A rare photograph of 'The old settlement figure', Rabbi Avraham Yochanan Blumenthal [1877-1966], founder of the orphanage 'Zion Blumenthal'.
Rabbi Avraham Yochanan Blumenthal, son of Rabbi Yaakov Blumenthal, of the founders of Petah Tikva. In 1900 he established a yeshiva for young people called the 'Boys' Education House' - it was an extraordinary yeshiva in the Jerusalem yeshiva landscape in that it was intended from the beginning for boys from the margins of the 'old settlement' who strayed from the road or were in Spiritual danger. At the end of the First World War, Rabbi Blumenthal responded to the Ottoman Empire's initiative and established the Zion Blumenthal Orphanage. The establishment of the institution was necessary against the background of severe hunger and serious illnesses - many of the fathers of the institution's children were killed in their military service as soldiers of the empire, some of the children roamed the streets because their father still served in the army, and their mother died of disease or starvation. The establishment of the Zion-Blumenthal Orphanage actually saved many children from starvation when they had no shelter or basic nourishment. In the first decade of its activity, about 500 children lived and were educated there. The orphanage actually exists to this day, and is the oldest active Jewish orphanage in the world.
9x14 cm. Very good condition.
