Jewish Community of Lynn (Mass.) Records

In 1855, Simon J. Weinberg became the first permanent Jewish resident on record in the newly designated City of Lynn, which had received its charter in 1850. Initially, Lynn’s Jewish community was slow to grow, not reaching ten families until 1875. Weinberg participated in organizing Lynn’s first Jewish communal organization, the Lynn Hebrew Benevolent Society, in 1886. Several of the Society’s members continued, in the following decades, the institutional establishment of Jewish life. In 1896, many wives of the Society’s founding members set up the Ladies’ Hebrew Circle in order to organize efforts to help the community’s sick and needy. The Jewish Social Service Agency (Jewish Family Service) and the Lynn Hebrew School (Hillel Academy) were both established in 1899. The organizations established between 1904 and 1912 included the Lynn Jewish Associated Charities (Jewish Federation of the North Shore), the Hebrew Helping Hand Society, the Lynn Young Men’s Hebrew Association (North Shore Jewish Community Center), and the Menorah Society.

The turn of the 20th century saw a tremendous increase in Jewish immigration to America, and Lynn’s Jewish population grew. Recently arrived immigrants, primarily from Eastern Europe and Russia, were drawn to the job opportunities in Lynn’s industries, namely shoe making. Some members of this growing community also included active participants of the Socialist movement, and they established Arbeiter Ring branches and Socialist clubs in Lynn. This movement also influenced the formation of the Labor Circle Credit Union. The overall impact of Russian Jewish immigrants to Lynn, motivated by desires for personal and economic security, greatly influenced the development of the Jewish community. Stephen G. Mostov describes the impetus for the secularization of the community, “Despite their traditional upbringings and personal piety…maintaining a traditional Jewish life style came almost immediately into conflict with the immigrants’ desire for social and economic mobility.”

The majority of this growing Jewish community lived in the neighborhood surrounded by Commercial Street and Market Street. Jewish businesses primarily flourished on Summer Street and included grocers, bakeries, and kosher butchers. The decline of the Jewish population in Lynn after the 1940s, with many families moving to nearby suburbs in Swampscott, Marblehead, and Peabody, diminished the need for many institutions, services, and businesses. Parts of the Jewish business neighborhood were demolished in the 1960s. Organizations dissolved, such as the Yiddish language and literature school, or merged with other North Shore Jewish groups to combine resources and serve a wider community.

1850

Lynn receives its city charter.

1855

Simon J. Weinberg settles in Lynn; Weinberg is Lynn’s first recorded Jewish resident.

1858

Arrival of Solomon Wyzansky.

1867

Arrival of Lewis Wolf

1886

The Lynn Hebrew Benevolent Society is founded.

1896

Ladies’s Hebrew Circle is founded.

1899

The Jewish Social Service Agency (Jewish Family Service) and the Lynn Hebrew School (Hillel Academy) are founded.

1904

Lynn Jewish Associated Charities (Jewish Federation of the North Shore) is founded.

1906

Hebrew Helping Hand Society is founded.

1911

Lynn Young Men’s Hebrew Association (North Shore Jewish Community Center) is founded.

1912

Menorah Society and Labor Circle Credit Union are founded.