Is It Still The Same Workmen's Circle?
Title
Is It Still The Same Workmen's Circle?
Identifier
IS_IT_STILL_THE_WORKMEN'S_CIRCLE
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"I have a long relationship with the Workmen’s Circle (Arbeter Ring)."
Date
2016-08-18/2016-10-27
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Text
IS IT STILL THE SAME WORKMEN’S CIRCLE?
I have a long relationship with the Workmen’s Circle (Arbeter Ring). When I was eight, my mother sent me to their Shule on Beck Street in the Bronx, NY. I had no strong feelings, one way or the other. I liked the teacher, Mr. Bernstein. We pronounced his name in Yiddish as Berinshteyn. In fact, I believe we addressed him as “Fraynt (friend) Berinshteyn. We went to class three days a week, after school. I learned the “aleph-bays,” and since Yiddish was my first language, it was no sweat.
However, when I was nine, my mother had a change of heart. She pulled me out of the Shule and sent me to a traditional Hebrew School in the Orthodox Synagogue down the block. It was a head over heart decision on her part. She was a Yiddishist, and was not “observant.” Still she must have felt that as a Jewish boy, I should learn how to “daven” and have a Bar Mitzvah. This would not happen if I attended the Workmen’s Circle Shule. After my Bar Mitzvah, she sent me back to the Shule, which I attended for another year. The same wonderful, warm Mr. Bernstein was there, and one of the students was a girl I liked
The Workmen’s Circle in the 1940s was at its height.. It had branches all over the country. More than 80,000 members. It had created Labor Lyceums, and provided places, not only for members to get together, but for them to get medical help, go to for vacations, and cemetery plots, where they could spend eternity together. They replaced the earlier “Landsmanshaftn.” They were an important secular alternative to Synagogues. Their politics were socialist. After all, they were the Workmen’s Circle. They were strongly pro-union, and many branches were tied to various union locals, especially within the ILGWU. They had started out as a Yiddish-speaking organization, added English speaking branches, and created Shules to teach Yiddish to the next generation. Their media outlets were the Jewish Daily Forward, radio station WEVD and their own Workmen’s Circle Call.
The organization was in the forefront of Jewish agencies warning about, and vigorously denouncing, Hitler. They were anti-communist, and were all over the lot regarding Zionism, since many of their leaders had been affiliated with the Jewish Labor Bund. After the establishment of the State of Israel, it took a while, but they became ardent supporters.
By the time I graduated college, I had become aware of the wide spectrum of Jewish community organizations. I did not identify strongly with any of them. As my mother taught me to recite as a three year old: “I am an American Jew and I’m proud of it too.” I tried to hold onto my Yiddish, sharing Yiddish phrases, and Yiddish punch lines of jokes with friends. I was strongly pro-Israel. I went to Shul on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and on my father Yahrhzeit. My mother and I made Passover Seders and lit Chanukah candles. And I was influenced by my mother’s attachment to her Yiddish newspaper, The Day, and the weekly radio program, The Forward Hour.
When I went to work for the ILGWU, it became clear to me that there was an almost symbiotic relationship between the union and the Workmen’s Circle. This extended to the YPSL (Young People’s Socialist League) and to the organization that I next worked for: the Jewish Labor Committee. Within weeks after I came on board, it was made clear to me that I should join the Workmen’s Circle. I did. It was 1956. I have been a member ever since.
As a staff member of the JLC, I was frequently called upon to give talks at Workmen’s Circle branches, which I enjoyed. I got to know the national leadership: Nathan Chanin, Benjamin Gebiner, Will Stern etc. I visited the offices in the Forward Building, and was impressed with the activity of the branches in the New York area. I learned about the many other branches across the country. There was a close relationship between the regional offices of the JLC and the Workmen’s Circle branches. When I left New York in 1965, I transferred my affiliation from my New York branch to Washington DC. I found another wonderful group of people.
The DC branch was involved in all the critical issues of the day: every aspect of the civil rights struggle, including voting rights, Soviet Jewry, the fight for recognition of the farmworkers union, the anti-poverty program, the preservation of Yiddish, and support for Israel. We initiated a fund-raising campaign for the Forward. I paid my dues and attended branch meetings, but I did not play an active role. I was involved with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), and was identified as a member of both the Workmen’s Circle and the Jewish Labor Committee.
When I moved to Boston in 1979, I again transferred my Workmen’s Circle membership, and also my involvement in the JLC and the JCRC. The Boston WC was struggling. There were several branches, each with its own histories. I joined one, for no particular reason. I was delighted that it was located in Brookline, near where I eventually moved. I was also delighted that it took on a half-time director, Herman Brown, who became the half-time director of the JLC as well. The office was run by its long-time manager, Esther Ritchie, who was the daughter of Chasia Seigel, a teacher of Yiddish, and co-host of a weekly Yiddish language radio program
To the best of my memory, the Executive Board was made up of old time members of branch 716 (Sam Levin), and 700 (Henry Winter), and Israel Neiman, a Holocaust survivor who became a successful businessman. Other important leaders included, Jack Rottenberg, and his wife, and Edgar Gutoff and his wife Hinda, and Gladys Heitin and her husband Eli, and Evelyn Bernstein, whose husband Arthur chose not to play a leadership role. His brother Julie, who died in 1977, had been the JLC director, and played an important role in the Workmen’s Circle.
Through the next couple decades, I tried to play an active role, and became involved in both our Boston Workmen’s Circle and National, serving in various capacities, including president in Boston and on the National Executive Board. When my son David was six, he attended the Shule, and at nine, Camp Kinder Ring. Fran and I went to Circle Lodge several summers.
Through the 1980s, Herman Brown tried his best to lead and revitalize the Boston WC. He created a Russian branch (687) but it went nowhere. Several young people were recruited and set up a new branch (2001) which caught on. I switched my membership to 2001, even though I was much older than most of its members. Among the young people were a few who revitalized the moribund Shule and it also caught on. By the 1990s, the Boston WC was actually growing, after decades of membership loss. Lisa Gallatin, who had been teaching music as part of the Shule, created a Yiddish chorus.
The 1990s saw the transition. Where there had been a distinction between the Greater Boston Workmen’s Circle and the I.L. Peretz School, that distinction disappeared. We updated the by-laws, and encouraged the newer, younger members to take leadership. Ed Gutoff, Naomi Isler, and I served as a transition. Lisa Gallatin took over as Director.
We celebrated the 95th and 100th Anniversaries of the Workmen’s Circle with lectures, concerts and lunches. We organized a New England Yiddish Conference, which attracted 100s of people. As National Workmen’s Circle declined, we grew. We played a more active role in the National Executive Board. Branch distinctions disappeared, except for the few remaining members of branch 716. We worked out an accommodation with National regarding dues. National had very little to offer us. In fact, the reverse was true.
I have a long relationship with the Workmen’s Circle (Arbeter Ring). When I was eight, my mother sent me to their Shule on Beck Street in the Bronx, NY. I had no strong feelings, one way or the other. I liked the teacher, Mr. Bernstein. We pronounced his name in Yiddish as Berinshteyn. In fact, I believe we addressed him as “Fraynt (friend) Berinshteyn. We went to class three days a week, after school. I learned the “aleph-bays,” and since Yiddish was my first language, it was no sweat.
However, when I was nine, my mother had a change of heart. She pulled me out of the Shule and sent me to a traditional Hebrew School in the Orthodox Synagogue down the block. It was a head over heart decision on her part. She was a Yiddishist, and was not “observant.” Still she must have felt that as a Jewish boy, I should learn how to “daven” and have a Bar Mitzvah. This would not happen if I attended the Workmen’s Circle Shule. After my Bar Mitzvah, she sent me back to the Shule, which I attended for another year. The same wonderful, warm Mr. Bernstein was there, and one of the students was a girl I liked
The Workmen’s Circle in the 1940s was at its height.. It had branches all over the country. More than 80,000 members. It had created Labor Lyceums, and provided places, not only for members to get together, but for them to get medical help, go to for vacations, and cemetery plots, where they could spend eternity together. They replaced the earlier “Landsmanshaftn.” They were an important secular alternative to Synagogues. Their politics were socialist. After all, they were the Workmen’s Circle. They were strongly pro-union, and many branches were tied to various union locals, especially within the ILGWU. They had started out as a Yiddish-speaking organization, added English speaking branches, and created Shules to teach Yiddish to the next generation. Their media outlets were the Jewish Daily Forward, radio station WEVD and their own Workmen’s Circle Call.
The organization was in the forefront of Jewish agencies warning about, and vigorously denouncing, Hitler. They were anti-communist, and were all over the lot regarding Zionism, since many of their leaders had been affiliated with the Jewish Labor Bund. After the establishment of the State of Israel, it took a while, but they became ardent supporters.
By the time I graduated college, I had become aware of the wide spectrum of Jewish community organizations. I did not identify strongly with any of them. As my mother taught me to recite as a three year old: “I am an American Jew and I’m proud of it too.” I tried to hold onto my Yiddish, sharing Yiddish phrases, and Yiddish punch lines of jokes with friends. I was strongly pro-Israel. I went to Shul on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and on my father Yahrhzeit. My mother and I made Passover Seders and lit Chanukah candles. And I was influenced by my mother’s attachment to her Yiddish newspaper, The Day, and the weekly radio program, The Forward Hour.
When I went to work for the ILGWU, it became clear to me that there was an almost symbiotic relationship between the union and the Workmen’s Circle. This extended to the YPSL (Young People’s Socialist League) and to the organization that I next worked for: the Jewish Labor Committee. Within weeks after I came on board, it was made clear to me that I should join the Workmen’s Circle. I did. It was 1956. I have been a member ever since.
As a staff member of the JLC, I was frequently called upon to give talks at Workmen’s Circle branches, which I enjoyed. I got to know the national leadership: Nathan Chanin, Benjamin Gebiner, Will Stern etc. I visited the offices in the Forward Building, and was impressed with the activity of the branches in the New York area. I learned about the many other branches across the country. There was a close relationship between the regional offices of the JLC and the Workmen’s Circle branches. When I left New York in 1965, I transferred my affiliation from my New York branch to Washington DC. I found another wonderful group of people.
The DC branch was involved in all the critical issues of the day: every aspect of the civil rights struggle, including voting rights, Soviet Jewry, the fight for recognition of the farmworkers union, the anti-poverty program, the preservation of Yiddish, and support for Israel. We initiated a fund-raising campaign for the Forward. I paid my dues and attended branch meetings, but I did not play an active role. I was involved with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), and was identified as a member of both the Workmen’s Circle and the Jewish Labor Committee.
When I moved to Boston in 1979, I again transferred my Workmen’s Circle membership, and also my involvement in the JLC and the JCRC. The Boston WC was struggling. There were several branches, each with its own histories. I joined one, for no particular reason. I was delighted that it was located in Brookline, near where I eventually moved. I was also delighted that it took on a half-time director, Herman Brown, who became the half-time director of the JLC as well. The office was run by its long-time manager, Esther Ritchie, who was the daughter of Chasia Seigel, a teacher of Yiddish, and co-host of a weekly Yiddish language radio program
To the best of my memory, the Executive Board was made up of old time members of branch 716 (Sam Levin), and 700 (Henry Winter), and Israel Neiman, a Holocaust survivor who became a successful businessman. Other important leaders included, Jack Rottenberg, and his wife, and Edgar Gutoff and his wife Hinda, and Gladys Heitin and her husband Eli, and Evelyn Bernstein, whose husband Arthur chose not to play a leadership role. His brother Julie, who died in 1977, had been the JLC director, and played an important role in the Workmen’s Circle.
Through the next couple decades, I tried to play an active role, and became involved in both our Boston Workmen’s Circle and National, serving in various capacities, including president in Boston and on the National Executive Board. When my son David was six, he attended the Shule, and at nine, Camp Kinder Ring. Fran and I went to Circle Lodge several summers.
Through the 1980s, Herman Brown tried his best to lead and revitalize the Boston WC. He created a Russian branch (687) but it went nowhere. Several young people were recruited and set up a new branch (2001) which caught on. I switched my membership to 2001, even though I was much older than most of its members. Among the young people were a few who revitalized the moribund Shule and it also caught on. By the 1990s, the Boston WC was actually growing, after decades of membership loss. Lisa Gallatin, who had been teaching music as part of the Shule, created a Yiddish chorus.
The 1990s saw the transition. Where there had been a distinction between the Greater Boston Workmen’s Circle and the I.L. Peretz School, that distinction disappeared. We updated the by-laws, and encouraged the newer, younger members to take leadership. Ed Gutoff, Naomi Isler, and I served as a transition. Lisa Gallatin took over as Director.
We celebrated the 95th and 100th Anniversaries of the Workmen’s Circle with lectures, concerts and lunches. We organized a New England Yiddish Conference, which attracted 100s of people. As National Workmen’s Circle declined, we grew. We played a more active role in the National Executive Board. Branch distinctions disappeared, except for the few remaining members of branch 716. We worked out an accommodation with National regarding dues. National had very little to offer us. In fact, the reverse was true.
Original Format
application/pdf
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “Is It Still The Same Workmen's Circle?,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 23, 2025, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/398.