Miscellaneous, 1916-1991

The main part of the collection consists of two minute books of meetings of the Board of Directors and of the general membership of the congregation. Discussions in the minute books address two main issues: the congregation’s finances, especially regarding renovation works at the synagogue, and the activities of the different committees of the congregation, such as the Good and Welfare, Ways and Means, Sick, and Moeth Chitim (poor relief) Committees. The discussions also contain information about the congregation’s school, the Menorah Institute, as well as its involvement, together with the Bureau of Jewish Education and the United Hebrew Schools of Greater Boston, in an initiative to establish a new community Hebrew school in Roxbury. Another focus is the relations between the congregation and other Jewish institutions like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Associated Jewish Philanthropies, and the National Council of Jewish Women. A question raised multiple times during the discussions addresses the idea of men and women sitting together on the same floor in the temple. The minute books also contain information about the appointment of Eliezer Berkovits, a prominent philosopher of Orthodox Judaism, as the congregation’s rabbi (1950-1956) and about the popularity of his services and his role in helping to draw greater attendance to the synagogue. Also documented is his ruling that the proceeding of men and women sitting together on the same floor was “not in accordance with Orthodox principles.” The last meeting protocols provide details about plans to relocate the congregation to Brookline and negotiations with non-Jewish institutions in Roxbury regarding the sale of the synagogue. The financial records of receipts and disbursements for the years 1961-1966 reveal a steady decline in the congregation’s funds during this time span.