The Power of Philanthropy MENA Jewry as Partners in Solidarity S.R. Goldstein-Sabbah Leiden Institute of Area Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands s.r.goldstein@hum.leidenuniv.nl Abstract This article explores aspects of Middle Eastern and North African (mena) Jewry in the first half of the twentieth century through their engagement with philanthropy. Specifically, this article demonstrates how many urban Jewish communities in mena adopted and adapted Western European philanthropic structures to fit the needs of their local communities by engaging with multiple public spheres (Jewish, Arab, imperial) that were, at times, in conflict with each other. By highlighting the transnational nature of mena Jewry in the twentieth century, this article demonstrates the importance of philanthropic networks as an articulation of power and social status. Finally, this piece suggests that local Jewish philanthropic initiatives can act as a prism by which we understand power structures within transnational religious networks. Keywords Jewish history – philanthropy – religious internationalism – Modern Middle East History – mena Jewry In 1935 Henry Heskell David, an Iraqi Jew, made a bequest of 40,000 pounds to the Anglo-Jewish Association (aja) in London, the equivalent of over 2.7 million pounds today.1 The money was meant to fund the studies of promising young Jewish Iraqis in England (or elsewhere in Europe) so that they could eventually return to Iraq trained in professions such as teaching, engineering 1 It is unclear where H.E. David was residing at the time of his bequest. © S.R. Goldstein-Sabbah, 2020 | doi:10.1163/24685968-04010004 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc-by 4.0 license. Endowment Studies 4 (2020) 40-65 Downloaded from Brill.com04/28/2021 04:33:48PM via free access