The Aaronians started out like many other clubs.
About 20 teenage Jewish boys from Fifth Avenue High School formed the Aaronians in 1936 so that they could participate in intramural events at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House. For the next few years, they did all the usual Jewish youth club activities. They put on plays and skits. They hosted dances. They competed against other clubs in athletic events and scholarly debates. They held meetings where they elected officers and kept minutes.
"Growing up in the Hill then was very tough," Aaronian-lifer Iz Ridoy told the Jewish Chronicle in 1986. "The Depression was a bad era, and the boys on the Hill could just as quickly become numbers runners as college students."
Keeping kids on the right path was one of the reasons why organizations like the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House, the YM&WHA, and the Hebrew Institute created the system of youth clubs. Intramural clubs gave young people a sense of purpose and structure. It guided their lives as they made key choices that carried them into the adult world of jobs and families.
When you study that era, many of the Jewish youth clubs seem the same.
Some preferred dancing to debating. Some won more awards than others. Some developed unique traditions. The photograph above, for example, shows members of the Aaronian Club taking part in their annual Mother's Day affair.
But in general, each club was very much like every other. The differences between them were subtle. Those subtleties had a lot to do with the way individual personalities combined to form the dynamic of a group of friends.
That's what made the Aaronians unique.
[IMAGE: Sepia-toned photograph showing 18 young men from the Aaronian Club wearing suits, ties, and corsages, standing beside their seated mothers. A caption reads: "Aaronian's Mother and Son's 1941 Stanley's Studio." From Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Photographs, MSP 389.]
|
|
When the United States entered World War II, many of the Aaronians were called into military service. Club meetings stopped, of course. That should have been the end of the Aaronians. So many other Jewish clubs disappeared as soon as their members shifted from high school to adult responsibilities.
But the Aaronian wives, girlfriends, and fiancés kept the club going.
Calling themselves "The Aaroniattes," they maintained and perhaps even strengthened the bonds of friendship while their husbands were overseas.
On June 25, 1945, Aaroniatte Betty H. Rubinstein wrote a page-long poem describing the camaraderie and commiseration these women felt at that time.
Here's how it starts:
"We are the 'wives' of the Aaronian Club
And for our soldier husbands we 'sub'
We get together in all kinds of weather
For birds of a feather flock together."
[IMAGES: (Top, left) Black and white photograph of Toby Caplan draping her arms over Henry Melnick and Leon Caplan at a picnic at North Park, 1942; (Top, right) Henry Melnick, Sonny Rubinstein, Leon Caplan, Maishe Medgaus, and Jerry Caplan at a picnic in North Park, 1942; (Bottom) Black and white photograph of eight young men in casual clothing posing in an urban setting, 1940. The men include Max Colker, Leon Caplan, Sonny Rubinstein, Lou Miller, Harry Velgish, Iz Rudoy and Jerry Caplan. Courtesy of Renee Abrams.]
|
|
Having made it through the disruption of the War, the Aaronians maintained an extremely close and uninterrupted friendship for the rest of their lives.
Their ranks shrunk over time as people's lives changed, and it's always hard to be comprehensive. But a core group emerged. There was Leon Caplan, Toby Caplan and Marian Lindner, Iz and Ruth Rudoy, Maishe and Jeannette Medgaus, Herbie and Rosella Cohen, Saul and Cissy Tobias, Henry and Mollie Melnick, Lou Miller, Joe and Ruth Lubisch, and Betty and Sonny Rubinstein.
They raised their families together, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries together, threw parties together, and vacationed together. They put on big picnics together. At these picnics, their kids played with each other and developed their own lifelong friendships. In time, they all mourned together.
Without context, the collection of materials documenting this group friendship can seem common. There are group photographs, invitations to family celebrations, and obituaries. Everyone has those sort of things. But only a few people were lucky enough to call themselves Aaronians. That's the difference.
In our next issue, we'll close out our review of the early Jewish youth clubs of Pittsburgh with a look at the Sumer Somerman Club. Then, in the weeks that follow, we'll look at fraternities and sororities after World War II.
All this year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting stories of Jewish club life in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate records of a local Jewish club, or just chat about clubs, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.
[IMAGES: Sequence of four group photographs, showing the Aaronians at events in the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s and 1990s. Courtesy of Renee Abrams.]
|
|
Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) in Etna
|
|
Harry M. Caplan was what used to be called a "worker."
The term described something between "staff" and "volunteers." Workers did hard stuff without compensation. Caplan was beloved for consistently taking on two of the most important and least desirable communal assignments: finding new members and cold calling existing members for donations...
|
|
[IMAGES: (Left) A letter written by Harry M. Caplan to the board of the Hebrew Institute on April 16, 1958. From Hebrew Institute Papers, MSS 512; (Right) A portrait of Caplan from the Jewish Criterion, March 3, 1922.] |
|
Behind the Scenes at the Rodef Shalom synagogue |
|
Rodef Shalom Congregation is hosting a series of free online classes about the Jewish history of Pittsburgh, with a focus on the role of the congregation.
On April 20 at 7 p.m., Rodef Shalom Building Chair Bob Rosenthal will talk about the historic of the historic Fifth Avenue synagogue, looking at its construction, its renovations, and little oddities you may never have noticed.
|
|
If you like this newsletter, why not forward it to a friend? We want to share the story of Western Pennsylvania Jewish history with as many people as possible.
If you've received this newsletter from a friend or neighbor, and you want to read more, just click on the link below to start receiving future editions.
[IMAGE: Marian Schreiber and employees at the Schreiber Trucking Company, c.1943—Schreiber Family Papers and Photographs, MSS 846.]
|
|
The Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives was founded on November 1, 1988 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the documentary history of Jews and Jewish communities of Western Pennsylvania. You can help the RJHPA continue its work by making a donation that will directly support the work being done in Western Pa. |
|
 |
Plan a Visit
Senator John Heinz History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
412-454-6000
|
|
|
|
A proud affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the Senator John Heinz History Center is the largest history museum in Pennsylvania and presents American history with a Western Pennsylvania connection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
