Researching Israel & Palestine in Our Collections

The Massachusetts Board of Rabbis was founded in 1938 as the Rabbinical Association of Greater Boston by Rabbis Herman Rubenovitz, Louis Epstein, Joshua Loth Lieberman, Beryl D. Cohen, and Sam Abrams. During the 1970s the Board focused on its chaplaincy work in hospitals as well as timely topics, such as social action, chevruta, and health insurance for Rabbis. This collection contains minutes, correspondence and statements regarding the Board's work around hospital chaplaincy, kashruth, Israel, intermarriage, and the Vietnam War.

Areas of Interest:

• Part I, Series IV: Statements and Resolutions - Israel, 1970-1971  
• Part II, Series V: Subject Files  
• Part II, Series V: Subject Files, undated, 1936-1970  
  • Israel, undated, 1950-1970
  • Jerusalem, 1953-1955 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

This collection includes material preceding and relating to the founding of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston (JCRC), including early papers of the local American Jewish Committee and the Central Advisory Committee (a predecessor agency),the constitution and by-laws of the JCRC, material relating to organizational membership in and representation in the organizations, correspondence of the officers and staff, minutes of meetings and proceedings of its Administrative Committee and other committees; and the organization's finances. Also included are material on the relationships between the JCRC and other Jewish agencies, including the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, National Community Relations Advisory Council, and community councils and local agencies in other communities, as well as extensive material on the activities of the organization, including antisemitism and antisemitic organizations, individuals, writings, and incidents; civil liberties and political extremists; civil rights, black-Jewish relations, and changing neighborhoods; Christian-Jewish relations, especially with the local Catholic community and Church hierarchy; church-state problems relating to education, Sunday blue laws, dietary laws, and adoption; crime and law enforcement; discrimination in housing, employment, and university admissions; immigration; intergroup relations; Israel and the Middle East, including material on Arab propaganda, boycotts, terrorism, Christian attitudes toward Israel, United States policy, Jews in Arab countries, and pro-Israel organizations and activities; Israel anniversary celebrations; Nazism, the Holocaust, and World War II; political campaigns and organizations. In addition, this series includes extensive correspondence with local and national government officials, rabbis and synagogues, and Soviet Jewry, as well as material on the public conferences of the organization, JCRC publications and releases, and photographs of JCRC activities and individuals connected with the organization.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

The records of the Women's Palestine Agricultural Association consist of correspondence, financial records, including receipts and ledger books, certificates of appreciation, programs for donors’ luncheons, photographs of a trip to Kanot taken in 1955, and books with names of life members and guests for various events. Of note are correspondences with Rahel Ben Zvi and Pioneer Women president Chaya Surchin. Materials are organized alphabetically.

View Finding Aid

The records of the American Physicians and Friends for Medicine in Israel (APF) contain materials detailing the operations of the organization. Materials relating to the APF's external activities and internal proceedings include correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, tours, galas, symposiums, conferences, financial statements, scrapbooks, publications, and audiovisual items. Of note are items documenting the APF's Fellowship Program for post-doctoral clinical training, the Solomon Hirsh Nursing Award for visiting Israeli nurses, podiatry programs, history of the organization, establishment of the Israel Institute of the History of Medicine, and early publications from the Israel Medical Association.

View Finding Aid

The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) was established in 1929 to assist the Jewish population in Palestine. It is now the largest Jewish nonprofit organization in the world and seeks to connect the Jewish diaspora to Israel and vice versa, as well as running programs to support the Israeli population through education and economic development. This collection centers on the Department for Renewal and Development within JAFI, primarily between the years 1990 through 1992 and includes reports to and from the department, and administrative records, such as meeting minutes and budgets.

View Finding Aid

Samuel H. Gurvitz was the owner of New England Millworks in Dorchester, Massachusetts and a veteran of World War II. In 1936 and 1939, he visited Palestine, and the photographs from this trip are included in the collection. In 1939 Gurvitz visited Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna and Prague and witnessed firsthand how the political situation in Nazi Germany was impacting European Jews.

Areas of Interest: Contact Prints and Snaps from Trip to Palestine, 1934, 1936 

View Finding Aid

Leo Shubow was a Boston rabbi who founded Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. Prior to becoming a Rabbi, he served as a Yeoman with the International Ice Patrol and wrote frequently about his experiences as well as what happened on the Titanic. Shubow wrote about Palestine in a recurring column called, "Palestine Today." Broadsides and fliers from speaking engagements identify Shubow as a frequent speaker on Israel. This collection contains articles, speeches, and correspondence with Stephen Wise, as well as news clippings and broadsides.

Areas of Interest: Clippings on Palestine/State of Israel, 1938-1967 

View Finding Aid

This collection documents the life of Dewey Stone (DDS). His involvement with the State of Israel and with Chaim Weizmann and the Weizmann Institute is heavily documented, as are his many philanthropic activities and his connection with a great many notable public figures and politicians. Contains papers and photos including correspondence and other materials relating to work as Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine (and Israel), as National Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, as a leading campaigner for Israel Bonds, and as co-founder of and Chairman of the Board of the Weizmann Institute of Science; 2 texts of radio broadcasts made in 1948 informing America about the Israeli war for independence and the new Israeli republic; a list of military equipment supplied by Mr. Stone to Israel in 1948; letters and biographical material relating both to pressure applied by Mr. Stone and others on Pres. Truman to recognize and support the new Jewish state and to Mr. Stone's financial support of Truman's campaign and the Democratic Party in 1948; materials on associations with Boston University (including the dedication of the Dewey D. and Harry K. Stone Science Building), and the Truman Library; tributes and awards; biographical material; memorials; miscellaneous speeches, presentations, and essays; miscellaneous press clippings; and various photographs. Among the correspondents are: Chaim Weizmann, Vera Weizmann, Abba Eban, David Ben Gurion, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, the Rothschilds, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai E. Stevenson II, Teddy Kollek, Golda Meir, Richard Cardinal Cushing, Jacob Fine, Henry Ford II, Solomon Goldman, John M. McCormack, Meyer Weisgal, and Stephen S. Wise.

This collection also contains several items relating to Dr. Chaim Weizmann's career as a statesman and as the first President of the State of Israel. Also consists of Ann Stone's personal correspondence including letters for medical assistance with Lord Marcus J. Sieff of London.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

This collection contains speeches, essays, correspondence, resolutions, and photographs documenting the professional, political, and personal life of Elihu David Stone. Included are materials pertaining to Stone's Zionist activities and his associations with the New England Zionist Region, World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization of America, Jewish National Fund, Keren Hayesod, and the passing of the Palestine and Lodge-Fish resolutions. Also included are speeches from Louis Lipsky, Henry Cabot Lodge, Congressman John C. McCormack, Colonel Josiah Wedgewood, and Governor Frank G. Allen. Addendum materials mainly include photographs of the Stone siblings and their families in Massachusetts, Lithuania, and Israel. Items also include 19th-century Russian military conscription papers and correspondence from the 17th Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.

Areas of Interest: Series III: Professional Affairs, undated, 1917-1952 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

 Harry Levine was the Massachusetts President and Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Plastic and Chemical Company. He was highly involved in the establishment of the State of Israel, primarily related to his facilitating the construction and import of Uzi submachine guns into then British-Mandated Palestine. Most of this collection includes transcribed interviews with Levine, photographs and correspondence. Biographical information, certificates, speeches and news articles are also included.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

Adolph Hubbard was a Boston area lawyer and co-founder of the Zionist Organization of America. In 1918, he was appointed as Administrator of the American Zionist Medical Unit by Louis D. Brandeis and traveled to Palestine to aid in the provision of medical services and establish the American Jewish Hospital. From the 1930s to 1950s, Hubbard was an active and leading member of Zionist organizations. Consists of correspondence and authorization reproductions, original photographs, mainly depicting his trip to Palestine as part of the American Zionist Medical Unit, news clippings, obituaries and prayer cards, and a testimonial issued by the Jewish National Fund for his Nahala outside of Jerusalem. Materials are organized chronologically.

View Finding Aid

Robert Silverman was an early leader in American Zionism, taking part in and establishing multiple Zionist organizations in his more than forty years in the movement. This collection consists primarily of documents and photographs related to Silverman’s Zionist work. Documents include correspondence and printed materials from various organizations with which Silverman was involved and pamphlets, maps, and newspaper clippings related to Israel and Palestine. The photographs mainly depict scenes from Israel and Palestine, with a few folders of images of Silverman himself and organizational events.

Areas of Interest: Israel/Palestine Materials 

View Finding Aid

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was founded in New York City in the 1880s by the Russian Jewish community of New York in response to the influx of Russian Jewish immigrants fleeing the pogroms in the Pale of Settlement in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 1889, a shelter which was used to house many of the immigrants adopted the name “Hebrew Sheltering House Association.” This organization merged with HIAS in 1909 and by 1914, had branches operating in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The Boston office of HIAS was chartered in 1904 under the leadership of Harris Poorvu, Hyman Pill, Abraham Alpert, Meyer Bloomfield, Max Wyzanski and Samuel L. Bailen. The Boston HIAS operated autonomously from the national office in New York, even after their merger in 1916. HIAS ensured that Jewish immigrants had access to holiday and religious services and kosher food; provided shelter and social services; and assisted immigrants with finding employment and schools, often on short notice. This collection contains the individual case files of immigrants who received assistance from the Boston office of HIAS, ship manifests, tracer correspondence, scrapbooks, passenger lists and photographs. Some later individual case files remain restricted (those dated after 1960) and researchers will require permission from the archivist of Jewish Heritage Center to view them.  

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

There is little information on the Kadimah Zionist Club as an organization other than being a regional branch of the Zionist Organization of America. Past presidents included Benjamin Rabalsky, Morris Rabinovitz, and Max Miller. The club occupied two locations, 27 School Street in Boston in 1929 and by 1934 and 1935, Barristers Hall, also in Boston. This collection contains the records of the Kadimah Zionist Club, 1929-1935. It includes a membership list for January 1929, letters sent to members from the president announcing upcoming meetings, and an undated raffle book. The raffle book is of interest as it is a raffle for two paintings, "Tower of David" and "Palestine Dwellings" done by the artist Joseph Tepper.    

View Finding Aid

The Zionist House was an organization founded to provide recreational, educational, and physical outreach for individuals and Jewish organizations in Boston. This collection contains correspondence, memoranda, trustee meeting minutes, reports, clippings, newsletters, and programs for anniversary concerts, lectures, films, exhibitions and other programs sponsored by the organization.

View Finding Aid

This collection contains records of the Congregation Ohave Sholom and Ohave Sholom Sisterhood, Gardner Chapter Hadassah. The collection has been organized into two series: General and Ohave Sholom Sisterhood, Gardner Chapter Hadassah.    

Areas of Interest: Series II: Ohave Sholom Sisterhood, Gardner Chapter Hadassah, undated, 1957-1986 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

The Farband Labor Zionist Order was a Jewish fraternal organization founded in 1910 and chartered in New York in 1913. With branches across the United States and Canada, it functioned as a mutual aid society aligned with the Socialist and Zionist political party Poale Zion. The material in the collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, publications, press releases, photographs, meeting minutes, brochures, and memos.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

 The New England Zionist Region is a regional branch of the Zionist Organization of America. The group was originally based in Boston and was associated with prominent leaders in the Zionist movement, including Louis Brandeis and Elihu Stone. The collection primarily consists of photographs taken at events hosted by the branch, including annual conventions and banquets honoring Drs. Chaim Weizmann and Albert Einstein, and Nahum Sokolow. The collection also contains a small group of documents and objects related to member events.

View Finding Aid

This collection contains materials related to the Lynn, Salem-Beverly-Danvers, and Swampscott-Marblehead chapters of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, including a history of the Lynn chapter produced in 1993, newsletters from the Salem-Beverly-Danvers chapter, and notes, pamphlets, and other information contained in the personal binder of Swampscott-Marblehead chapter president Irma Levenbach.

View Finding Aid

The Jewish Historical Society of Western Massachusetts Records contain materials collected by the society that document the Jewish community of Western Massachusetts. Included are materials on Jewish organizations, families, individuals, schools, arts and cultural institutions, and synagogues; publications written about or by the Jewish community; and information on the Jewish Historical Society of Western Massachusetts itself.    

Areas of Interest:  

• Series IV: Miscellaneous, News Clippings—General, undated, 1923-2015 
• Series V: Organizations, Hadassah, Jewish Federation 

View Finding Aid

This collection contains correspondence, writings, articles, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, photographs, and cassette tapes documenting Ron Fox’s longtime activism and criticism of Israel, as well as his involvement in the Jewish community. Included are correspondence and other materials related to the founding of the Alternative Religious Community of Marblehead, meeting minutes related to his work with the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, writings on Jewish topics and themes, and other collected articles on Jewish life and values. Also included are his correspondence with various politicians, organizations, and individuals regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; meeting minutes, correspondence, and photographs documenting his involvement in the New England Tikkun Community, Wadi Na’am Project, and Tikkun Leadership Committee; subject files—which include newspaper clippings, articles, and other secondary sources—on topics such as the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war and settlements; as well as numerous writings and articles Fox authored about issues surrounding the conflict.

View Finding Aid

This collection contains correspondence, photos, newspapers and clippings, manuscripts, and financial records documenting the life of Harry Spiro following his immigration from the shtetl of Butrimantz in Lithuania, first to Havana, Cuba and then to the United States. Included in the collection are materials relating to his family, his Zionist activism both in Cuba and in the United States, and his building supply business, Best Lumber.    

Areas of Interest: Series V: Zionism, undated, 1910-1986 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

Meyer H. Goldman was a Boston-based lawyer and Zionist. This collection contains meeting minutes, pamphlets on Zionism, correspondence—including letters between Goldman and the American Council for Judaism, regarding their opposing views on Zionism—drafts of plays and skits, and three books.

View Finding Aid

A Boston lawyer, Hebrew scholar and Yiddish orator, Benjamin Rabalsky was involved in the local Zionist movement. A member of the American Jewish Congress, American Zion Commonwealth, Boston West End Jewish Liberty Loan Committee, Zion Association of Greater Boston and New England Zionist Region, he dedicated much of his time to Zionist causes.  

This collection contains a small amount of business correspondence in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, relating to Rabalsky's activities with multiple Zionist groups, including the American Jewish Congress, the American Zion Commonwealth, the Zion Association of Greater Boston and the New England Zionist region. It also contains family correspondence in Yiddish. Rabalsky did travel to Palestine and some notes from his trip are included (in Hebrew.) The collection highlights Rabalsky's dedication to Zionist causes as well as the regard he held in the Boston community. 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

Philip W. Lown was a businessman, philanthropist, and leading figure in the Jewish Community. In 1926, he became a joint owner of the Pilgrim Shoe Company in Auburn, Maine, and later president of Penobscot Shoe Company and Lown Shoes Inc. Starting in 1937 and up to his death, Lown worked philanthropically within the Jewish community, most notably in Jewish education. He served on such boards as the American Association for Jewish Education, the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundations, and the World Council on Jewish Education. He also founded the Lown School of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Graduate Center for Contemporary Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. This collection contains Lown’s autobiographical and biographical memoirs, writings, speeches, notes, personal correspondence, honors, photographs, and news clippings.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

Max Nigrosh was the President of the Jewish National Fund of Greater Boston and a leader in the Zionist movement in the early to mid-20th century. This collection contains broadsides from meetings and concerts that included Nigrosh’s involvement, as well as a news article about the Jewish National Fund.    

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

This collection contains speeches, essays, correspondence, resolutions, and photographs documenting the professional, political, and personal life of Elihu David Stone. Included are materials pertaining to Stone's Zionist activities and his associations with the New England Zionist Region, World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization of America, Jewish National Fund, Keren Hayesod, and the passing of the Palestine and Lodge-Fish resolutions. Also included are speeches from Louis Lipsky, Henry Cabot Lodge, Congressman John C. McCormack, Colonel Josiah Wedgewood, and Governor Frank G. Allen. Addendum materials mainly include photographs of the Stone siblings and their families in Massachusetts, Lithuania, and Israel. Items also include 19th-century Russian military conscription papers and correspondence from the 17th Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.    

Areas of Interest:  

• Series I: Zionism, undated, 1917-1962 
• Series IV: Speeches, Essays and Addresses, undated, 1918-1951 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

This collection contains multiple radio addresses and speeches made by Rabbi Liebman on a variety of topics between 1940 and 1947. His topics included Zionism, Judaism, Dr. Chaim Weitzman, Rabbi Stephen Wise, United States Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo, as well as matters relating to the positive impact of religion on mind and spirit. The papers are in good condition, and many have draft formats included.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

This collection contains correspondence from Bernard Weinronk of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to his cousin Bernard Weinberg of Boston, Massachusetts. Also included are meeting minutes describing the goals, resolutions, and activities of Zionist groups in which Weinronk was active.

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

George and Sadie Kramer were active and dedicated members of the Zionist movement. Much of their work was done within their home community in Malden, Massachusetts. In Malden they addressed issues facing the Jewish community both locally and globally, including advocacy for Palestine to become the Jewish homeland, organizing community events, and working with the United Jewish Appeal. George and Sadie were also involved in Malden’s Masonic Lodges, George as a Grand Noble and Sadie as a lifetime member of the Germania chapter. Both were honored by the Jewish National Fund, as well as others, for their many years of dedication to the Jewish community. 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

Benjamin Ulin was born in Boston on Oct. 21, 1899. He attended Harvard and later graduate school at the London School of Economics. He was highly active in the Jewish community and Boston community. He served as President for the Boston board of the Associated Jewish Philanthropies (1953-1956) and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies (1962-1964). He served as Vice President for the Zionist Council (1943-1960) and Vice President and founder of Zionist House (1945-1988). He was founder and President of the Jewish Community Council (1953-1956) and the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (1965-1975). He has also served on the board of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (late 1950s) and the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (since its inception). He was the first President of the Large City Budgeting Conference. This collection contains the oral history interview conducted by Bernard Wax of the American Jewish Historical Society with Benjamin Ulin, under the auspices of the Council of Jewish Federations, Inc. 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives

Harold and Romayne Goldberg were active members of numerous Jewish organizations in Boston. Harold Goldberg was a member of the Associated Jewish Philanthropies, American Jewish Committee of Greater Boston and the Combined Jewish Appeal. In 1964 he served as president of the Business Men’s Council of the Combined Jewish Appeal and was also a member of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Romayne Goldberg served as president of the Boston chapter of Hadassah from 1948-1951. She also served as president of the Combined Jewish Appeal and the Brandeis National Women’s Committee. This collection consists of newspaper clippings, scrapbooks and photographs documenting and highlighting aspects of the Goldbergs’ extensive roles in the Greater Boston Jewish community.    

Areas of Interest: Hadassah Materials 

View Finding Aid

View in Digital Library & Archives