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Kehila Bil'shivtsi

(Bolshevitz, Bolshovtsy, Bolszowce),

Ukraine


Landsmanshaftn
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Landsmanshaftn is often used as a generic term to describe societies established by first generation Jewish immigrants, beginning in the 1880s, to provide support and assistance for their compatriots from the same European towns and geographic areas. Used in its most general sense, these town associations took different forms, including mutual aid societies, benevolent associations, social agencies, synagogue centers, worker and socialist organizations, fraternal orders and lodges, and burial societies. A number of them performed multiple roles. Most were registered as non-profit corporations with certificates of incorporation, boards of directors, annual corporate meetings, regular group meetings, and modest dues.

Beyond these basic points, however, there were complicating factors. Not all landsmanshaftn were successful. Some disbanded officially, others unofficially, and still others merged with related landsmanshaftn. The dissolutions and mergers were not always reported to the state. In addition, there were auxiliary organizations established. The image of the ticket at the top of this page is for The Bolszowece Young Men's Ben. Society. There also was a Bolszowcer Young Friends Social Club.

Based on my own research and the JGS New York and YIVO databases, it appears that the groups listed below were Bolszowce landsmanshaftn. However, it is unclear at this point how long each existed and whether or not the Erste Bolshowcer Sick & Benevolent Association, Inc. and the Bolshowcer Sick & Benevolent Association, Inc. were the same organization incorporated more than once.

Bolshowcer Ladies Sick and Benevolent Association (1903)
Bolshowcher Workingman's Benevolent Association (1908) - This group may be an outgrowth or auxiliary of the Ershte Arbeter Lodge No. 517 Independent Order Brith Abraham. The latter group merged with, or became an affiliate of, the Ershte Bolshowcer Sick & Benevolent Association, Inc. in 1924.
Ershte Bolshowcer Sick Benevolent Society (1909)
Bolshowcer Sick & Benevolent Association, Inc. (1919): See incorporation papers.
Bolshowcer Benevolent Society (1919)

The principal synagogue on the Lower East Side for former residents of Bolszowce was Rodfei Zedek Anshei (also Anshe) Balshovtza. Established in 1892 at 190 Delancey Street, it eventually moved to 49 Sheriff Street, both on the Lower East Side of New York. The following entry is from the 1919 American Jewish Yearbook:

Rod'phei Zedek Anshei Balshovtza, 49 Sheriff. Org. 1892. Pres., Louis
Davishberg; Sec, Abram Skulnick. Members, 100. Services: Hebrew.
    
Many of the earlier societies were established on the Lower East Side of New York.  The 1901 Albermarle Hotel Street Map of Manhattan. allows you to zoom in on the Lower East Side and get a detailed view of streets at the turn of the century. This map is part of a New York Library collection of 20,000 cartographic works that can be printed and downloaded. See the NYPL site for these open access maps. 

Bolszowce Burial Societies

The Bolszowce landsmanshaftn and synagogue that served as burial societies maintained designated plots in four cemeteries in the New York metropolitan area. These do not include the family circles and other family groups that were established by the children of first generation immigrants. In my family, for example, the extended Guttman/Goodman family founded the Morris and Rose Goodman Family Circle, Inc. (named for Moshe & Reisel Gutman -- my maternal great grandparents) in 1948 with a designated area (Block 20, Section 2) set aside in Wellwood Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y.
 

150x113 Pixels Beth David TNBeth David Cemetery, Bolszowce Burials: Bolshowser Sick & Benevolent Association, Inc. (Section D Block 6). Although there isn't an on-line database of burials, I plan to develop a list of society burials based on the Matzevot I have photographed.



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150x133 Pixels Mt Zion 18Mt. Zion Cemetery, Bolszowce burial society: Chev Rodfe Zedek An Bolszowce (Path 15L, Gate 18 and Path 4AL, Gate 2). In its database of New York Landsmanshaftn burial societies, the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. (New York) identifies the  burial society at Mt. Zion cemetery as Congregation Rodfe Zedek Anshe Bolszowce.                                       



150x113 Pixels Mt. HebronMount Hebron Cemetery, Bolszowce Burial Society: Bolshow Arbeiter (Block 3, Section 9).



150x113 Pixels New MontefioreNew Montefiore Cemetery. According to the Jewish Genealogy Society, Inc. (New York), the burial society at the New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York is the synagogue Congregation Rodfe Zedek Anshe Bolszowce, and its reserved area is Section 3, Block 12. The cemetery has an on-line database, but it cannot be searched by society name. I have not visited the cemetery and do not have any photos of Matzevot.

Many Landsmanshaftn did not last more than two generations. See a  handwritten letter on the pending dissolution of the Bolshowser Sick & Benevolent Ass'n, Inc.



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