12 | MAY 13 • 2021 

Thanks,
Thanks,
Thanks,
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!

I

t was 1895, and Detroit’s 
Jewish population was 
exploding with an influx 
of immigrants from Russia, 
Poland and other Eastern 
European countries. Most had 
few resources, but the Jewish 
community had only just begun 
to organize communal and 
charitable services.
Looking for a way to help the 
newcomers, 10 Jewish business-
men and professionals met in 
the back room of Selig Koploy’s 
shoemaker shop on Hastings 
Street. They created an orga-
nization familiar to European 
Jews in even the smallest shtetls: 
one that would provide no-in-

terest loans.
The impetus comes from the 
Book of Exodus (22:24): “If you 
lend money to My people, to 
the poor among you, do not act 
toward them as a creditor; exact 
no interest from them.
”
The men called the new 
association Gmilith Chasudim
— usually translated as “acts of 
lovingkindness.
” It was incor-
porated by the state on Dec. 11, 
1895, and, almost immediately, 
became known in the commu-
nity as “Hebrew Free Loan.
” 
A humble organization his-
torically not highly visible in 
the Detroit Jewish community, 
Hebrew Free Loan (HFL) is 

marking its 125th anniversary 
— a year late, thanks to COVID. 
Instead of the celebratory 
event originally planned for last 
year, HFL will introduce a new 
logo and remake its website and 
social media pages. Donors, 
including TCF Bank, have 
underwritten the costs.
“We understand how import-
ant it is for people and small 
businesses to have access to 
needed capital to grow their 
businesses, get through tough 
times, provide for their educa-
tional needs, repair and improve 
their homes, and celebrate life-
cycle events,
” said Gary Torgow, 
executive chairman of TCF 
Financial Corporation.

A BRIEF HISTORY
Detroit’s Hebrew Free Loan was 
the third in the United States, 
after Pittsburgh and New York. 
Today there are 50 members of 
the International Association of 
Jewish Free Loans.
Hebrew Free Loan part-
nered with Detroit’s first Jewish 
communal organization, 
United Jewish Charities, in the 
1920s. When United Jewish 
Charities was succeeded by 

the Jewish Welfare Federation 
(now the Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit) in 1924, 
Hebrew Free Loan became one 
of its founding member agen-
cies.
The idea was simple: make 
an interest-free loan, secured 
by collateral, and require repay-
ment over a specified amount 
of time. As the funds are repaid, 
lend them out again.
Initially loans were secured 
by jewelry owned by the 
applicant — a ring, a watch, a 
brooch. Items were appraised 
on the spot, so that one writer 
described the HFL offices as a 
“genteel pawn shop.
”
HFL also allowed promissory 
notes signed by local Jewish 
businessmen to be used in lieu 
of collateral, and the board 
often debated making that the 
only loan method. After a dev-
astating burglary in 1925 (the 
$25,000 loss was covered by 
insurance, augmented by a pub-
lic appeal), the use of jewelry 
collateral declined dramatically 
and soon disappeared. 
Hebrew Free Loan’s offic-
es migrated northwest along 
with the Jewish community. 

OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!
Hebrew Free Loan!

Making loans, not interest for more than 125 years.

Hebrew Free Loan 
helped get the 
Nu Deli food truck 
on the road.

