The Workmen's Circle fosters Jewish identity and participation in Jewish life through Jewish culture, education, mutual aid, friendship, and the pursuit of social and economic justice.
The Circle is a multi-generational community that preserves our heritage by presenting performances of our treasures of Jewish music, literature, drama and art; through celebrations of life cycle events such as birth and bar/bas mitzvah; and by renewing Jewish customs, ethics, and the Yiddish and Hebrew languages.
We invite you into our circle of cultural Jewish life. Our community of warmth and friendliness provides diverse and exciting programs and benefits, and the meaningful Jewish connection sought by so many. Jews of all backgrounds and beliefs join in our activities to enrich their own Jewish identity.
The WORKMEN'S CIRCLE, or Arbeiter Ring, is a secular Jewish fraternal organization founded to build a better world, foster cultural Jewishness, and offer friendships. Part of the national Workmen's Circle, started in 1900, the first Cleveland branch (#79) was chartered in 1904 to work for social legislation. Early on, the Circle was viewed as an organization of labor unionists, including Socialists, although there was no official connection. Members demonstrated for social security, unemployment compensation, child labor laws, workmen's compensation, and health security, and supported candidates who supported these issues. The group also provided lectures, poetry readings, plays, shows, and concerts in Yiddish. At its height in the 1930s, Cleveland had 4 Yiddish-speaking branches. The first English-speaking branch, #1030, was founded in 1939. The group bought its own cemetery in 1920 in PARMA. Camp Vladek (called the Workmen's Circle Camp) in Rock Creek was a summer resort for adults and a children's camp from 1950-63, when it was sold and the proceeds used to build a Workmen's Circle Educational Ctr. at 1980 Green Rd. in 1964.
The I. L. Peretz Workmen's Circle School first opened in 1918 on Scovill Ave., and with the exception of 1 semester in 1952, has been in continuous operation. Originally established to educate members' children, the school became a center for adult Yiddish classes and Yiddish cultural programming. Since the Holocaust, the Circle's emphasis has shifted to the preservation, promotion, and perpetuation of Yiddish language and culture. A Russian-speaking branch for Russian immigrants was established in 1975. In 1995 there were 3 branches in Cleveland and 1 in Akron; membership totaled approx. 1,200. The organization's director was Marilyn Fenton.
Click HERE to see the Article in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
HISTORIC OVERVIEW:
Towards the end of nineteenth century, Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe to the United States reached explosive proportions. Having endured the hardships of a sometimes harrowing journey across the Atlantic, many among the newly arrived were dumbfounded by what greeted them in America: a land of freedom and opportunity to be sure, but one too of exploitative labor practices, blighted and overcrowded tenements, ethnic rivalries, and the daunting job of assimilating into an unfamiliar new culture. Recognizing the importance of facing these challenges with a unified front, and feeling the resonance of traditional and deeply-held Jewish values emphasizing community and social justice, a convocation of progressive-minded immigrants gathered in 1900 to found Der Arbeter Ring, in English, The Workmen’s Circle.
Over the past century, we at the Workmen’s Circle have undergone significant changes in outlook and program, but have remained passionately committed to the principles at the living core of our organization: Jewish community, the promotion of an enlightened Jewish culture, and social justice. Our social institutions for years played a crucial ameliorative role in the lives of American Jews; through our camp, our schools, and through our lively communities across the country, we continue to play such a role today. Yiddish was once the primary language of the majority of our members; we are today widely known and respected as a central force in the renaissance of fascination and creativity in Yiddish culture that includes literature, music, theater, and more. Historically, the Workmen’s Circle raised a crucial voice in the struggles of American labor; today we work fiercely to remain a bulwark in the fight for the dignity and economic rights of immigrants, fairness in labor practices, decent health care for all Americans, in short, for the very promises that brought our organization’s founders to this nation in the first place.
The Circle is a multi-generational community that preserves our heritage by presenting performances of our treasures of Jewish music, literature, drama and art; through celebrations of life cycle events such as birth and bar/bas mitzvah; and by renewing Jewish customs, ethics, and the Yiddish and Hebrew languages.
We invite you into our circle of cultural Jewish life. Our community of warmth and friendliness provides diverse and exciting programs and benefits, and the meaningful Jewish connection sought by so many. Jews of all backgrounds and beliefs join in our activities to enrich their own Jewish identity.
The WORKMEN'S CIRCLE, or Arbeiter Ring, is a secular Jewish fraternal organization founded to build a better world, foster cultural Jewishness, and offer friendships. Part of the national Workmen's Circle, started in 1900, the first Cleveland branch (#79) was chartered in 1904 to work for social legislation. Early on, the Circle was viewed as an organization of labor unionists, including Socialists, although there was no official connection. Members demonstrated for social security, unemployment compensation, child labor laws, workmen's compensation, and health security, and supported candidates who supported these issues. The group also provided lectures, poetry readings, plays, shows, and concerts in Yiddish. At its height in the 1930s, Cleveland had 4 Yiddish-speaking branches. The first English-speaking branch, #1030, was founded in 1939. The group bought its own cemetery in 1920 in PARMA. Camp Vladek (called the Workmen's Circle Camp) in Rock Creek was a summer resort for adults and a children's camp from 1950-63, when it was sold and the proceeds used to build a Workmen's Circle Educational Ctr. at 1980 Green Rd. in 1964.
The I. L. Peretz Workmen's Circle School first opened in 1918 on Scovill Ave., and with the exception of 1 semester in 1952, has been in continuous operation. Originally established to educate members' children, the school became a center for adult Yiddish classes and Yiddish cultural programming. Since the Holocaust, the Circle's emphasis has shifted to the preservation, promotion, and perpetuation of Yiddish language and culture. A Russian-speaking branch for Russian immigrants was established in 1975. In 1995 there were 3 branches in Cleveland and 1 in Akron; membership totaled approx. 1,200. The organization's director was Marilyn Fenton.
Click HERE to see the Article in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland
HISTORIC OVERVIEW:
Towards the end of nineteenth century, Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe to the United States reached explosive proportions. Having endured the hardships of a sometimes harrowing journey across the Atlantic, many among the newly arrived were dumbfounded by what greeted them in America: a land of freedom and opportunity to be sure, but one too of exploitative labor practices, blighted and overcrowded tenements, ethnic rivalries, and the daunting job of assimilating into an unfamiliar new culture. Recognizing the importance of facing these challenges with a unified front, and feeling the resonance of traditional and deeply-held Jewish values emphasizing community and social justice, a convocation of progressive-minded immigrants gathered in 1900 to found Der Arbeter Ring, in English, The Workmen’s Circle.
Over the past century, we at the Workmen’s Circle have undergone significant changes in outlook and program, but have remained passionately committed to the principles at the living core of our organization: Jewish community, the promotion of an enlightened Jewish culture, and social justice. Our social institutions for years played a crucial ameliorative role in the lives of American Jews; through our camp, our schools, and through our lively communities across the country, we continue to play such a role today. Yiddish was once the primary language of the majority of our members; we are today widely known and respected as a central force in the renaissance of fascination and creativity in Yiddish culture that includes literature, music, theater, and more. Historically, the Workmen’s Circle raised a crucial voice in the struggles of American labor; today we work fiercely to remain a bulwark in the fight for the dignity and economic rights of immigrants, fairness in labor practices, decent health care for all Americans, in short, for the very promises that brought our organization’s founders to this nation in the first place.
