Sisterhood
Despite the fact that the community was small, Niagara Falls maintained both an active Hadassah chapter and a keen and engaged synagogue sisterhood. Often the same women who worked so hard to raise money for Israel, worked equally hard to support B’nai Jacob, their synagogue. The women gave of their time and energy making sandwiches, washing tablecloths and contributing to shul life in a host of other ways, including organizing parties at Purim or Chanukah, both for the children and the adults. They were called upon regularly to help out financially and materially, whether by raising funds to pay a janitor, purchasing a piano, donating to the building fund or providing needed new drapes. They also assisted Federation by organizing their annual campaign banquets. Fundraising activities included garden parties, rummage sales and monthly card parties, which regularly netted over $100 and were held at different women’s homes. In the early 1960s, New Year’s Greetings books, with ads collected both from Niagara Falls and from Welland, were another way to raise money.
The B’nai Jacob Sisterhood was also involved with non-Jewish women’s organizations and was invited by them to different functions. The minutes from 1956 include one invitation from the women of the Kitchener Street United Church, a second to a tea party hosted by the Niagara Peninsula Ladies Shrine Club and a third to a fashion show organized by the National Secretaries Associations. Sisterhood’s charitable donations also extended beyond the Jewish community to local organizations in need, including a school for those who at the time were called “retarded children.”
The B’nai Jacob Sisterhood also found time to educate and inform themselves. Guest speakers addressed the group on a number of occasions, on topics of interest to the women. Marjorie Chisholm, a kindergarten teacher, spoke about 4-year-olds and their habits in school. Other topics included what to say if your child asks about other people’s religions, and a discussion of celebrating Christmas and Chanukah in the public schools. In the early 1960s, Niagara Falls native and then newly-elected Member of Parliament, Judy Lamarsh, spoke on the topic of “Law, of Interest to Women.”
