Moses Montefiore

This is the Montefiore Windmill, which is not in Livorno but in Yemin Moshe, an old neighborhood in Jerusalem. The windmill was funded by the British Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore, who devoted his life to promoting industry, education and health in the Holy Land.
Moses Montefiore may be rightly considered British but he was surely born in Livorno in 1784, where he began his career as an apprentice to a firm of grocers and tea merchants.
A pair of plaques commemorate him on the wall of the community building, next to the Synagogue.

To the perpetual remembrance
that on 24 October 1784 here was born
Sir Moses Montefiore
in Syria, Russia, Morocco, Romania
tireless apostle of tolerance
to any kind of misfortunes
without distinction of country or persuasion
widely merciful
Died in Ramsgate on 28 July 1885
Honored by the powerful blessed by the poors

Plaque recovered from the nearby house
where Sir Moses Montefiore was born
Placed here on 21-2-1965

One hundred years after the end
of the long and full life
be blessed the memory
of Sir Moses Montefiore
27 October 1985
12 Cheswan 5746
World Sephardi Federation

See also: Synagogue of Livorno - Inside the Synagogue

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