Alpert, Helen

Boston Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was founded in New York City in the 1880s by the Russian Jewish community of New York in response to the influx of Russian Jewish immigrants fleeing the pograms in the Pale of Settlement in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 1889, a shelter which was used to house many of the immigrants adopted the name “Hebrew Sheltering House Association.” This organization merged with HIAS in 1909 and by 1914, had branches operating in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

The Boston office of HIAS was chartered in 1904 under the leadership of Harris Poorvu, Hyman Pill, Abraham Alpert, Meyer Bloomfield, Max Wyzanski and Samuel L. Bailen. HIAS operated autonomously from the national office in New York, even after their merger in 1916. Between 1914 and 1916, the Boston HIAS was affiliated with the Federated Jewish Charities (now Combined Jewish Philanthropies). In 1948, HIAS became a member of the Combined Jewish Appeal, another organization that created the current Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Poorvu served as president for twenty years before becoming treasurer. Abraham Alpert was the educational director of HIAS until his death in 1939. Alpert’s daughter, Helen, became the long-standing executive director of the Boston HIAS office in 1940.

HIAS ensured that Jewish immigrants had access to holiday and religious services and kosher food; provided shelter and social services; and assisted immigrants with finding employment and schools, often on short notice. After World War I, HIAS worked with individuals to locate displaced families, replace legal documents, and develop an educational program to help immigrants become naturalized citizens. During World War II, immigration was at the forefront of the HIAS mission as Jews attempted to leave Europe for the United States or Palestine. HIAS arranged for sponsors and worked continuously to help the many Jews who wrote to them for help, but immigration quotas made it extremely difficult to help, even when HIAS procured affadavits of sponsorship from relatives.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Boston HIAS office assisted non-Jewish immigrants from Europe, China, and the Middle East. The Boston HIAS office dissolved in the late 1970s, but the national office in New York remains an active force today.

• 1880s: Pogroms in the Jewish Pale of Settlement in Russia and Eastern Europe.
• 1881: Assassination of Tsar Alexander II; anti-Semitism increases exponentially in Russia. Jewish immigration to the United States begins in earnest.
• 1880s: Russian Jewish community in New York City forms the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to help new arrivals to the city.
• 1889: Shelter on Lower East Side becomes the Hebrew Sheltering House Association.
• 1891: Jewish residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev are expelled and many immigrate to the United States.
• 1904: HIAS establishes a bureau on Ellis Island.Boston HIAS chartered.
• 1909: The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society merges with the Hebrew Sheltering House Association and together became known as HIAS.
• 1914: By this year, HIAS established branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and an office in Washington, D.C.
• 1914: The Boston HIAS affiliates itself with the Federated Jewish Charities (Combined Jewish Philanthropies).
• 1916: Boston HIAS merges with the national HIAS office.
• 1917: A literacy test is legislated, making it more difficult for immigrants to settle in the United States.
• 1921 - 1924 : Quota legislation is passed in the United States, restricting the number of immigrants of each nationality allowed into the country.
• 1921: HIAS in New York purchases the former Astor Library on Lafayette Street to serve as a shelter.
• 1939: Abraham Alpert, HIAS Education Director, dies.
• 1940: Helen Alpert, Abraham Alpert’s daughter, becomes Executive Director of Boston HIAS.
• 1952: McCarran-Walter Act is passed.
• 1956: HIAS focuses efforts on rescuing Jews from Soviet invaded Hungary and evacuates the Jewish community of Egypt following their expulsion from that country.
• 1959: HIAS works to rescue Cuban Jews during the Cuban revolution.
• 1965: HIAS is instrumental in the passage of immigration legislation that replaces the National Origins Quota.
• 1970s: Boston HIAS office is dissolved.

From the guide to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Boston, Massachusetts, Records, undated, 1886-1977 (Bulk dates 1938-1954), (American Jewish Historical Society)