Institutions  /  Organizations

Overview

Creating Jewish organizations has been a significant part of Jewish life in Buffalo. Beyond the synagogue, organizations have shaped Buffalo into a thick interconnecting network of associations and often provided an essential service or supported a particular set of values. The first non-congregational organization was the Jacobsohn Society, that helped with burial costs in keeping with religious traditions. Soon after its creation, other benevolent societies with similar goals formed to look after the sick, and bury the dead. The Hebrew Benevolent Society, and its successor the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society drew members from a mix of affiliations across religious streams (of three synagogues by the 1870s) and occupations. Other successor and contemporary groups included the Hebrew Union Benevolent Association and its affiliate, the Hebrew Ladies’ Benevolent Society. Alongside these came the creation of B’nai B’rith Montefiore Lodge No. 70, Kesher Shel Barzel (Chain of Iron), the Independent Order of the Free Sons of Israel, Free Sons of Benjamin and the Independent Order of B’rith Abraham, the Sisters of Rebecca Lodge No. 12 and the True Sisters Society. In a community numbering no more than 1000 through the mid-1870s, the association possibilities were wide-ranging.

All of the organizations featured in this section began as small voluntary bands, run by, and for members. The number of organizations that were created before 1880, however, were outstripped by the number and range of organizations that originated in the East Side, some of which still have echoes to or direct links to our contemporary organizations, most notably the Hebrew Benevolent Loan Association. Some of the small East Side groups eventually grew into organizations that added paid staff, evolving in size and complexity (and others transitioned to agency status). Beyond the neighborhood cleavage, a range of religious, cultural and educational bodies, community service groups, Zionist and philanthropic organizations, emerged, some with local, regional and national ties, including the Jewish War Veterans and Hadassah. Organizational innovation did not restrict itself to a particular area, but reflected the period in which they were created. In the post WWII period, another surge of organization building began offering service to students through Hillel and Kadimah. These organizations were joined by groups including the Holocaust Resource Center, Mikvah, Chabad, and Ohr Temimim.