Page Eighteen

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, April 7, i 944

Ilihrith's Integral Part
of Detroit Jewish Life

An Historical Analysis of the Growth of the Movement
In This City from an Organizing Membership of 13
in 1857 to Its Present Combined Membership of over
5,500 in 5 Men's Lodges and 7 Women's Auxiliaries

By LOUIS H. SCHOSTAK •

T

HE STORY of the development and growth of
Bnai Brith in Detroit is virtually contempora-
neous with the history of the Jewish people in
our community. The charter members of Pisgah Lodge
No. 34, founded Nov. 24, 1857, included the religious
and communal leaders of that day. Among the 13
petitioners for a charter creating the first Bnai Brith
Lodge in Detroit were such names as Simon Heaven-.
rich, Seligman Schloss, Marcus Cohen, M. E. Fech-
heimmar, Moses Hershman, and Jacob Silberman. The

President, Greater Detroit Bnai Brith Council

ship of approximately 2,000, already celebrated ist 86th
birthday. Then came the Louis Marshall, the Theodor
Herzl, the East Side and the Detroit Lodge.

The Women's Auxiliaries

The auxiliaries or women's groups include Pisgah
Women, Business and Professional Women, Louis Mar-
shall Women, Theodor Herzl Women, East Side Women,
and only recently a charter was granted to Detroit
Lodge Women. These men and women of Detroit Bnai
Brith reflect a cross section of Jewish life in our com-
munity. Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Judaism
are represented. The Zionist and non-Zionist, the af-
fluent and those possessing ,- a lesser amount of material
wealth, the professional man, the business man, the
working man, all have their place in this great service
group.

The significant development, at least during the last
few decades, is a practical integration of Bnai Brith

LOUIS H. SCHOSTAK
President, Greater Detroit
Bnai Brith Council

Civic-Protective

Efforts

Locally that cooperation and sense of community re-
sponsibility has manifested itself in many other praci-
cal programs,. The civic-protective work which is
nationally carried on by the Anti-Defamation League
of Bnai Brith is. here coordinated through the Detroit
Jewish Community Council. A "V" Committee, under
the auspices of the Greater Detroit Bnai Brith Council
has been brought into being to furnish voluntary help
to combat the insidious cancer of anti-Semitism and
all un-American and subversive activities.
Cognizant that post-war economic dislocations will
be responsible for many maladjustments, with the
brunt of the burden carried by our own people, the
National Bnai Brith Vocational. Guidance Bureau has
joined hands with the Jewish Vocational Service Bu-
reau of Detroit to afford opportunities for group voca-
tional guidance to all those who will avail themselves
of this service.

--The AZA Youth Movement

Youth activity carried on through the youth move-
ment known as A.Z.A. of Bnai Brith is integrated with
the activity of other comparable organizations through
the medium of the Detroit Jewish Community Center.
Recognizing that youth training is not complete, unless
our young men and women realize that they are a
part of our community, the leadership of Detroit Bnai
Brith has recently entered into a coordinating program
with the Jewish Center so that our youth will receive
the necessary training for communal leadership.
Jewish education in our community receives the
moral and financial support of Bnai Brith. Many of the
members are ardent workers for the United Hebrew
Schools and all other educational institutions. When
Yeshivath Beth Yehudah recently conducted an edu-
cational program to acquaint the city with its hopes
and aspirations, Pisgah Lodge set aside one evening
dedicating it for the dissemination of information con-
cerning this institution.

A Vital Force in Jewish Life

Thus Bnai Brith has become a vital force in Detroit
Jewish life. Numerically, it is the largest single Jewish
service organization in this city. Its membership comes
from every walk of life. It is alert and responsive to
every call of the Jewish Community. Its leadership and
rank and file is identified with every worthwhile en-
deavor, promulgated by the Jewish Community Council,
the Zionists, the Temples and Synagogues, the educa-
tional institutions, the civic protective efforts, and the
many other inTerests in. our Jewish life.

ISADORE STARR
President
Pisgah Lodge No. 34

latter was not only the first president of Temple, Beth
El, but likewise was the first president of Pisgah Lodge.

The Order Bnai Brith had hardly reached its "Bar
- Mitzvah" when these forebears of some of our con-
temporary prominent families in Detroit realized the
urgency of a unifying force in Israel. Out of the seed
planted by these men, there grew the mighty oak of
Bnai Brith in Detroit, numbering today over 5500 men
and women.

-

Birth of National Movement

On Oct. 13, 1943, this great service organization ob-

served its centennial. A century - ago, Henry Jones, with
• rare vision and understanding, gathered about him,
in a small restaurant in New York, 11 like-minded
znen and propounded to them what was then con-

MRS. T. LEBOVITZ
President
Theodor Herzl Women No: 291

MAXWELL D. GOLDMAN
President
Detroit Lodge No. 1374

DAVID I. ROSIN
President
Louis Marshall Lodge No. 1203

activity with the communal endeavors of our city.
From the very inception of the first lodge, its members
were conscious of its responsibility to the community.
Throughout its long existence, Bnai Brith in Detroit
played an important part in all civic, charitable and
community programs. Its membership was an integral
part of the very core and life in our community. In
recent years, this sense of responsibility and kinship to
communal efforts has been manifested by a greater par-
ticipation on the part of Bnai Brith lodges and aux-
iliaries, as well as on the part of . individual men and
women in all phases of philanthropic, religious and edu-
cational endeavors undertaken by our community.
Every campaign for funds, whether it be for religious

LOUIS EDER
President
Theodor Herzl Lodge No. 1377

FRED E. SHERMAN
President
East Side Lodge No. 1465

Bnai Brith today stands upon the threshhold of a
second century of service. The first hundred years
were formative years. The growth • of Bnai Brith in
the United States from 12 men in 1843 to over 175,000
today, is the history of the growth and development of
American Jewry. The next few decades will be trying
years. This global catastrophe has left within its wake
of tragedy a glorious opportunity for American Jewry
to take the world leadership ' in Jewish life. The
reservoir of religious and cultural leadership of Europe
is now closed to us. This is a challenge to Bnai Brith
and American Jewry to create its own fountain of
inspiration and loyalty to Jewish traditions. Bnai Brith
has and always shall continue to make its contributions
so that the Jew of America may take his rightful place
among his neighbors and continue to strengthen our
democratic institutions so that our way of life may be
emulated by all others throughout the world. •

MARY SILVERMAN
President, Business and Pro-
fessional Women No. 240

sidered a revolutionary idea in Jewish life. The rivalry
and the disunity which existed among the 25,000 Jews
of his day in the United States dismayed him. He
conceived the idea of creating an organization with a
program which would embrace every shade of thought
and ideology in Jewish life, a program designed to
ultimately unite and cement all the elements of the
Jewish community in America. The 175,000 men and
women who are now dedicating themselves to the
principles of Bnai Brith are a living testimonial to the
vision and courage of those men who preached that
Israel can and must be united.

In Detroit there are today five lodges and seven
auxiliaries. The oldest lodge, Pisgah, with a member-

MRS. LEONARD SIMS
President Pisgah. Women
No. 122

MRS. ELLIS FISHER
President
East Side Women No. 386

or for charitable purposes, receives the united and
wholehearted support of local Bnai Brithdom. The call
for heap, whether it be from abroad or from the far
corners of our land, strikes a responsive cord in the
hearts of a Ben Brith.

rar,,,,L1ArkpAPAlk:,±,*:

MRS. FLORENCE ADLER
President, Louis Marshall
Women No. 390

MRS. JACK J. HARTSTEIN
President

Detroit Lodge Women

