Jews' Temporary Shelter

The Jews' Temporary Shelter is a charity in London which helps homeless Jews.^[1][2]

Russian refugees in the Leman Street shelter, drawn by Ellen Gertrude Cohen for the Illustrated London News in 1891

Around 1879, a Polish immigrant baker, Samuel Cohen, began to shelter Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe (particularly Poland and Russia) in his bakery in Whitechapel's Church Lane.^[3] The accommodation was improvised with sacks of flour being used as bedding and, in 1885, a sanitary inspector closed it.^[3] A public meeting was held at the Jewish Working Men's Club and a group of wealthy Jews led by Hermann Landau, established the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter.^[4] The first location was in Great Garden Street but a more permanent shelter was established in Leman Street on 11 April 1886.^[3][5]

In 1973, the Shelter relocated to Willesden.^[6] Today the charity provides maintenance grants rather than supplying accommodation directly.^[6]