New Light Congregation members
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
The Roumanian Ladies Aid Society was a beneficial organization created by Jewish immigrants from Romania living in the Pittsburgh area. It was chartered in 1907 “for the mutual relief of its members in case of sickness, disability or death and to aid in the case of the deserving sick and indigent and the burial of the worthy poor and unfortunate among the Jewish people of Allegheny County.”
Subscribers on the charter include Aneta Goldman, Sarah Weber, Bella Moskovits, Jeannette Kupperberg, Rachel Hershcovitz, Sarah Panijel, Malka Horovitz, Rachel Fridman, Sofie Birman, Lena Cohen, Pearl Malamet, Sarah Fridman, Goldie Bernstein, Mollie Sperling, Bluma Marcus, Anna Braunstein, Ethel Rosenthal, Rachel Josephson, Marie Rosenthal, Anna Phinkel, Mollie Snyder, Rosa Choosat, Anan Benveniste, Elena Grunberg, Lena Wald, Lenea Fox, Mollie Benjamin, Lena Kaufman, and Lillie Silverman. Braunstein, Wald, and Cohen were the inaugural officers.
Unlike the many Jewish women’s groups that operated as “auxiliaries” to existing congregations or fraternal organizations, the Roumanian Ladies Aid Society was an independent organization. It included members with family connections to both of the Jewish congregations in the Hill District formed by Jewish immigrants from Romania: Oher Chodesh Congregation (also known as New Light Congregation) and Cneseth Israel Congregation.[1]Feldman, Jacob. “The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania,” Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 1986 (catalog record).
The Roumanian Ladies Aid Society adopted a new charter in 1942, changing its name to the American Ladies Relief Society and focusing on war relief among other domestic causes. [2]“Roumanian Ladies Aid Society,” Jewish Criterion, June 5, 1942, p. 15 (online).
With the Jewish outmigration from the Hill District in the early 20th century, the Jewish population with Romanian heritage was spread across several neighborhoods. Cneseth Israel Congregation relocated to the East End in 1946, and New Light Congregation relocated to Squirrel Hill in the mid-1950s. With the opening on the New Light Congregation synagogue at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Beechwood Boulevard in Squirrel Hill in 1957, the American Ladies Relief Society reorganized again, becoming the New Light Sisterhood.[3]“Reorganized New Light Congregation,” Jewish Criterion, June 28, 1957, p. 5 (online). The New Light Sisterhood oversaw many fundraising, educational, and social functions within the congregation throughout the 20th century.
References
| ↑1 | Feldman, Jacob. “The Jewish Experience in Western Pennsylvania,” Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 1986 (catalog record). |
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| ↑2 | “Roumanian Ladies Aid Society,” Jewish Criterion, June 5, 1942, p. 15 (online). |
| ↑3 | “Reorganized New Light Congregation,” Jewish Criterion, June 28, 1957, p. 5 (online). |
