I CLOSE-UP

RI" CIRCLE

Once the bastion of immigrants
and socialism, the Workmen Circle is reaching out
to new, young members.

.

judged as Jews, where they
don't see money as an
issue.
"It's personal there,"
says Mrs. Magid, who lives
in Huntington Woods.
"We're not lost in a crowd.
It's small. It just works."
Originally formed in
1900 as a socialist fraterni-
ty for new immigrants,
Workmen's Circle con-
tinues to offer benefits like
health insurance and a
credit union. Many mem-
bers are older men and
women who have long
family associations with
the organization. Regular
programs include Yiddish
concerts and film festivals.
At the same time, the
organization is undergoing
changes to attract and
meet the needs of younger
members. Locally; this has
meant a new executive and
Sunday school director,
programs in English and
High Holiday services.
"We need to bring
Workmen's Circle into the
modern world," explains
Bob Kaplan, national
Workmen's Circle exec-
utive director. "We're
almost in the 21st century.
It's about time Workman's
Circle gets into the 20th."

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

Mr. Kaplan outlines the
organization's values as
promoting Yiddish, frater-
nalism and making a
better world for all.
"Those remain cons-
tant," Mr. Kaplan says.
"But the way one expresses
them may be considerably
different than years ago.
"The reason for the
changes is simple," he
says. "We're losing mem-
bers."
In its heyday, the 1920s,
the organization boasted
some 84,000 members. To-
day, that figure has
dropped to 40,000. Mem-
bership continues to
decrease at about 4 percent
a year.
Another measure of the
Workmen's Circle's decline
in popularity is reflected in
the numbers attending an-
niversary conventions. In
1925, the 25th anniversary
celebration drew 30,000 to
Madison Square Garden.
For its 85th anniversary at
Town Hall in New York,
Workmen's Circle at-
tracted 500.
In addition, all but one of

America paved with grit
instead of gold, they band-
ed together to form a
mutual aid society. One of
the Workmen's Circle in-
itial appeals was offering
free burial and later,
health and life insurance to
members. Though no
longer free, health in-
surance and burial benefits
continue to be a part of the
Workmen's Circle package.

the Workmen's Circle
camps — located in upstate
New York — are no longer
in operation. Mr. Kaplan
blames the closings on poor
management.

T

he Workmen's Circle,
Der Arbeiter Ring in
Yiddish, was created
by five Jewish immigrant
workers at the New York
apartment of Sam Green-
berg at 151 Essex Street.
They were five of thousands
of Jewish immigrants who
came from Eastern Europe
to the United States at the
turn of the century.
Finding the streets in

P hoto by Je rome Mag id

IF

or much of her
adult life, Jeri
Magid had little
to do with Juda-
ism. She and her
husband celebrated some
holidays, but they never con-
sidered giving their children
a Jewish education or join-
ing a synagogue or temple.
The Magids didn't feel
comfortable in a congrega-
tion. Jeri Magid doesn't
like large, fancy syn-
agogues with congregants
dressed to the nines. She
didn't think she and her
family would fit in.
Today, Mrs. Magid lights
candles almost every Fri-
day night. Observing Jew-
ish holidays is an intrinsic
part of her life. She is a
member of the education
board where her son, Eli,
attends Sunday school.
Among his recent projects:
making Purim masks and
studying how the walls of
Jericho came tumbling
down.
The change in the
Magids' religious life is the
result of a secular organ-
ization: The Workmen's
Circle. It is the first Jewish
institution in town where
the Magids are comfor-
table, where they don't feel

Eli Magid with his mother,
Jeri.

Originally anti-Zionist
and anti-religious,
Workmen's Circle once
closed its schools on the
anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution.
Some of the early grave-
stones in the local
Workmen's Circle cemetery,
adjacent to Hebrew Memo-
rial Park on Gratiot near 14
Mile in Clinton Township,
are still marked with ham-
mers and sickles.
Throughout the 1930s,
the Workmen's Circle
became politically active.
Members were outspoken
in their support for Jews in
Nazi Germany and backed
the "freedom fighters" in
the Spanish Civil War.
In the 1940s and 1950s
Der Arbeiter Ring shifted
its focus from the immi-

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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