On May 8th, 1910, Rabbi David Lefkowitz convened a meeting of Jewish merchants and businessmen from his German-Jewish Reform congregation to discuss organizing Dayton's Jewish charities into a federation. Those present at this meeting included F.J. Ach, S.G. Kusworm, I. Yassenoff, Joseph Schwartz, A.W. Schulman, N. Feinberg, S. Margolis, S. Brown, Harry Lehman, Stanley Krohn, and David Cohen. They unanimously moved to organize a central body to be known as the Federation of Jewish Charities of Dayton. At the same meeting, they debated and adopted a constitution. As Article I, Section I of the constitution states, "The purpose of the Federation is the collection and apportionment of contributions, membership dues, donations and legacies among Jewish Charities and Jewish philanthropic organizations."
Over the past century, the Federation has continued to fulfill this purpose and has provided many services to the Jewish community. It has helped European Jews learn the ways of America, raised countless funds for displaced Jews and the State of Israel, and taken children from playing in the streets to structured activities at the Jewish Community Center. As its mission statement states, "The objectives of the organization are: to coordinate and enrich the religious, educational, cultural, and social life of the Jewish community of Greater Dayton; to maintain involvement with Jews of Israel and in every other part of the world; to raise funds for the support of local, national and international Jewish philanthropic purposes; to provide for central planning, coordination and administration of local Jewish communal services; to promote and protect the civic, economic, religious, and other human rights of the Jewish people; to represent the Jewish community in interfaith and intergroup activities; and to stimulate increased participation and interest in all meritorious community activities."
From the guide to the MS-434 Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, 1910-2010, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)
