The Relief Organization of German Jews, known as the “Ezra” company, was a non-Zionist German-Jewish organization that operated in the early 20th century to provide philanthropic aid to the Jews of Eastern Europe and Israel and to promote German culture among the Jews outside of Germany. The company was founded in Berlin by Dr. Paul Nathan and was headed by James Simon, Eugen Landau and Max Warburg.
In 1901, the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland (Relief Organization of German Jews, known in short in Hebrew as “Ezra”) was established in Berlin, Germany. Ezra had two goals: to help the Jews of Eastern Europe and to promote German culture among the Jews outside of Germany. In the months of September-December 1907, the founder of “Ezra”, Dr. Paul Nathan, toured the Land of Israel to see the schools that “Ezra” had established. While he was in Israel, he came up with the idea of establishing an institution of higher education in the format of a technical school, which would be the highlight of the educational activity of “Ezra.” Paul Nathan’s initiative stemmed from changes that began to take place in the area.
The Ottoman Empire that ruled the Land of Israel at that time lagged technologically behind Europe. At that time, the Turkish government started to initiate major development works and needed many technical workers. No such workers were to be found because no technical school existed in the entire Ottoman Empire and therefore technical workers had to be brought in from outside the empire. Paul Nathan hoped that Jews who graduated from the new technical school would be employed in the new technological projects, and that this would improve the economic situation of the Jews of Israel. The German economy would receive indirect help, because all the equipment, and some of the construction materials and engineering know-how, would be imported from Germany. Jews would be able to study technical subjects in Israel that they were forbidden to study in many places in Eastern Europe. More Jews would want to immigrate to Israel. Paul Nathan planned that the language of instruction at the technical school would be German, since all the textbooks would be in German, and the equipment the students would use would come from Germany (because the school’s funding would come from the German Ezra company).
In 1908, Nathan turned to David Wissotzky, son of Kalonymus Zeev Wissotzky, who was one of the leaders of the Zionists, and the founder of the “Wissotzky Tea” company, for help. Wissotzky pledged to contribute 100,000 rubles to the establishment of the technical school and another hundred thousand rubles five years later. Ahad Ha-am, who was a friend of Kalonymous Wissotzky, was a partner in the negotiations and managed to insert into the agreement a clause guaranteeing the Jewish character of the institution.
On March 29, 1908, in Berlin, Wissotzky and Ahad Ha-am signed the certificate to establish the ” Wissotzky Foundation” of Ezra for the establishment of a technical school in the Land of Israel.