensin Jewish community, see also https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/harbin/Growing_Up_in_Tientsin_Chapter_22. pdf. A copy of a similar booklet (but with a copy listed in OCLC) sold at auction in 2023 for $875 (with commission). This work, however, is unlisted in OCLC and was un-findable on Google. It is possible there are no other surviving copies out in the world.SUBJECT(S): Jews -- China -- Tientsin -- History. OCLC lists not a single copy anywhere worldwide. Pencil notation to top of front cover in Russian (“Tianjin Heb. Community…”) Very Good Condition, an outstanding copy of this very rare and important booklet . (Holo2-160-7).

Price: $1,000.00