The influx of Eastern European Jews in the 1880s and 1890s acted as a catalyst for the organization of synagogue Sisterhoods. The large mainstream Jewish charities of the period were dominated by men and they primarily concentrated on supporting activities through the dissemination of funds. The women took a different tack with the creation of organizations that promoted “personal service.” The emphasis was on serving society rather than the synagogue.

The first Sisterhood in New York City was established in 1887 at Temple Emanu-El. On January 15, 1894, the first meeting of the B’nai Jeshurun Congregational Sisterhood took place, its formation encouraged by the congregation’s new rabbi, Stephen Wise. The service of Sisterhoods could include members personally providing relief to individuals, supporting religious, industrial, and cooking schools, day nurseries, employment bureaus, workrooms for the teaching of trades to unskilled women, and evening classes and activities for working women.

The Sisterhoods worked in close cooperation with the United Hebrew Charities (a predecessor of The Jewish Board) to “improve the condition of the poor by assisting them in various ways to raise themselves from their present conditions.” Each synagogue was assigned a geographic area or district for which it was responsible for delivering individual treatment to each dependent family. B’nai Jeshurun’s Sisterhood was first assigned a district on the Lower East Side, where in 1895 it established a downtown Religious School whose volunteer teachers were Junior Sisterhood members, i.e. older students of the synagogue’s religious school. In 1898, the Sisterhood’s assigned district shifted to the blocks between 66th and 76th Street, east of Sixth Avenue. Initially B’nai Jeshurun’s Sisterhood rented a house, but, in 1905, the group purchased a townhouse at 332 East 69th Street, out of which it conducted its activities. In 1907, 500 families received relief from the Sisterhood, with nearly half the families visited personally by Sisterhood members. In 1909, the Sisterhood’s coverage area shifted slightly to the area between 70th and 76th Street.

Financial support for these activities came partly from the United Hebrew Charities and partly from the members of the congregation. Beginning in 1902, the Sisterhood was recognized as an auxiliary branch of the congregation, with reports provided to the Board of Trustees. The annual Yom Kippur Charity Collection reserved a large portion of the funds raised for the Sisterhood’s social service programs. Additional funds were raised by “entertainments, musicales and theatre parties.” Members of the Junior Sisterhood, besides teaching, also engaged in fundraising activities, worked with children, and conducted visits to the Beth Israel Hospital on the East Side. The 1910s, however, saw a decline in the congregation’s membership and the Junior Sisterhood was merged with the main Sisterhood. By 1914, the conduct of all Sisterhood relief work had been given up, including the East 69th Street house, and the entire program was handed over to the United Hebrew Charities. By 1918, all the city’s Sisterhoods had followed suit. That, however, was not the end of the philanthropic work of the women of the BJ community.

After the congregation moved to West 88th Street, both the synagogue and the Sisterhood were revitalized. But times had changed; there were no longer massive numbers of immigrants entering New York City and the Sisterhood’s emphasis now shifted to more synagogue-focused activities. In 1921, the conservative movement organized the Women’s League, which focused on strengthening Judaism and the synagogue. Philanthropic activities, however, continued with events such as the B’nai Jeshurun Sisterhood’s 1925 Theater Benefit for Keren Hayesod in Palestine.

Sources

• Felicia Herman, “Sisterhoods of Personal Service in the United States”
• Israel Goldstein, A Century of Judaism in New York: B’nai Jeshurun 1825–1925
• The Jewish Board