In the meanwhile in 1923 a spare ward was set aside to care for the elderly at the Herzl Moser Hospital in Leopold Street in Chapeltown, an area where most Jews resided. It was decided to form a new charity to be known as the Leeds Old Aged Home. This room, which catered for seven residents, soon became inadequate as prospective residents were by now coming forward in droves. The first officers of this enterprise were Chairman, Hyman Morris [who later was appointed Hon. President] Vice-Chairman Nathan Silverman and Treasurer Maurice Stross. The committee appointed two secretaries, Emmanuel Cohen and Isidore Brill.
The cause of aged, needy and infirm Jews became a number one priority in the community and the caretaker committee, realising that more extensive premises were needed immediately to meet demands, urgently sought funds through the generosity of local benefactors. Premises were eventually obtained at a large house in Cowper Street in 1928.
A year later the Leeds Home for Aged Jews and Home of Rest opened at 62/64 Cowper Street and Maurice Myers became chairman, a position he held until 1956 when Mark Zermansky was elected. The Home accommodated 12 men and 10 women and although residents were often referred to as `inmates` their welfare and well-being became paramount. Despite the basic facilities the Master and Matron ruled with a rod of iron. A sign discovered some years later stated that inmates may only spit in the spittoons provided by the Master: by the end of 1943 the home had 48 residents. In 1956, at a time when the charity desperately wanted to move out of the Chapeltown area, the Donisthorpe estate in Shadwell crept quietly on to the market. But the Leeds Home for Aged Jews and Home of Rest committee lacked the necessary funds to make a viable bid.
It was an enviable site. The land stretched almost from Moortown Ring Road down to Street Lane, where the Judean Club was later to be built. It was left to one local man Todd Goldberg, who eventually masterminded the purchase of the Donisthorpe domain.
Todd, along with his brother Dick, had a well known cloth business in Leeds and traded under the name of Todd Richards, and both were highly respected members of the community. Todd had been a relentless worker for the Home and fortunately knew the owner of Donisthorpe Hall. He arranged for Shutes the builders, who were to finance the acquisition, to purchase the estate and then to sub-sell the Hall with seven acres of land to the charity. This left sufficient acreage for Shutes to build their planned housing estate. Later on the charity sold approximately one and a half acres to the Leeds Jewish Housing Association in order for them to build flats for the needy in the Jewish community.