Treasure Trove from the collection of David Matlow With a collection of more than 5,000 items related to our history, the Treasure Trove of David Matlow has found a home at The CJN, with new items regularly added. The treasures weave together a story about the longing for a Jewish homeland and the significant effort expended to make it happen. From hockey cards to sun hats, travel bags to wine labels, comic books to postcards—they’re all pieces of the evolution and revolution of Zionism. But sometimes he finds a reason to give something to someone who would appreciate it more, a phenomenon he calls “reverse collecting”.
Sadie Weiss The Jewish Colonial Trust was established in 1899 by Theodor Herzl as a financial institution to help fund the ongoing settlement and development work of the Zionist organization. Shares were sold to hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world as the first tangible way to support the Jewish homeland effort. In a grouping of share certificates sold at auction, I acquired one for five shares bought in 1923 by Sadie Weiss of Monticello, N.Y. Google led me to her 82-year-old grandson in San Diego. Marty Weiss had never met his grandmother and didn’t know of her interest in Zionism—even though he’d been to Israel many times himself. (Also, his daughter Andrea is a prominent Reform rabbi.) A story about the return of the century-old share certificate was published in the San Diego Union Tribune and syndicated to multiple newspapers. In the process, a global audience was exposed to this part of the legacy of Herzl.
David Matlow is a partner at Goodmans LLP and the owner of the world’s largest private collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia: herzlcollection.com
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