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THE JEWISH NEWS

The founders of Bnai Brith not
only 'imbued it with noble ideals but- -
clothed it with the broadest of altru
istic objectives, which were stated in
the preamble to the first constitution
as follows:

Friday, October T, 1943

Following the Kishinev pogrom of 1903, Bnai
Brith in accordance with a plan conceived by its
president, Leo N. Levi, organized the forces
responsible for the Kishinev Petition of the American
People. President Theodore Roosevelt accepted -the;
petition from a Bnai . Brith delegation and Secretary;
of State John Hay arranged to have a bound • copy;:'
deposited' in the 'archives of his. Department. Mr.
'Hay, hOWe
ver, sought, without , success to submit
the 'petftiotrta--the Czar's 'gdvernment. Bnai Brith
contributed .$50,0f)0 for the relief of the victims of
,, the pogroms and cooperated with Oscar Straus,
Cyrus, L. _Sulzberger and others in. , raising. additional..

"Bnai Brith has taken uponitself
the mission of uniting Israelites in
- the. Work 'Of prOmOting their highest
- interests and those 'of 'humanity; of
deVeloping • and elevating the mental
ar4moraL character:of the People of
- our faitl-n• of inculcating the 'purest
principles of philanthropy; honor and •:
1
HENRY MONSKY .
During- Word War I Bnai Brith rendered effe6v
patriotism; of stipp`Orting . SCience and
P.IT'ITNIIPYFER
Bnai Brith President Since 1938;
One of- Bna• Brith's 1Z Founders
art;
alleyiating
tive
aid to Jews in the war zone. Hundreds. of thou'sh , -
-
the'
wants
of
the
poor
. •
Conceived Conference-
,
and Its First President
- and needy; visiting and attending the
ands of dollars were cabled to Austria;•Poland, Gall-
sick; coming tO, the rescue of vic - • , cia and Bohemia in 1914, 1915 'and 1916. Bnai
time's- of ,persecUtidn; providing for,
Brith also played a part in .forming. the American
Jewish Congress of 1918 and was represented in . the
protecting and assisting the widow
delegation that went to Versailles to press for nainor
and .orphan on the broadest principles
ity rights for the Jews of Europe. -
of humanity."
Before President Wilson left for Versailles he
Froin the outset Bnai Brith drew
conferred with Bnai Brith leaders on the problems
into its fold men of diverse views,
of European Jewry.
education and standing in the com-
munity. German Jews were predomi-
During World War II, Henry Monsky, president
nant in the early days because its
of Bnai Brith, took the initiative in uniting Ameri-
beginnings coincided with the Ger-
can Jewry for a united Jewish post-war program
man immigration of the late 1840's.
when he convened the Pittsburgh Conference of
For this reason, the earliest proceed-
1943, out of which grew the American Jewish.
ings were in German and continued
Conference.
•
until the first English-speaking lodge
Shortly
after
the
Armistice
in
1918,
Bnai Brith
ALFRED M. COHEN
was founded in Cincinnati in 1850.
HENRY JONES
created
a
war
orphan
program
through
which
thous-
President from 1925 to 1938;
Founder of the Bnai Brith and Its
ands of homeless Jewish waifs were adopted by Bnai.
Today Bnai Brith is a family of
Organized Youth Activities
First Secretary
Brith in this country.
150,000 men, women and young peo-
ple, organized in more than 1,300
First Overseas Lodge
lodges, auxiliaries and AZA chapters
In its work abroad, the American Bnai Brith.
in 600 communities.
was guided by the advices it received regularly from
Because of its planned neutrality:-
Bnai Brith lodges overseas. The first lodge was
on the theological issues that divided
'organized in Berlin in 1882, and in 1885 'President
the leaders of all shades of Jewish
Bien visited Germany to establish a grand lodge.
religious thought, Bnai Brith was able ,
By 1933 Bnai Brith had lodges and grand lodges in
to enlist the support of conservative
more than 30 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and
and liberal rabbis alike. Isaac Mayer
South- America, where they played important roles
Wise, Isaac Leeser, David Lilienthal,
in community affairs and in furthering Jewish wel-
Morris J. Raphall and Leo Mer2
fare and education.
bacher. each had his own interpreta-
Since 1937, Hitlerism an _ d World War II yip.,
tion of Judaism, but in the spiritual
wally have destroyed Bnai Brith abroad. First to
orientation of Bnai Brith they saw
be forcibly liquidated were the lodges in Germany,
• a hopeful bulwark against the grow-
Austria and Czechoslovakia, which suffered t - he same
ing secularisni in Jewish life, which
fate as the Masons, Kiwanis and - Rotary. Since 1939, -
was - their common _concern. David
the war has wiped out Bnai Brith in Poland,
_Finhorn was close to the order and devised a new
Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Greece,- Bulgaria, Yugo- .
ritual . in '1857.
slavia, Holland, Denmark, France, China and Algeria
Intellectuals like isidor Bush, Sigmund Water-
and practically suspended- its work in Turkey and
Excerpts from a factual account of 100 years
man, Moritz Mayer and Emanuel Friedlein, who
Brazil.
were: dismayed - by the - low educational level of many
of Btiai Brith history, pre-printed with per-
In 1943, there are functioning grand lodges . in
mission from Volume 45 of the American
of the Jewish immigrants, were delighted by Bnai
Britain, Palestine and Egypt and subordinate lodgeS
Jewish Year Book, published by the Jewish
Brith's intentions of "developing and elevating the
in Syria, Hawaii, Argentina, South Africa, Mexico,
Publication Society of America.
mental and moral character of -.the people of our
Cuba, Chile, Uruguay. In Canada, where the lodges
faith." -
are administratively identified -with those in the
United States, Bnai Brith has long been one of the
Whatever may 'have been. .their motives, those
HEN BNAI BRITII was founded a centurY-
vigorous forces in\ the Jewish community.
who joined Bnai Brith in its formative period were
ago, the American Jewish community con-
as one in recognizing the opportunities for good
In the past three years Bnai Brith has participated
k 1 V sisted of 25,000 persons, large numbers of
implicit "in' the . .Oitanization's ob-
- whom were recent immigrants. What there was of
jectives.' - Appearing on the scene
organized community life centered around the 34
when pla.nned philanthropic effort
synagogues scattered throughout the country. Except
in the American Jewish community
for- a few burial societies, there were no philanthropic
was non-existent, Bnai Brith's earli-
Or educational agencies detached from the synagogue.
est of organized efforts were directed
into communal and --philanthropic
Some of the younger and, better educated among
paths which- a century Of experience
the German newcomers recognized that the times
has broadened into great highways
new
' for a ne
type of community organization.
of humanitarian . and 'educational
Chief among these was Henry Jones, a machinist,
service in this coan&y - and abroad.
who was born in Hamburg, Dec. 22; '1811, and emi-
grated to America in 1830. He ' was prominent in
Congregation Ansche Chesed, New York City's third
respo nsible
for the foundation
d Con of
.
oldest synagogue, of which •he was secretary during
a 1 e land
su ch institutl°115 as the 1,1Clev
the late 1830's and early 1840's. •
Hoine_ (1_868) ,
Jew- -
• - between the conkregations of the
The rivalries
) .77.;:r„ew r
's: 7
; Portuguese, Dutch, English, Polish ; Bohemian and
ADOLF KRAUS
leair '(t8',75); IfOnie-ffor the Aged - at
BENJAMIN F. FEIXOTTO
Headed Lodge for 20 Years
German JeWrs, each with its own ritual and separate
President of Ens! Brith During
Yonkers 880, H b
From 1905 until 1925
the Civil War
tightly knit community, dismayed Jones and his
Home
"(1.889),-;1\ratiOnal 7 -
friends. Jones proposed to found a • society which,
Jewish floSPital at Deriver '.(1,89 5
. V ]
while based on the teachings of Judaism, would be
Erie Ho.tile 'PyifcifOri1012), and
free in its deliberations from everything dogmatic
the Leo N. Levi Memorial Hospital
and doctrinal and "Would be able to unite all Jews
at Hot Springs
- in a common cause.
In 1927, Bnai :Brith opened- the
To implement his ideal, Jones gathered around
-Home fO'r : the" Aged in MemPhia- It
him 11 like-minded men, and, on Oct. 13, 1843,
also establiShed a special socialsery-
established the Bnai Brith. His associates were Isaac
ice bUte4u to aid the thousandss--Of
Rosenbourg, William Renau, Reuben Rodacher, Jonas
non-English speaking patients who
Hecht, Michael Schwab, Hirsch Heineman, Valentine
sought :treatMent at lic' Mayo Clinic,
Koon, Samuel Schafer and Isaac Dittenhoefer. Ditten-
Rochester; Minn. Only ' *recenibr - a
hoefer was chosen the first president and Jones the
JewiSh .chaplaincy was created at the
first secretary .
Mayo Clinic,

100 YEARS

lanai Brit

A Century of Service

By Bernard Postal

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.

Successors to Dittenhoefer

Successors to Dittenhoefer as president of Bnai
Brith were the following, in chronological order:
Dr. James Mitchel, Henry Jones, Mosley Ezekiel,
Joseph Ochs, Henry Marcus, Dr. Sigmund Waterman,
Benjamin F. Peixotto, P. W. Frank, Julius Bien, Leo
N. Levi, Simon Wolf, Adolph Kraus, Alfred M.
Cohen and Henry Monsky. Jones' successors as na-
tional secretaries were Moritz Mayer, Moritz Ellinger,
Mayer Thalmessinger, Solomon Sulzberger, A. B.
Seelenfreund, Leon Lewis, Boris D. Bogen, Isaac M.
tubinow and Maurice Bisgyer.

B in
rith also played its part
SIMON WOLF
shaping ,two of the traditions of
LEO N. LEVY
Bnai Brith Spokesman for Half
President of Organization
Anierican Jewry: overseas relief and
Century in Washington
From 1900 until 1901
diplomatic activities on -behalf of
oppressed and stricken Jewries
abroad. In 1851. Bnai Brith joined with other Amer-
actively in the joint Jewish measures on behalf of
ican Jews in making representations to the United
the Jews of Europe. It has been represented in all
States government against a new commercial treaty
the important delegations which have gone to Wash-
with Switzerland which contained a clause imposing
ington to plead or protest in behalf of European
limitations on the rights of Jews in certain Swiss
Jewry. In the creation of the joint. Emergency Com-
cantons. It was not until 1857 that satisfactory modi-
mittee, which is pressing for action by the United
fication of the treaty was secured.
(Continued on Page 47)

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