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JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
THE HEBREW COMMUNITY. 
The land on which the Synagogue in Catherine Street stands was 
originally the property of the Corporation, by whom it was leased. 
It was then a garden ; and the original lease to the founders of the 
present Synagogue was in 1762, the lessees being J. J. Sherenbeck, 
gentleman, of Plymouth, and G. J. Emclon, shopkeeper, of Devonport, 
the two elders of the Hebrew community at that date. The Synagogue 
was then built ; and subsequently the freehold was acquired. One of 
the most liberal benefactors of modern Plymouth was a Jew, and a 
native of Plymouth — Mr. Jacob Nathan. His bequests were — 
£1,000, the interest to be given half-yearly to the following : Israel Myers, 
Joseph Abrahams, Ann Isaacs, Bella and Esther Levy, and Harriet Bellem, 
and on their demise to the Hebrew Soup Kitchen, Aldgate, London, and the 
Guardians of the poor Hebrews, London ; £1,200, interest of, to the Hebrew 
Blind Asylum, London ; £1,000, interest of, to the poor of Jerusalem ; £3,000, 
interest of, for establishing a school to be called the Jacob Nathan School, for 
teaching Hebrew, expounding the Holy Scriptures, and elementary education ; 
£600 for establishing the Jacob Nathan School; £1,000, interest of, for the 
maintenance of the Hebrew public worship — Plymouth congregation ; £500 
for a burial-ground for Hebrews, Plymouth. The interest of the following sums 
also to be applied to the purposes named : £400, to be divided on different 
holidays to the Jewish poor, Plymouth ; £200, for clothing children attending 
the Jacob Nathan School; £100, for supplying coals to Jewish poor, Ply- 
mouth; £100, for Jewish Ladies' Benevolent Society, Plymouth; £150, 
Jews' Free School, Greek Street, Soho, London; £200, for the Jewish Hospital, 
Norwood; £200, for Jewish Free School, Westminster; £200, for Jewish 
Orphan Asylum, Tenterground, Goodman's Fields, London; £200, Jews' 
Infant School, London; £200, Jews' Free School, Bell Lane, Spitalfields ; 
£200, Jewish Institution for Diffusion of Knowledge ; £200, Jewish College, 
Finsbury Square ; £200, Jewish West Metropolitan School, Red Lion 
Square; £200, Philanthropic Society, London; £200, Hand- in- Hand 
Asylum, London; £50, Hebrew Benevolent Society, Bristol; £60, Jews' 
School, Birmingham; £50, Ladies' Benevolent Society, Liverpool; £50, 
Hebrew School, Newcastle ; £60, Jewish Mendicity Society, Portsmouth ; 
£200, South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital, Plymouth ; £200, Public 
Dispensary, Plymouth; £150, Female Orphan Asylum, Plymouth; £150, 
Blanket Society, Plymouth ; £150, Eye Infirmary, Plymouth; £60, Lying- 
in Charity, Plymouth; £50, Branch National Life-Boat, Plymouth; £50, 
Humane Society, Plymouth; £50, Sailors' Home, Plymouth; £50, Female 
Penitentiary, Plymouth; £50, Blind Asylum, Plymouth; £70, Female 
Home, Plymouth ; £50, Industrial School, Plymouth ; £50, Ragged School, 
Plymouth; £150, Orphan Asylum, Stoke; £150, Public Hospital, Devon- 
port ; £50, Blind Institution, Devonport ; £200, Metropolitan Hospital, 
Devonshire Square, London; £200, London Hospital, Middlesex; £60, 
