National Council of Jewish Women. New York Section

Early Years The National Council of Jewish Women was founded at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Under the auspices of the World Parliament of Religion, Hannah Solomon, a prominent Jewish Chicago clubwoman, organized the Jewish Woman's Congress. Circular letters were sent to large cities, asking Jewish women to hold local mass meetings electing delegates to meetings in Chicago convening on September 4, 1893. At these larger meetings, upon hearing papers and speeches by Jewish women, attendees formed the National Council of Jewish Women with the intent to promote religion, philanthropy, and education. 1

Delegates did not delay in translating the energy from the Jewish Women's Congress into the formation of local Council Sections. Synagogue sisterhoods had not yet emerged as regular features of American synagogues. 2 An attempt in May of 1894, led by Minnie D. Louis, produced dissension between Orthodox and Reform women and prevented the successful organization of the New York Section. It wasn't until November 1894 that a group of 120 Jewish women formed the New York Section, and Rebekah Kohut, widow of Rabbi Alexander Kohut, with both Conservative and progressive ties, became its first president. Other leading women included Julia Richman, Esther S. Ruskay, Mrs. Frederick Nathan, Sarah Lyons, Minnie Isaacs, Dinah Gitterman, and Mrs. David L. Leventritt. Kohut noted, "The Council brought every sort of personality into its fold, people of the aggressive organizing type, of the modest retiring sort, women who were lukewarm about their religion, women who were intensely religious, members of the old families, and some of the latest comers to America." 3 Kohut worked especially to develop collaboration among the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform women who agreed to meet on the common ground of social service. New York Section hosted the National Council's first convention, November 15-19, 1896, attended by 250 members. Having been recently absent from Section affairs due to family needs, Kohut welcomed National Council but then resigned as New York Section president, believing in the rotation of office and wanting to devote more time to study. 4

Early Religious Focus New York Section was founded as a religious organization. Its early efforts included the formation of Study Circles. These discussion groups familiarized women with traditional Jewish texts previously accessible only through male study and discussion. While this was not an invention of National Council, it was the first Jewish organization to utilize the principle of adult education. 5 In such a setting, women became conversant in expression of American gender roles within a Jewish context, creating a unique American Jewish womanhood. 6 Local rabbis rather than Council members, however, led these Circles. 7 New York Section's second president, Rachel H. Sulzberger, noted that the Study Circles "quickened the religious feeling of the community." 8 Study Circles declined as National Council endeavored to meet the increasing needs of immigration and urbanization. Although National Council moved away from its original religious mission, it continued to be involved in the promotion and education of Judaism.

National Council was the offspring of the economic and social success achieved by German Jewish immigrants in the United States. As this community of German Jews matured and stabilized, they developed a uniquely American form of Reform Judaism as a way of adapting to American life without losing their religious identity. Councilwomen grew up in this community of German Jews, and the development of Reform Judaism had a tremendous influence on Council's approach to religion. In the ensuing years, as at its inception, Council was often caught in a power struggle between Reform and traditional Judaism. 9 An early conflict, over Sunday Sabbath observance, propelled the Council towards social welfare work and deterred its identity as a religious organization. National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods formulated in 1913 partly to fill a vacuum created as National Council moved away from religious activity to educational, social welfare, intellectual, and cultural work. 10

New Emphasis: Social Reform The early projects of the Council concentrated on offering Study Circles for religious study and religious classes to immigrant children in various city venues, including Randall's Island. Beginning with pioneering the opening of a Recreation Room on Orchard Street in 1899 to protect immigrant girls and women from the pull of dance halls and the white slave trade, the Council soon changed its main focus to social reform work. Sadie American, National Council secretary, moved from Chicago to New York City in 1901, where she became president of the New York Section. Her emphasis on social welfare, particularly immigrant aid, became evident in the New York Section as well as the National Council's activities. Because so many Jewish immigrants came through Ellis Island, the burden of immigrant aid work fell to the New York Section. As the National Council shifted its emphasis away from religious work to social welfare work, immigrant aid became the National Council's primary focus. That change enhanced the power of New York Section and its president, power that other Sections resented. 11

Arbitration with National Office Administrative differences led to tension between New York Section, National Council, and other sections, particularly as a result of Sadie American's leadership style. She came under increasing criticism for her sometimes brusque manner and autocratic style. First attacked for her support of Sunday Sabbath observance, National Council members still reelected her as corresponding secretary at the 1900 triennial convention, then again in 1903 and 1905. But by 1914, no longer able to deflect criticism of her actions and her manner; she resigned as National Council secretary. New York Section promptly followed the pattern in vogue among dissatisfied Sections - it seceded. As the nation's largest Council Section, with membership dues constituting a seventh of National Council's entire budget, New York was instrumental in conducting Council's immigrant aid work. Under the experienced leadership of American, New York Section continued to maintain immigration work, and finally agreed to binding arbitration with National Council, resulting in New York Section's pledge of loyalty to the National Council. The Ellis Island programs remained under the jurisdiction of the National Council's Board. A year after its secession, New York Section returned to National Council membership, with a new President and a new Board. 12

Community Program Pioneer New York Section initiated and sponsored several projects, based on urgent needs, that later became independent entities. Recreation Rooms and Settlement became independent in 1905. New York Section's work with the blind in 1906 led to the 1914 formation of the New York Guild for the Jewish Blind. Lakeview Home opened in 1905 and provided a progressive haven for unmarried women and wayward girls; it became independent in 1917. In 1920, the New York Section at the Triennial suggested an annual event promoting Council and Judaism in synagogues throughout the country, and Council Sabbath became a National Council program. In 1945, New York Section ventured into group therapy in partnership with the Jewish Board of Guardians. The first of its kind, a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children, Council Child Development Center, opened in 1947. The Center became independent in 1956. Pregnancy Loss Support Program, started in 1983 and still functioning, introduced this area of counseling to the country.

Rebekah Kohut, first New York Section president, looked back on the Council work after its first thirty years and commented, "I should like to pause here... and speak more of the Council and what it stands for in its thirty years of existence. Besides its valuable contribution to Jewish life, and the fact that it gave women of our faith a national outlook, its aid to immigrants, its Americanization programme, its co-operation with congregations, its efforts in the correction of social evils, its voluntary suppression of its own identity in the gathering of war relief funds for the American Jewish Relief Committee, and its considerable service in Europe during the critical post-war period, are among a few of its achievements. 13

NCJW, New York Section Today Currently New York Section of National Council of Jewish Women is organized with a president, six vice presidents, and a board of directors who discuss local needs and strategic responses to contemporary Section programs. With the practiced experience of past presidents, vice presidents, and board members who continue to participate in a variety of ways, and with a professional administrative staff, New York Section functions as a volunteer organization involved in progressive social change, education, and community service.

Below is a detailed summary of New York Section's activities, listed under the following categories

Programs:

Advocacy: In an effort to reach current public needs, New York Section has used social advocacy to promote and legislate change. From its early years, New York Section has advocated for meaningful child labor laws, mothers' pensions, slum clearance, good low-income housing, and necessary public health programs. The Section fought for minimum wage laws, women's suffrage, anti-discrimination laws, and liberalized immigration quotas.

In support for the State of Israel and as a long standing member of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, New York Section has sent telegrams and letters to United States Presidents, New York congressmen, and Manhattan legislators urging continued efforts to seek peace in the Middle East, expressing dismay at shifts of federal support after the Camp David agreement in 1978, and has asked American leaders to abide by responsibility and commitment to the state of Israel through the 1980s to the present. The Section participates in parades, lectures, conferences, and financial support, particularly with the Israel Emergency Fund, and continues to applaud, question, and provide informed briefings to Congress.

In the 1980s New York Section advocated for the family, sponsoring a public forum on "The Jewish Family: Evolution or Revolution" in 1980. Through the decades, the Section has supported Roe vs. Wade and collaborated with the New York State Family Planning Media Consortium and the New York State Department of Health. Its 1989 legislative priorities included efforts to maintain a progressive attitude to making a woman's right to choose safe. New York Section continues to campaign for appropriate childcare and education.

Through the 1990s, New York Section continued to actively lobby on issues of reproductive freedom, aging, family and work needs, health care, hunger, crime prevention, education, and support for Israel. New York Section sponsored conferences on sweatshops, with a No Sweatshop campaign, elder abuse, and domestic violence, and has assumed a leading role in coalitions of organizations dedicated to eliminating abusive conditions at home and in the workplace. In 1999 New York Section co-founded New York Walks to End Domestic Violence, an annual event that raises public awareness in cooperation with over sixty participating organizations in New York City. New York Section recognizes the importance of the separation of church and state and opposes the use of public funds to finance parochial education.

Aging: To combat the loneliness and fears of older refugees and the growing surge of the elderly population following World War II, New York Section opened Council Club for Older People on the Upper West Side in 1946. The first senior full-day center in Manhattan, it met an essential social need with a broad spectrum of programs and opened the door for successive programs all over the City. In 1957, the expanded Club became the Katharine Engel Center for Older People. The Council Workshop for Seniors, officially opening in 1960, provided employment for retired people who needed financial opportunities. Now known as Council Senior Center, National Council's efforts to serve the aged continue to the present.

Children and Families : Women and children have always been a priority for the members of New York Section. Providing day camps, summer camps, day care, religious school, and pre-kindergarten programs, all occurring at Council House and Section settlement houses from 1900 through the 1930s. New York Section members organized the Washington Heights Day Nursery in 1939. In 1946, together with the Jewish Board of Guardians, New York Section pioneered a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children in a nursery school setting - Council Child Development Center. The Council Youth Program, begun in 1957, offered services for boys held awaiting trial at the Brooklyn House of Detention, where volunteers provided educational and recreational activities and acted as a link between families, prisoners, and jail officials. A subsequent survey of children in the New York City court system led to the implementation of an innovative program at Manhattan Family Court that provided guidance to those unable to cope with the complexities of the legal system. In 1964, Mayor Wagner chose New York Section to participate in pre-kindergarten classes as part of the Federal Head Start program. The Children's Library Program with its Book-Go-Round mobile lending library, opening in 1969, brought books and reading experiences to schools and day centers in disadvantaged neighborhoods. In association with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, New York Section opened the Council Child Care Center in 1983, providing accredited day care for the children of employees of Jewish communal agencies.

Currently, the Children's Literacy Program maintains small libraries in day care centers and public schools, with volunteers to read to the children and help them develop reading skills. The Whitney Artreach program offers elementary school students the opportunity to understand and appreciate art. New York Section also sponsors a City early childhood intervention program, Home Instruction Program for Pre-School Youngsters (HIPPY), in collaboration with the Citizens Advice Bureau and United Neighborhood Houses in the South Bronx, teaching parents of four and five-year-olds to teach their own children.

Counseling and Support Groups: New York Section became the first organization in the country to provide telephone counseling and support groups for people grieving over miscarriage, stillbirth, and newborn death, by establishing the Pregnancy Loss Support Group. Section's Troubleshooter program operated in conjunction with WCBS-TV. Volunteers responded to letters and phone calls, and researched information to help people work through government bureaucracy and consumer problems. The Bereavement Support Group, organized in 1997, offers support and solace to those dealing with the loss of a loved one. In response to September 11, 2001, New York Section staffed a help-line, NY1 For You, in cooperation with NY1 News, to provide information and referrals for people directly affected by the World Trade Center disaster.

Hunger: In the 1980s, New York City faced epidemic problems with hunger. Since 1983, New York Section volunteers have served a complete meal every Wednesday evening at their soup kitchen on West 72 nd Street, and sandwiches and fruit are distributed to overflow people unable to fit. A food pantry was added to distribute emergency packages of food staples for home use to individuals and families. The Family Soup kitchen furnishes a Sunday brunch for families with children.

Illness and Disability: The needs of the sick and the disabled became a growing priority for New York Section. In the early 1900s New York Section was unique in its commitment to assist the blind; volunteers read to the blind and taught blind children ways to become self sufficient, providing religious classes and recreational activities for them. Other sections across the country soon followed, and the program eventually incorporated into the Jewish Guild for the Blind.

In 1907, New York Section learned that among the indigent, sick, and disabled people living at the time on Blackwell's Island were Jews in desperate need of kosher food, clothing, and personal and religious attention. As a benevolent association, the women began visiting and providing for islanders' needs. In the early decades, volunteers rowed to the islands to serve the chronically ill. In 1927, New York Section moved beyond simple welfare provisions to build a synagogue and engage a rabbi in an effort to maintain religious values and identity. When Goldwater Memorial Hospital was built in 1950, New York Section furnished and dedicated the Gilda Roaman Chapel, which serviced about 300 Jewish patients. 14 They sent volunteers to the Metropolitan Hospital to help toddlers and to assist the overworked staff, also furnishing a children's recreation room.

The Jackson Stricks scholarship provides assistance for the physically disabled helping them learn marketable skills to achieve independent living. The Gail Heather Coates Scholarship provides supplementary aid to graduate students in the field of special education.

Since the 1980s, New York Section has worked to meet the needs of patients suffering with AIDS. The Pediatric AIDS Caring Team (PACT) offers physical stimulation and comfort to AIDS afflicted babies living at the Incarnation Children's Center in Washington Heights. Volunteers with the AIDS Friendly Visitor Program provide birthday parties and holiday entertainment for the AIDS patients at Goldwater Memorial Hospital. Knitwit volunteers create hand-knitted toys, sweaters, and other gifts for distribution to babies, children, and adults in hospitals and residential facilities.

Immigration: New York Section pioneered efforts to help newly arriving immigrants, opening recreation rooms and settlement houses with English classes, religious instruction, job training, and social opportunities. At President Grover Cleveland's request, volunteers were organized to meet incoming ships at Ellis Island, offering aid to bewildered girls, protecting them from exploitation and unscrupulous employers. Volunteers assisted newcomers in finding shelter and acclimation. New York Section opened the Lower East Side Settlement House (Council House) on St. Marks Place and offered a full scale program: a mothers' club, a counseling program, a mental hygiene clinic (one of the first established in a settlement house), a kindergarten, and religious classes.

A number of immigrant girls were forced into crime and vice, ending up in correctional institutions. New York Section volunteers paid weekly visits to Bedford and Hudson reformatories offering advice and assistance. In 1907, New York Section opened Lakeview Home, a new concept in its time, for unmarried mothers and wayward girls. The Girls Home Club opened in 1917. First a refuge for parolees, it soon became a haven for teenage girls needing guidance and affection.

In 1928, because of a dramatic shift of the Jewish immigrant population from the Lower East Side to the Bronx, New York Section opened a new Council House on Forest Avenue. Included in the program was the first maternal health clinic in a New York settlement, an employment service for women, and a sewing workshop for wives of the unemployed. In time, as the neighborhood became multi-racial, Council expanded its services to all groups in the area. A yearly attendance of over 69,000 took advantage of some 150 programs. New York Section remained in the Bronx until 1945 when the Council House building was given to the community at a ceremony attended by Eleanor Roosevelt.

After World War II, New York Section worked to serve Holocaust victims. Volunteers in the Services to the Foreign Born program worked to reunite families and located relatives for almost 24,000 people. Job training helped new immigrants start over, later evolving into the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA).

Jewish Women's Resource Center: The Jewish Women's Resource Center began in 1977, when a small group of Jewish feminists decided to put aside stereotypes and examine the full range of Jewish women's experiences, including the religious and secular, the private and public. The JWRC joined New York Section in 1982. On November 15, 2000, the JWRC was rededicated and named in honor of New York Section volunteer Eleanor Leff.

The JWRC maintains an extensive research library, interpreting the Jewish women's movement, housing important literature, and preserving unique documents with particular attention to document and explore the interplay of feminism and Jewish tradition. The library includes books, studies, unpublished dissertations, liturgies, rituals, baby-naming ceremonies, Rosh Chodesh services, feminist haggadot and bat mitzvah ceremonies, egalitarian ketubot, in over 11,000 documents about Jewish women. JWRC publications include Jewish Women's Literary Annual ; Which Lilith? Feminist Writers Re-create the World's First Woman ; and Di Froyen: Proceedings of the 1995 Conference on Women and Yiddish . The JWRC offers book discussion groups, lectures, seminars, workshops, and readings. The JWRC's Jewish Women's Poetry Project encourages published and unpublished poets to perfect their craft.

The JWRC has sponsored support groups for women rabbinical students, for older women's empowerment, and for Jewish lesbians. Conferences have explored "Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters;" "Jewish Women and Jewish Men;" "Jewish Women in the Arts;" "Feminist Judaism;" and "Women and Yiddish." The JWRC led the revival of Rosh Chodesh observances and Tu b'Shvat seders.

Religious Schools One way that Council worked to serve the growing needs of immigration while adhering to their primary goal of promoting Judaism was through religious schools. New York Section pioneered a new movement with the coordination of such schools, mostly for immigrant women and children, with the intention of instilling Jewish pride and identity as well as religious education. In particular, a religious school was organized for deaf Jewish children. At its height, religious school attendance reached seven hundred Jews. 15 By 1915, three of these religious schools had been closed, and in 1916, New York Section worked in a partnership with the New York City Educational Alliance, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, and the Orach Chaim Sisterhood to coordinate instruction, upkeep, and activity of the schools. 16 Particularly, the New York Section provided religious instruction for Jewish women at the Bedford State Reformatory, the Magdalen Home, Shelter Home for Young Women, and the Florence Crittenden League Home, where Jewish services were conducted on Sunday afternoons during the same time that Christian services were provided for Christian women and girls. 17 A Book of Prayer for Jewish Girls was published by New York Section in 1917 in an effort to reach this particular population. Jewish services and holidays were observed at Section's settlement houses, and children participated in Sukkoth, Seder, and Purim events. A series of "Bible Stories in Motion Pictures" was featured during the month of January 1912, utilizing new technology to educate and attract the masses.

Religious Activities Today In 1920, New York Section suggested an annual Council Sabbath that was accepted by National Office at its Triennial. Council Sabbath promoted traditional Sabbath observance and the National Council; Council members addressed congregations in special services at local synagogues. New York Section held the event, which takes place on the Sabbath closest to Purim, between 1920 and 1960, and later reactivated it in 1980.

Since 1927 with the dedication of Welfare Island Synagogue, New York Section has provided religious services to patients on Roosevelt Island. New York Section's Contemporary Jewish Affairs programs address issues facing American Jews and the continuance of Jewish families. The Jewish Women's Resource Center examines feminism and Jewish tradition.

War Relief:

Spanish American War New York Section formed a Red Cross Auxiliary in collaboration with all the Jewish women's organizations in the City.

World War I Relief National Council, as the first national organization of Jewish women, wished to serve during World War I under its own auspices, believing that it should stand as a unit alongside the Young Women's Christian Association and the Red Cross. Jewish male leaders, however, wanted all Jewish efforts to be coordinated through the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Welfare Board, so Council supported War efforts through these venues, as well as with the American Jewish Relief Committee and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York. 18 Thus financial support as well as bandages made in collaboration with the Red Cross helped support the War.

World War II The impact of World War II was significant for the New York Section, evidenced in Section activity and records, and war support ran rampantly through this time. A brochure entitled "It's their Fight and Ours" publicized its 50 th anniversary by semantically linking National Council members with soldiers. Rhetorical messages employed military references as Council programs advertised their various programs as a type of battle campaign. The Section sold $1 million in Liberty Bonds. A moment of silence during the April 19, 1944 meeting commemorated the Battle of Warsaw. The Red Cross awarded the New York Section with a citation for raising funds. Funds were regularly disbursed to War Emergency Funds. Members created Council Club canteen and dormitory for servicemen on furlough in the City. National Council of Jewish Women's New York Section celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1944, a significant transitional period.

Refugees, World War II New York Section responded to the after-effects of World War II by offering special assistance to refugees from the Holocaust, particularly through their Services to the Foreign Born program, which worked to reunite families and provide job training. Council looked abroad to the deprived children of France, Africa, and Israel, and launched Ship-A-Box, sending toys and educational materials for distribution to needy youngsters in children's homes, day care centers, and schools.

Chronology was compiled from the National Council of Jewish Women, New York Section, Records, Collection of the American Jewish Historical Society, Newton Centre, MA and New York, NY.