A history of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

When the Jews were exiled from the Land of Israel, nearly 2,000 years ago, they dispersed across many countries, fragmenting into small groups among widely divergent cultures and empires. Under Christian and Islamic rule, in the German ghetto or in the Polish shtetl; however, the Jews remained internationally united. The glue was an allegiance to a code of laws and rituals set forth in the Torah and Talmud.

But Judaism is more than a religion; it is a way of life experienced through the kehillah, the community. Forced to endure harsh conditions, without anyone to rely on for assistance but themselves, Jews developed a communal infrastructure that was uniquely Jewish. With an obligation in Jewish law to help the less fortunate, everyone in the community made regular contributions to the collection box, the kuppah. This fundraising system neither shamed nor glorified: both recipient and giver remained anonymous.

Community trustees divided the funds among a plethora of welfare providers. From the burial society to the soup kitchen to the dowry fund for poor girls, a communal organization existed to fit virtually every need. The kuppah, then, was the ultimate safety net for Jews who, throughout the centuries, lived through difficult times, from poverty to pogroms.

This system continued in the new country, as eastern European Jews, many destitute and illiterate, streamed into America's largest cities. They settled in South Philadelphia, Boston's North End, Baltimore's South Side and Chicago's West End around Maxwell Street. New York's Lower East Side became the heart of the migration, with 330,000 Jews jammed into impoverished, dumb-bell shaped tenements.

As hard as it was, these Jews, for the first time, went about their business with relative freedom – and many immigrants became quite successful. They continued to be involved with human rights and now looked out for their less fortunate neighbors by creating a sophisticated philanthropic network that served the needs of the whole community.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

Dayton's first Jewish settlers arrived in 1842. In 1910, the Dayton Jewish community named six health and welfare agencies as its beneficiaries, establishing what is now the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

External forces in Europe, meanwhile, put Jewish lives on the line. By joining forces in the 1920s and 1930s with overseas agencies – the United Palestine Appeal and the Joint Distribution Committee – federations embarked on a massive campaign to rescue and rehabilitate Jews living in conditions of discrimination and distress. In response to the 1939 Kristallnacht pogrom in Nazi Germany, the United Jewish Appeal was formed, combining the national fundraising efforts of the UPA and JDC. Working together with the UJA, federations provided the bulk of the funds to settle the survivors of Hitler's concentration camps and helped refugees create new lives in Israel. Federations also assisted the dislocated Jewish communities of Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and other countries.

Rescues have continued unabated in recent times, with the dramatic airlift of the Ethiopian Jews, the return of the Lost Tribe to their homeland after thousands of years, and the release and resettlement of Soviet Jews, resulting in the largest mass exodus of Jews since the turn of the 19th century.

Today, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton is the central organization established to further the welfare of the Jewish community. The Federation coordinates social, welfare and cultural programs; fosters cooperation among Jewish organizations; facilitates fund-raising activities on the local and national level; and stimulates participation and interest in community-wide activities. 

The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton enriches and sustains Jewish life in Dayton and around the world through its social service, cultural, educational, recreational, fund-raising and planning programs.

The Federation achieves a high level of service through its embrace of the Jewish values of righteous giving and repairing the world.

The Federation's United Jewish Campaign continues to provide for rescue, relief, reconstruction and absorption of Jews in need around the world through the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency For Israel.

Locally, the Campaign supports the Federation's divisions. These are: