Title: Beth Israel Center (Madison, Wis.) Records
Inclusive Dates: 1908-1920, 1948-1982

Creator:

• Beth Israel Center (Madison, Wis.)

Call Number: Mss 427; Micro 618; Tape 1246A; PH 4803

Quantity: 6.4 c.f. (16 archives boxes), 1 reel of microfilm [35mm], 8 tape recordings, and photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records, mainly 1948 to 1975, of a congregation founded in 1904 as Agudas Achim. In 1949 members of Agudas Achim built a new synagogue, the Beth Israel Center. Included are minutes, correspondence, financial records, printed materials, newsletters, photographs and oral history interviews with former officers of the congregation; Yetta Daitch, Sam Onheiber, Celia Rosenberg, and Adolph and Janet Weinshel. Materials document the center's construction, and the administration, fundraising, philanthropic, and social activities of the congregation, its Talmud Torah, Sisterhood, and Men's Club. A minute book (in Yiddish) documents the administration of the center's predecessor, Agudas Achim, from 1908 to 1920, and is available only on microfilm.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00427

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In 1904, when Madison's total population numbered 30,000, eighteen eastern European Jewish immigrants founded Congregation Agudas Achim Anshei Madison, which for a quarter of a century was to be the only synagogue in the city. The charter members included Edward Dubrov; Abe Felsher; Max Halperin; Barney Nathenson; Jacob Novick; Aaron Richman; Abe Sinagub; Albert, Alex, Isaac, Sam and Saul Sinaiko; and Abraham, David, Israel, Jake, Joseph and Moses Sweet.

The newly-formed congregation met for prayer at the houses of its members. Each member paid ten cents a week into a building fund, and in 1905, they acquired a lot on the corner of Mound and Park Streets at a cost of $800. The building itself measured 40 by 28 feet, and was patterned after a synagogue in Chicago. Building costs totaled more than $2,000. The first service in the new synagogue was held on Rosh Hashanah of 1906, and Aaron Richman was installed as the first president.

As the Jewish population in Madison grew, additional space for the congregation was needed. In 1912, forty more feet were added to the original building, doubling its size, at a cost of $3,000. The Talmud Torah (religious school) was established in 1918, but did not become part of the congregation until 1925. The Ladies' Auxiliary, originally known as Chava Schwester (Eve's Sisters), was organized in 1926 for the purpose of assisting the synagogue's fundraising activities and community projects.

In 1932, the synagogue dropped the “Anshei Madison” from its name to become Congregation Agudas Achim. Not until two years later was the synagogue served by a rabbi who had graduated from theological seminary. The same year, Agudas Achim acquired three lots at the corner of Mound Street and Randall Avenue. In 1937, an additional lot was purchased for $12,000. The congregation sold the building in 1949 and began construction of a new synagogue on the site purchased fifteen years earlier. The cornerstone was laid on October 30, 1949, and dedication services were conducted the following year. The name of the congregation was changed to the Beth Israel Center. Emanuel Simon served as its first president.

The records document the varied activities of the synagogue, both religious and secular, including the religious school, adult social clubs, and the financial structure of the institution. In order to better understand the dating of the records, the researcher should remember that the synagogue's calendar runs according to the Jewish monthly cycle. Thus, the year runs from September to August. The collection has been divided into the following series: ADMINISTRATION, FINANCIAL RECORDS, TALMUD TORAH, NEW BUILDING, SISTERHOOD, MEN'S CLUB, PUBLICATIONS, AGUDAS ACHIM, ORAL HISTORIES and PHOTOGRAPHS.

The ADMINISTRATION series includes correspondence from the late 1940s through the 1960s, the major part of which is dated 1968 and 1969. “Personal” correspondence relates to the private concerns of the congregation, including birth and death announcements and financial donations. Most of this correspondence is outgoing, from either the rabbi or congregation president. Business correspondence includes purchase orders and other financial papers, dated from 1949 to 1969. There is little in the way of administrative minutes or executive records, except for minutes of the board of directors from the 1960s, and those of the annual meeting, from 1974 to 1975.

FINANCIAL RECORDS provide a fairly complete record of the financial structure of the congregation from 1950 to 1970, documented through ledgers and journals. For the year 1961, monthly statements are included with the Budgets and Financial Statements. Pay books and the salary book appear to be records of the money allocated each pay period to both the rabbi and the religious school teachers. The file containing records on High Holy Day seating is included with the financial series because worshippers were required to buy seats for the special holidays due to the unusually large number of congregants on those occasions.

Constituting one-half of the collection, the TALMUD TORAH series includes records of the religious school, which operated on an after-school and weekend basis. Student records are cumulative files on each student throughout his enrollment in the Talmud Torah, usually from six to ten years. Children whose records are included in this series were born between 1948 and 1954. The series also contains records concerning the Jewish National Fund's Trees for Israel program in which students were encouraged to purchase trees to be planted in Israel for about $2.00 apiece. Each child could request that the tree they purchased be planted in honor or in memory of someone. There are separate files of tree order forms and lists of persons in whose honor tree certificates were purchased.

The NEW BUILDING series contains papers concerning the construction of the new synagogue in 1949 and later additional construction. Included are pledge cards from the building fund and invoices.

The SISTERHOOD series offers the most complete documentation of a group within the synagogue hierarchy. Minutes of both the board of directors and the general monthly meetings are complete from 1955 to 1975, with a gap from 1971 to 1972. The financial aspects of the organization are also well documented, particularly through financial statements from 1955 to 1975. The files concerning Sisterhood programs include flyers about those individuals and groups available as entertainers, as well as the scripts of many of the programs produced by the Sisterhood before the entire congregation.

Much of the scattered correspondence in the MEN'S CLUB series is concerned with fundraising and donations for the annual picnic. Executive and annual picnic papers reflect only essential decisions.

The PUBLICATIONS series contains the congregation's Annual Book, which provides a good synopsis of yearly activities of the congregation, including the functions of the social clubs, the Talmud Torah, and synagogue gossip. Also included in the series is a calendar, 1958-1959, noting important dates for the congregants, as well as providing the usual information of a Jewish calendar, i.e. sunrise and sunset times, Jewish holidays, and days of remembrance for the deceased. The newsletters report on social, cultural, and philanthropic activities of the congregation for 1948-1956, 1959-1962, and 1981-1982.

The ANNUAL DUES series contains records pertaining to the assessment of annual dues. It includes correspondence between members of the congregation and the finance committee concerning assessments, membership lists on which the congregants' annual dues have been noted, and dues cards, 1964-1968, which have been completed by congregants according to annual income.

AGUDAS ACHIM is a minute book in Yiddish documenting synagogue activities from 1908 to 1920 and is available only on microfilm. It includes lists of officers and members and some financial reports.

Tape recorded ORAL HISTORIES, conducted by David Mandel in 1982, offer additional insight into Agudas Achim and the early history of the Beth Israel Center. Four interviews with older members of the congregation, some of them former officers, focus on such topics as fundraising and social activities, the role of the Sisterhood, the 1937 split between Agudas Achim and Adas Yeshurun, the reasons for Agudas Achim's transition from Orthodoxy to Conservatism, and the rationale and events surrounding the building of the Beth Israel Center. The interviewees, all emigrants from Poland or Russia, also describe their family backrounds, the Mound Street Jewish neighborhood, and their activities within Madison's Jewish community. A similar interview with Morris Heifetz, secretary of Agudas Achim from 1924 to 1949, was conducted in 1978 by Sara Leuchter and has been cataloged separately as Tape 714A.

PHOTOGRAPHS from 1949 to 1955 depict officers of Agudas Achim, Beth Israel Center, and the Sisiterhood; member of Bas Mitzvah, Bar Mitzvah, and Talmud Torah classes; interior and exterior views of the Beth Israel Center; religious ceremonies and social activities. Many of the photographs appeared in the congregation's annual books.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Rabbi Charles Feinberg, Madison, Wisconsin, 1976, Beth Israel Center, 1978, 1983 and David Mandel, 1990. Accession Number: M76-537; M78-145; M78-277; M83-120; M90-047

Processing Information

Processed by Sara Leuchter (FGH intern) and Joanne Hohler, 1978; Paul Barclay and Cindy Knight, 1991.

Mss 427	Series: Administration
	Correspondence
	Personal
Box   1 Folder   1	1959-1968
Box   1 Folder   2-4	1968-1969
	Business
Box   1 Folder   5	1949-1951
Box   1 Folder   6	1963-1966
Box   1 Folder   7	1969
Box   1 Folder   8	Membership Lists, [1962-1976]
	Minutes
Box   2 Folder   1	Board of Directors, 1963-1965, 1968, 1976
Box   2 Folder   2	Annual Meeting, 1974-1975
	Committees
Box   2 Folder   3	Ritual
Box   2 Folder   4	House
Box   2 Folder   5	Personnel Attendance Book, 1968-1969
Box   2 Folder   6	Miscellany
	Series: Financial Records	⇧
	Ledgers
Box   2 Folder   7	1950-1959
Box   3 Folder   1-2	1958-1970
Box   3 Folder   3	Journal, 1954-1963
Box   3 Folder   4	Check Register, 1961-1963
Box   4 Folder   1	Budgets and Financial Statements, 1951-1967, 1975-1977
Box   4 Folder   2	Receipt records, 1963
Box   4 Folder   3	Pay books, 1963-1965
Box   4 Folder   4	Salary book, 1967-1968
Box   4 Folder   5	High Holy Day Seating
Box   4 Folder   6	Miscellany
	Series: Talmud Torah	⇧
Box   5 Folder   1	Ledger, 1961-1964, and expense sheet, , 1951
Box   5 Folder   2	Announcements and memos
	Student Records
Box   5 Folder   3-5	Adler-Borsuk, J.
Box   6 Folder   1-4	Borsuk, P.-Fleishaker
Box   7 Folder   1-5	Frank-Heifetz, E.
Box   8 Folder   1-4	Heifetz, L.-Linderman
Box   9 Folder   1-4	Lipp-Rubin
Box   10 Folder   1-4	Schackter-Shapiro
Box   11 Folder   1-4	Simmons-Victor, B.
Box   12 Folder   1-2	Victor, R.-Zimmerman
	Trees for Israel
Box   12 Folder   3	Lists for Certificates
Box   12 Folder   4	Order Forms
Box   12 Folder   5	Child's Original Prayer Book
Box   12 Folder   6	Miscellany
	Series: New Building	⇧
Box   13 Folder   1	Title
Box   13 Folder   2	Pledge Cards, 1948-1949
Box   13 Folder   3	Invoices, 1949-1951, 1963-1964
Box   13 Folder   4	Miscellany
	Series: Sisterhood	⇧
	Minutes
	Board
Box   13 Folder   5	1948 December 16-1955 May 5
Box   13 Folder   6	1955 September 1-1965 April 21
Box   13 Folder   7	1967 September 13-1971 February 14
Box   13 Folder   8	1972 May 23-1975 May 1
	General
Box   13 Folder   9	1948 September 2-1955 May 19
Box   14 Folder   1	1955 October 20-1965 May 26
Box   14 Folder   2	1967 October 24-1970 December 8
Box   14 Folder   3	1972 May 4-1975 May 1
	Reports
Box   14 Folder   4	Annual, 1960-1962
Box   14 Folder   5	Post Yom Kippur Dance, 1960-1961
	Financial
Box   14 Folder   6	Ledger, 1951-1958
Box   14 Folder   7	Bills, [1952-1961]
Box   14 Folder   8	Statements, 1955-1958, 1962-1965, 1976
	Programs
Box   14 Folder   9	Flyers
Box   14 Folder   10	Scripts
Box   14 Folder   11	Miscellany
	Series: Men's Club	⇧
Box   15 Folder   1	Correspondence, [1962 August-1966 July]
Box   15 Folder   2	Minutes, 1963 May, 1964 June-December
Box   15 Folder   3	Executive Papers
Box   15 Folder   4	Annual Picnic Papers
Box   15 Folder   5	Roll Book, 1961-1966, and Roll Sheets, , 1960 September 15 and 1962 April 11
	Series: Publications	⇧
Box   15 Folder   6-7	Annual Book, 1948-1958
Box   15 Folder   8	Calendar, 1958-1959
	Newsletters
Micro 618 Reel   1	1948-1956, 1959-1962
Mss 427 Box   15 Folder   9	1981-1982
	Series: Annual Dues	⇧
Box   16 Folder   1-3	Correspondence, n.d., 1962-1969
Box   16 Folder   4	Membership lists, with dues, 1963-1966, 1968-1969
Box   16 Folder   5-6	Dues cards, 1964-1968
Micro 618	Series: Agudas Achim	⇧
Reel   1	Minutes (in Yiddish), 1908-1920
Tape 1246A	Series: Oral Histories	⇧
No.   1-2	Daitch, Yetta
No.   3-4	Onheiber, Sam
No.   5-6	Rosenberg, Celia
No.   7-8	Weinshel, Adolph and Janet
PH 4803	Series: Photographs, 1949-1955	⇧