The Oneg Shabbat and Gemilut Hasidim Society was founded on March 19, 1900, and operated under the auspices of the Jewish Church-School Community in Belgrade. It was one of the most numerous Jewish societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From March 1923, meetings and religious ceremonies were held in a three-story building constructed according to the design of architect Samuel Sumbul at 16 Jevrejska Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main goals of the society were to cultivate compassion and generosity among its members, to care for the sick, and to assist in maintaining religious rites after the death of society members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the ground floor of the building were the premises of Oneg Shabbat, while the upper floors housed youth and women\u2019s societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On its architrave are inscriptions from Psalm 71, written in Hebrew and Serbian: \u201cDo not cast me off in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The building was decorated with elements of the pseudo-Moorish style, giving it an oriental beauty and distinctiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A significant role in the social life of the Jewish community was played by the Jewish Women\u2019s Society, founded in 1874. It was the first women\u2019s society established in Serbia. Love for one\u2019s neighbor and a sense of moral duty to help the poor and those in distress were the reasons for its founding. Its members were devoted and well-to-do Jewish women from Dor\u0107ol, who wholeheartedly engaged in helping mothers after childbirth and poor brides-to-be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over time, the society expanded its activities to care for widows, orphans, and girls without dowries. During the war years at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, its care and assistance were directed toward the wounded and the sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The society gradually expanded its activities from Dor\u0107ol to all of Belgrade, and later to all of Serbia. In 1882, a delegation of the society was received in a special audience by Her Majesty Queen Natalija.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1906, the Serbian National Women\u2019s Alliance was founded in Belgrade, and the Jewish Women\u2019s Society was among the first to join it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the Balkan War broke out in 1912, the society dedicated all its activities to the homeland. Workshops for sewing underwear were opened, and the products were sent to the Red Cross. Members of the society visited hospitals and brought aid to the wounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Great War, the society launched initiatives to help severely endangered families without breadwinners, and soon after also the wounded placed in hospitals across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the postwar period, the Jewish Women\u2019s Society played a prominent role in major national and cultural activities in society, providing both moral and material support to Jewish and Serbian organizations alike: \u201cPotpora,\u201d \u201cOneg Shabbat,\u201d \u201cMilosr\u0111e,\u201d the \u201cJewish Hospital in Subotica,\u201d the Red Cross, the Circle of Serbian Sisters, the Princess Ljubica Society, and others. It also supported war invalids, \u201cSerbian Mother,\u201d the Association of Volunteers, National Defense, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the eve of World War II, the society built its own building with a clinic, school, and daycare center. In addition, it established a sanatorium for children suffering from tuberculosis in Pr\u010danj, in the Bay of Kotor, as well as a women\u2019s vocational school in Belgrade, where girls learned various crafts, received financial compensation for their work, and gained independence. The quality of the school\u2019s work was such that in 1929 it became the First State Women\u2019s Vocational School in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1938, the Jewish Women\u2019s Society built a Children\u2019s Protection Home at 2 Visokog Stevana Street in Dor\u0107ol, opposite the Old Synagogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Home included a daycare for preschool children and a dispensary for mothers and children. Courses in cooking, sewing, and tailoring were organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The society operated continuously until the catastrophe of Belgrade\u2019s Jewish community in 1941.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Built in 1923 in the pseudo-Moorish style, this building served as the headquarters of the humanitarian society Oneg Shabbat and Serbia\u2019s first women\u2019s association, the Jewish Women\u2019s Society, which for decades provided aid, education, and protection to the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":156,"template":"","monument_category":[29],"class_list":["post-252","monument","type-monument","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","monument_category-serbia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/monument"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument\/252\/revisions\/286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"monument_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkandlearn.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/monument_category?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}