In 1843, at a time when the Masons and other fraternal orders had begun to reject Jewish applicants, twelve German-Jewish immigrants established their own order, B’nai B’rith. While ostensibly modeled on the Masons, it was not, according to historian Hasia Diner, “a revolutionary innovation in Jewish identity but rather an attempt to find an American idiom in which to express it.” Indeed, it incorporated various Jewish elements and was deeply involved with Jewish causes. B’nai B’rith earned the distinction of being the first Jewish fraternal order in America, though it was the Independent Order Brith Abraham that for many decades attracted the most members. Founded in 1887 by Austro-Hungarian immigrants, its ranks peaked in 1917 at 200,000. Almost half of these members belonged to one of New York’s 354 lodges, one of which published this Yiddish constitution. Many of Brith Abraham’s members were Eastern European immigrants, who were not welcome in B’nai B’rith lodges.

Date: 1898

Place: New York

Printer: R. Oyerbach