Author Description

In 1892, a few dozen Jewish women in Seattle came together to put into practice the principle of "tzedakah," Hebrew for charity. One of their first acts was not even for unfortunate members of their tiny religious community but for survivors of a disastrous mine accident. Calling their organization the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society, they extended their volunteer efforts to the needy whose numbers were swollen by fugitives from czarist pogroms and Ottoman oppression. Often aid was in the form of little more than a basket of food and some children's clothing, but the ladies arranged jobs and medical care too. Over the decades, the society transformed from a volunteer women's charitable group to a social services provider with paid professionals and more sophisticated programs, becoming the agency we know as Jewish Family Service (JFS).