B’nai B’rith Women

The Women’s Auxiliary of Pittsburgh Lodge No. 44 of IOBB began in 1921 under the leadership of Lillian S. Davis. The first women’s auxiliary of the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith had been established in 1909, after a short-lived auxiliary in the late 1890s.

As part of a national reorganization effort in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the network of women’s auxiliaries became B’nai B’rith Women and began dividing into smaller affinity groups known as chapters. The original Pittsburgh auxiliary became the Lillian S. Davis Chapter followed by the Homestead Chapter in 1937 and Menorah Chapter in 1938. By the late 1950s, B’nai B’rith Women counted at least 30 chapters throughout Western Pennsylvania, including parts of Pittsburgh and small-town chapters in Braddock, Eastmont, Forrest Hills, Homestead, McKeesport, New Kensington, the South Hills, and Swissvale. B’nai B’rith Women also oversaw the local B’nai B’rith Girls.

District 3 of B’nai B’rith Women elevated two local women to the position of international B’nai B’rith Women President: Lillian Holstein and Dorothy Binstock.

B’nai B’rith Women became Jewish Women’s International in 1995.

B’nai B’rith Women District 3 chapters

Bibliography

Exhibit history

• Author: Eric Lidji
• Original: January 1, 2025
• Current: January 1, 2025