“We’ve Come a Long Way”

Tree of Life Sisterhood 75th anniversary history script read at the Donor Luncheon. The script captures 75 years of Tree of Life Sisterhoods’ history as it intersected with  major moments in American history, including the founding of the Tree of Life Sisterhood in 1899 in a patriarchal society; the Congregation’s move to Craft Avenue in Oakland; Tree of Life Sisterhoods’ war efforts during World War I;  as women achieved the right to vote in 1920 and gained more freedom, the Tree of Life Sisterhood found Rabbi Herman Hailperin to be a major source of support beginning in 1922; Tree of Life Sisterhood held its first Purim show in 1927; its community service during the Great Depression and the 1936 St. Patrick’s Day flood; its war efforts during World War II; its pledge of $35,000 to the new Synagogue in Squirrel Hill; creation of the Jewish State of Israel i 1948; Tree of Life Sisterhoods’ first Sisterhood Sabbath in 1949; purchase of the Craft Avenue building by the Pittsburgh Playhouse in 1951; the Congregation’s Centennial Celebration in 1964; the role of women in Israel’s Six Day War in 1967; Rabbi Solomon M. Kaplan’s tenure with the Congregation. Typescript, English, nine pages.