Charter and By Laws of the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia together with Rules and Regulations for the Government of Maimonides College, 1868 · Isaac Leeser Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Charter and By Laws of the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia together with Rules and Regulations for the Government of Maimonides College, 1868

Author

Hebrew Education Society (Philadelphia Pa.)

Date Created

1 January 1868

Location(s)

Philadelphia

Format

Pamphlet. 16 page(s).

Type

Pamphlet

Physical Characteristics

Unlined Paper

Typescript

Is Part Of

Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Isaac Leeser Collection

content

CHARTER & BY-LAWS
OF THE
Hebrew Education Society
OF PHILADELPHIA.
TOGETHER WITH
RULES AND REGULATIONS
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF
MAIMONIDES COLLEGE
PHILADELPHIA:
STEIN & JONES, PRINTERS,
321 CHESTNUT STREET.
1868

AN ACT
TO INCORPORATE THE HEBREW EDUCATION
SOCIETY
OF PHILADELPHIA.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House
of Rep-resentatives of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it
is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That
Solomon Solis, Simon Elfelt,
Abraham Hart, Moses A.
Dropsie, Solomon N. Carvalho,
Isidore Binswanger, Marcus
Cauffman, Lewis J. Cohen,
Simon M. Klosser, Jacob
Langs-dorf, Isaac Leeser,
Moses Nathans, Joseph
Newhouse, Hyman Polock,
Julius Stern, Herman Van Beil,
Abraham S. Wolf,
Lewis M. Allen, Mayer Arnold,
Simon W. Arnold, David
Barnett, Leon Berg, A. I. H.
Bernal, Bernard Blum,
Myer D. Cohen, Julius
Davidson, Zadok A. Davis,
Henry DeBoer,
Solomon Eckstein, David Eger,
William Florance, P.
Friden-berg, Solomon Gans,
J. Geisenberg, M. Gerstley,
Jacob Gum-pel, Selig
Hohenfels, Aaron Isaacs,
Solomon Isaacs, Julius
Jacobs, Israel Jacobs, B.
Klein, Henry Lazarus, David
Levine,
N. E. Nelson, Joseph A. Levy,
George Phillips, Michael
Reinhard, Joseph Schoneman, M.
Seidenbach, Henry Simson,
David H. Solis, Mayer Sternberger,
L. Sulzberger, David Van
Beil, Simon Sternberger, Moses
Vanderslice, Abraham Wolf,
Isaac Tassner and Doctor Samuel Wolff and
all and every other person or persons who shall hereafter become members of the
Hebrew Education Society of
Philadelphia, be and are hereby
created and made a corporation or body politic and corporate, by the name
and style of “THE HEBREW EDUCATION
SOCIETY

4
OF PHILADELPHIA,” and by that name shall have
perpetual succession, and be capable in law to take, hold and dispose
of estates, real and personal whatsoever, and to sue and be
sued, and to receive and make all deeds, transfers, contracts,
con-veyances and covenants whatsoever, and to make, have and
use a common seal, and the same to change and renew at pleasure, and
generally to do every other act or thing neces-sary to carry into effect
the provisions of this act, asd promote the objects and designs
of said corporation.
SECTION 2. The object and design of the said corporation shall
be the establishment of a school or schools within the limits of the city and
county of Philadelphia, in which are to be taught
the elementary branches of education, together with the sciences, and
modern and ancient languages, always in combination with instruction in
Hebrew language, literature, and religion, in the manner that may
be determined from time to time, by the proper officers of the Society,
and as the same may be set forth in their Constitution and By-laws,
and School regulations; Provided, Said
Constitution, By-laws, and Regulations are not inconsistent with
this Charter, or with the Constitution of the United
States, or the Constitution and Laws of this
Commonwealth.
SECTION 3. It shall also be lawful for said corporation to
establish, whenever their funds will permit the same to be done, a
superior seminary of learning, within the limits of this Commonwealth,
the faculty of which seminary shall have power to furnish its graduates and
others, the usual degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and
Doctor of Law and Divinity, as the same is exercised by other colleges
established in this Commonwealth.
SECTION 4. The Society shall have power to adopt a
Con-stitution and make By-laws, and the same to amend, alter
or repeal at pleasure.

5
SECTION 5. The said Society shall not at any time have,
hold, enjoy or receive a clear yearly income exceeding twelve thousand
dollars. without first obtaining authority from the legislature
of this Commonwealth.
SECTION 6. The legislature shall have power at any time when
the privileges hereby granted shall appear injurious to the public, to
repeal, alter or amend this act; but no such repeal, alteration or
amendment shall affect any engagement to which the said corporation shall have
become a party pre-vious thereto; and in case of such repeal the said
corporation shall have a reasonable time to bring their accounts to a
final settlement and termination.
(Signed)WILLIAM F. PACKER,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(Signed)GEORGE DARSIE,
Speaker of the Senate.
APPROVED—The seventh day of April, one thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine.
(Signed)WM. F. JOHNSTON.

BY-LAWS.
OF MEMBERS.
Section 1. Any male Israelite, aged at
least twenty-one years, who shall receive a majority of the votes cast
at any meeting of the Board or Society, shall be a member of this
Society.
Sec. 2. Each member shall pay five dollars
yearly.
Sec. 3. A member one year or more in
arrears, shall neither vote nor hold office, unless exonerated from his
dues by the Board of Managers.
Sec. 4. A member more than two years in
arrears may be expelled by the Board.
OF OFFICERS.
Section 1. The officers of this Society
shall be a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary,
Assistant Secretary, and twelve Managers, who, together shall
constitute the Board of Managers. They shall hold their respective offices for
one year or until their successors shall have been chosen. There shall
also be Trustees of the College, not less than fifteen nor more than
twenty-one in number, who shall be elected as fol-lows: at the
first election one third of their number shall be chosen for one year, one
third for two years and the remain-ing third for three years, and at
every subsequent election they shall be chosen for three years.
Sec. 2 Elections shall be held at the annual
meetings of the Society.

7
Sec. 3. The President shall preside at all
meetings of the Society, Board of Managers and College Trustees, shall
draw orders on the Treasurer for amounts passed by the Board of Managers
and College Trustees; shall, whenever he may deem it necessary,
convene special meetings of the Society, Board of Managers, or College
Trustees, and shall appoint all commit-tees, unless otherwise
ordered by the Society. He shall have the right to draw an order on the
Treasurer for any sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars, without an
appropriation by the Board.
Sec. 4. The Vice President shall in the
absence of the Presi-dent succeed to all his rights and duties.
Sec. 5. The Treasurer shall take charge of
all moneys and securities of the Society, shall pay all orders duly signed
by the President, or acting President, shall keep an account of
his receipts and disbursements, and furnish a statement of the same at the
annual meeting of the Society, and shall report at every stated meeting of
the board the amount of the balance in his hands. He shall keep a separate
account of the receipts and expenditures on account of the College fund and
shall make a report at each meeting of the College Trustees. He shall give
such security for the faithful performance of his duties, as shall be
approved of by the Board, and within two weeks after the election of his
successor he shall deliver to the latter, all moneys, papers,
accounts and all other property whatsoever belonging to the Society.
Sec. 6. The Secretary shall keep fair and
correct minutes of all transactions of the Society or Board of Managers.
Sec. 7. The Assistant Secretary shall
prepare notices for all meetings, shall keep the accounts with the members
of the Society, as well as all accounts for tuition and books,
shall prepare all bills, shall act as Secretary of the Boards of
College Trustees and School Directors, and shall perform all the duties

8
of the Secretary in the latter's absence, for which services he shall
receive such compensation as may be fixed by the Board of Managers.
Sec. 8. The Board of Managers shall fill all
vacancies occur-ring among their own number, shall elect the School
Teachers, shall employ a Messenger and Collector, and compensate
him, shall determine the branches of education to be taught in the
School, and shall do all things necessary for the gov-ernment and
maintenance of the Schools. If any more schools be established, they shall
elect two additional School Directors.
Sec. 9. The Board of College Trustees shall
determine the branches to be taught in the College after consulting with
the faculty, shall elect the Provost, Professors and other
officers thereof, shall determine the tuition and scholarship fees,
as also the number of free scholarships, shall make the
appro-priations for the payment of all the salaries and other expenses
of the College, shall pay the same by means of orders drawn by the
President on the Treasurer on account of the College Fund, shall grant the
degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity and Law to
students recommended
therefor by the faculty and to other persons deemed properly
qualified, shall evidence the same by diplomas signed by the Provost and
Professors of the College and by the President of the Society with the
Society's seal attached, shall make rules and statutes for the
government of the College and shall do all things necessary for the proper
transaction of its affairs.
Sec. 10. All elections for officers or
members of the Society or Board shall be by ballot.
Sec. 11. In all elections for officers
non-resident members may vote by proxy.
OF MEETINGS.
Section 1. The Society shall have one stated
meeting an-nually on the Sunday before Shabu'oth.

9
Sec. 2. The Board of Managers shall have
four stated meetings in each year, the first of which shall be held on the
third Sunday after the annual meeting, and the others at
in-tervals of three months respectively.
Sec. 3. The School Directors shall have one
stated meeting in each month except August.
Sec 4. The Board of College Trustees shall
have one sta-ted meeting in every three months.
Sec. 5. Special meetings of the Society or
Board of Ma-nagers or College Trustees may be called by the President
whenever he may deem it necessary, and it shall be his duty to call such
special meetings of the Society when requested by ten members thereof, and
of the Board of Managers when re-quested by three of its members, and
of the Board of College Trustees when requested by four of its members.
Sec. 6. At the meetings of the Society,
thirteen shall con-stitute a quorum; of the Board, five; of the
School Directors, three; and of the Trustees of the College,
five.
OF THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Section 1. In the School or Schools there
shall be imparted in addition to the usual English branches, Religious
instruc-tion, Biblical History, and the Hebrew language according
to the German and Portuguese readings.
Sec. 2. The School or Schools shall be under
the direction of the seven School Directors, who shall be chosen yearly
at the first quarterly meeting of the Board of Managers. The President
shall be ex-officio a member of the Board of
Di-rectors.
Sec. 3 No pupil shall be admitted into the
School without a written order of the Directors. They shall determine the
price of tuition, and in proper cases may admit pupils gratu-itously or
for less than the usual charges adopted by them,

10
shall make rules and regulations for the government of the School, shall
determine the books to be used therein, and shall have a general
supervision of the School or Schools.
Sec. 4. The Teachers' salaries shall be
paid quarterly.
OF PRIZE SCHOLARSHIPS.
Section 1. The Board of Managers shall have
power to establish as rewards for distinguished merit in the School,
prize scholarships in the College, not exceeding five in number and shall
be authorized to pay into the College Fund, the necessary amounts for the
tuition fees.
Sec. 2. No pupil shall be entitled to a
prize scholarship unless he be recommended for the same to the Board of
Mana-gers, by the Principals of the Hebrew and English departments
in the School, and by a majority of the Board of School Directors.
OF THE COLLEGE.
Section 1. There shall be a College in the
city of Philadel-phia, styled Maimonides
College, in which besides the usual collegiate branches, there shall be
taught a full course of Hebrew literature.
See. 2. For the establishment and
maintenance of this College, there shall be a separate “College
Fund.”
Sec. 3. The College shall be under the
direction of the Trustees elected as hereinbefore provided by the Society
from among its members. Any vacancies in said Board of Trustees shall be
filled by the said Trustees. Of said Trustees at least seven shall be residents
of the city of Philadelphia.
Sec. 4. Any congregation or society
contributing yearly the sum of one thousand dollars to the College Fund,
shall be entitled to elect one additional member of the Board of
Trustees.

11
Sec. 5. This article shall take effect on
the Sunday before
Shabu'oth, 1868, (5628,)
and till that time the Board of Man-agers shall have full power to organize
and manage the College as they may deem advisable, and to delegate their
authority to any number of members of the Society, whom they may
desig-nate as Trustees for the purpose.
RULES OF ORDER.
Section 1. At all meetings the order of
business shall be as follows:

Roll-call.
Reading of the minutes of the previous meeting.
Reports of Officers.
Communications.
Election of Officers or Members.
Deferred business.
New business.

Sec. 2. The yeas and nays shall be entered
on the minutes when required by two members.
OF AMENDMENTS.
Section 1. No alteration, amendment or
addition to these By-laws shall be made unless proposed at one meeting of
the Society or Board of Managers and confirmed at the next meeting of the
Society by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, the Assistant
Secretary having sent ten days' notice of such amendment to all the
members.

RULES AND REGULATOINS
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF
MAIMONIDES COLLEGE.
The Faculty of Arts is composed of the following
Professor-ships:
A Professorship of Homiletics, Belles Lettres and Comparative
Theology,
“ “ The Bible and Biblical Literature.
“ “ Talmud, Hebrew Philosophy, Jewish His-tory and
Literature.
“ “ Mishnah with Commentaries, Shulchan Aruch and Yad
ha-Chazakah.
“ “ Hebrew and Chaldaic Languages.
“ “ Greek and Latin
“ “ Rhetoric and English Literature.
“ “ Mathematics.
“ “ Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.
“ “ German and French Languages.
OF THE FACULTY.

The Professors shall constitute “The Faculty of
Arts,” to whom, as a body, shall be committed the
immediate regu-lation and government of the Collegiate Department,
subject to the rules and statutes and the control of the Board of
Trustees.
The College shall be under the supervision of the
Pro-vost, who shall make report in relation to it to the Board
at least once a year.

13
3. Stated meetings of the Faculty shall be held every month, for the purpose
of administering the general discipline of the College; and special
meetings, as often as the business of the institution may require, to
be called by the Provost or a majority of the members. At all meetings of the
Faculty, the Provost shall preside, or in his absence a chairman can
be elected.
4. The Faculty shall appoint a Secretary from its own body whose duty it shall
be, to keep the minutes of their proceed-ings, which shall be,
at all times, open to the inspection of the Trustees.
5. No proceedings of the Faculty shall be considered as valid, unless passed
by a majority of the members at a meet-ing formally constituted.
6. It shall be the duty of the Faculty to make reports to the Board at their
stated meetings, upon the state of the Col-legiate department,
stating particularly the names and resi-dences of such students as have
been admitted into, or have left the institution since the last report,
with such remarks as they may deem expedient.
7. It shall be the special duty of the Provost, to visit and superintend the
various departments; to see that the rules and statutes are duly carried
into effect, to report to the Board every instance of refusal and neglect
to comply with such rules and statutes, and to advise and suggest such
alterations and improvements as he may deem best calculated to promote the
welfare and usefulness of the institution.
OF THE CLASSES.
1. The students shall be distributed into five classes.
2. No applicant shall be admitted into the Freshman class under the age of
14; any special exception shall be decided by the Board, upon the
application of the Faculty. His fitness

14
must appear on examination, to be conducted by the Profes-sors, who
must concur in opinion that he is qualified in such branches as shall be
prescribed by the Board.
3. The requisites for entering the Freshman class shall be as follows:
LATIN—Caesar, Virgil,
Sallust, Odes of Horace.
ENGLISH—The elements of English grammar and of modern Geography.
HEBREW—The translation of the historical portions of the Bible with
facility.
ARITHMETIC, including fractions and extraction of roots.
4. The Faculty shall keep a book called the Matriculation book, in which
every candidate for entrance into this College shall, on his admission,
have his name, age and residence entered, and the name and residence of
his parent or guardian.
5. No student shall be admitted to advanced standing, without being as fully
instructed as the class to which admis-sion is asked, in all the
studies in which the class has been instructed.
6. Vacation shall be from the 10th of July to the
31st of August.
COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.
1. The subjects of instruction in the institution shall be the
following:—
Greek, Latin, German, French, Hebrew, Chaldaic
and their literatures, the Natural sciences, History, Mathematics
and Astronomy, Moral and Intellectual Philosophy,
Constitution-al History and Laws of the United
States, Belles Lettres, Homiletics, Comparative
Theology, the Bible with its com-mentaries, the Mishnah with its
commentaries, the Shulchan 'Aruch, Yad ha-chazakah, Jewish
History and Literature, Hebrew Philosophy and the Talmud with its
commentaries.

15
2. At the close of each yearly term there shall be held an examination of all
the classes in the presence of a Committee of the Board, and of such other
Trustees as shall attend; after every examination the students who are
distinguished in each class shall be arranged in the order of merit.
3. No student shall be suffered to proceed to a higher class who shall not,
on examination show himself to be master of the studies of the
preceeding year, but he may be allowed the privilege,
(if the faculty shall judge it expedient to grant it,) of a second
examination for admission thereto, at the opening of the next succeeding
year.
4. Punishment shall be exclusively directed to a sense of duty, and the
principles of honor and shame, and shall consist of private admonition by a
Professor—admonition in the pre-sence of the Faculty—admonition
in the presence of the Fac-ulty and of the class of the
offender—removal to a lower class—suspension for a limited time
from college—dismissal—expulsion.
5. No punishment except private admonition shall be in-flicted, unless
ordered by a resolution of a majority of the whole of the Faculty; nor
shall the punishment of expulsion be inflicted unless it be first sanctioned by
a vote of the Trustees. In case of dismissal, the offender may be
re-admit-ted, but the effect of the expulsion shall be an utter
disqualifica-tion of the individual for re-admission into this
institution, or of receiving any of its honors.
6. The fees for tuition of each year shall be one hundred dollars, payable
at the commencement thereof; and no stud-ent shall be considered as
entitled to his seat in the class for the term, until such payment is made.
Notice that the tui-tion money is due, and that the Treasurer will at
times attend (the time then to be stated) shall be given by the
Secretary.

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7. The Board sanction the institution of a Literary Society, to consist of
the students and alumni of the college, or such of them as shall be
admitted members thereof, when suitable rooms can be appropriated for their
use. The said society to be under the general control and supervision of the
Faculty.
OF COMMENCEMENTS AND CONFERRING DEGREES
IN THE ARTS.

There shall be an annual commencement of graduates in the arts on
the last Thursday morning of each term, at 10
o'clock.
Candidates for the degree of Bachelor in the Arts of Di-vinity
shall be publicly examined by the faculty in the collegiate
departments, in the presence of the Committee of Examination and such
other members of the Board of Trustees as may attend.
The Provost shall report the names of those who shall have been
found worthy of receiving such degree to the Board, who shall, if
the report be approved, confer such degree ac-cordingly. But no
degree shall be conferred unless by the vote of the Trustees; and every
student, before he can be recom-mended for the degree of Bachelor
of Arts or Divinity, shall settle his account with the
Treasurer.
The degree of Master of Arts may be conferred on the Alumni of the
College, who shall have been Bachelor in the Arts of three years
standing, and shall apply for that honor.
The order of the commencement shall be directed by the
Faculty.

Identifier

LSKAP13-1274a

Date

1868-01-01