New York City – On Nov. 27, HIAS, the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, turned 125.  HIAS was founded in 1881, the year
of the Russian pogroms and also the first year of the Jewish mass
emigration from Eastern Europe.   

“For 125 years, we have derived our mission from the teaching Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze ba Ze (all Jews are responsible, one for the other), the Torah’s injunction to welcome the stranger and the essential principle of Pidyyon Shevuyim
(redeem the captive),” explains Gideon Aronoff, HIAS’ new president and
CEO. “Since 1881, our mission has been to aid Jews and others whose
lives and freedom are in danger, and has thus become a part of
virtually every American Jewish family.”

Aronoff points out that one of the ways HIAS’ impact on America can
be measured is in the contributions of the 4.5 million people it has
helped over the years, including people in the arts, sciences and
politics.  Among those, HIAS lists Intel founder Andrew Grove, novelist
Gary Shteyngart, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Hadassah Lieberman,
wife of Senator Joseph Lieberman, artist Marc Chagall, and former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, among others, in it’s Hall of
Fame.  “You can’t look at what HIAS and other organizations of its kind
have done over the years and not be immensely impressed by the profound
impact immigrants such as these – and everyday, ordinary people – have
always made on this country,” says Aronoff.

“It takes a lot of passion, dedication to humanity, and
old-fashioned hard work and cooperation with our partners in the Jewish
community, the refugee and immigration service community, as well as
those in the government, to bring an organization of this magnitude to
this point,” says Aronoff. “If HIAS has made an indelible impression on
America – and I believe it has – it is because of all these things
working in tandem for 125 years.  That’s truly remarkable and goes well
beyond the mere celebration of a date on the calendar.  More impressive
is what it all means:  that with the guidance of our Jewish values as
our foundation, we can make, and have made, a meaningful difference not
only in our community’s history but that of the world.”

The 125th anniversary was marked throughout 2006 at events around
the country.  In May at an annual board mission to Washington, D.C., a
letter from President George W. Bush was presented and read aloud.  In
it, the president said, “I appreciate HIAS and all those who serve a
cause greater than themselves.  Your work sets an example of compassion
and decency for others and reminds us all of the power of good to
overcome the darkness of evil.”

In early November, HIAS participated in the United Jewish
Communities’ General Assembly in Los Angeles, where, to a packed
auditorium attending a plenary session, Joseph S. Kanfer, incoming
chair of the UJC board, noted the HIAS anniversary:  “HIAS, the North
American Jewish federation system thanks you for literally coming to
the rescue on behalf of our community through the years, and we’re
proud to call you a partner.”   Kanfer went on to list a number of
milestones that HIAS had achieved since it began in 1881.

After its earliest days, when HIAS helped Jews fleeing pogroms and
famine in Czarist Russia, HIAS adapted as needed to serve Jews
everywhere. During World War I, starving European refugees were rescued
and brought to lands of freedom. Before the Holocaust, HIAS struggled
to find safe havens for Jews who could escape the growing Nazi threat,
and later brought thousands of survivors to America and elsewhere where
they could rebuild their lives.

In the 1950s, HIAS smuggled Jews away from the Communists in Cuba
and Hungary. In the ’60s and ’70s, refugees from the Soviet Union,
North Africa and the Arab countries were helped by HIAS. In the `80s
and `90s, HIAS helped more than 300,000 Jews from the former Soviet
Union (FSU) seek resettlement from persecution, and provided direct
representation to hundreds of Jewish applicants for political asylum
from the FSU, Syria and Iran.

HIAS History Reflects Migration Trends

From humble beginnings in a storefront on the lower East Side of
Manhattan, HIAS has provided much-needed comfort and aid to thousands
of new arrivals to the United States. It soon became famous worldwide,
and in many languages, as HIAS, the abbreviation that was its first cable address.

In the 1880s, waves of pogroms engulfed the Jewish Pale of
Settlement in Russia and Eastern Europe. After the assassination of
Tsar Alexander II, in 1882, a calculated policy of anti-Semitism became
the law of the land in the Pale. Suddenly those living in the heartland
of the Jewish population were struck with a passion to emigrate.

In New York City, the tiny European Jewish population took note as
their numbers swelled by the thousands. As an emergency measure, they
formed the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society to provide meals, transportation
and jobs for the new arrivals to Manhattan. To temporarily house those
without relatives, a shelter was established on the lower east side. In
1889, under the auspices of eastern European Jews, this shelter adopted
Hebrew Sheltering House Association as its name. Dormitory space, a soup kitchen and clothing were made available to any needy Jew.

In 1891, Jewish residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev were
expelled and many came to America. More than 111,000 Jewish immigrants
reached the United States that year alone.  Ellis Island was the place
of entry for these new arrivals. HIAS was there to facilitate legal
entry, reception and immediate care for them. In the half-century
following its establishment in 1904, the Society’s bureau on Ellis
Island helped more than 100,000 Jews who might otherwise have been
turned away. The bureau provided translation services, guided
immigrants through medical screening and other procedures, argued
before the Boards of Special Enquiry to prevent deportations, lent some
needy Jews the $25 landing fee and obtained bonds for others
guaranteeing their employable status.

The Society also spent a great deal of effort searching for the
relatives of detained immigrants in order to secure the necessary
affidavits of support guaranteeing that the immigrants would not become
public charges. By 1917, the activities of the bureau illustrated the
importance of this location service; of 900 immigrants detained during
one month, 600 were held because they had neither money nor friends to
claim them.

Through advertising and other methods, the Society was able to
locate relatives for the vast majority of detainees, who in a short
time were released from Ellis Island.
Many of the Jews traveling in
steerage on the steamship lines across the Atlantic refused the
non-kosher food served on their journeys and arrived at Ellis Island
malnourished and vulnerable to deportation on medical grounds. In 1911,
the Society had a kosher kitchen installed at the Island. Between 1925
and 1952, HIAS’ kosher kitchen provided more than half a million meals
to immigrants; in the peak year, 1940, 85,794 meals were served. The
Society also provided religious services and musical concerts at Ellis
Island. It ran an employment bureau and sold railroad tickets at
reduced rates to immigrants headed for other cities.

In 1909, two Jewish charities principally involved in immigration
merged into what has become universally known as HIAS. By 1914, HIAS
had branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and an office in
Washington, D.C.

The War Years

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought the largest influx of
Jews from Eastern Europe yet – 138,051 in that year alone. But soon
after, restrictions on immigration hampered HIAS’ efforts. A literacy
test was legislated in 1917 and quota legislation was passed in 1921
and 1924. The National Origins Quota restricted the number of
immigrants allowed into America to no more than two percent of the
number of each nationality residing in the U.S. in 1890. This severely
restricted the entry of Jews from Eastern Europe.

Due to the restrictive National Origins Quota of 1924, precious few
refugees were rescued during World War II, but HIAS provided
immigration and refugee services to those who were eligible. After the
war, HIAS was instrumental in evacuating the displaced persons camps
and aiding in the resettlement of some 150,000 people in 330 U.S.
communities, as well as Canada, Australia and South America.

Tumultuous Decades Follow

Since 1950, HIAS’ activities have mirrored world events. In 1956,
HIAS rescued Jews fleeing the Soviet invasion of Hungary and evacuated
the Jewish community of Egypt after their expulsion during the Sinai
Campaign. During the Cuban revolution in 1959, HIAS set up operations
in Miami to rescue the Jews of Cuba. During the early 1960s, HIAS
rescued Jews from Algeria and Libya and arranged with Morocco’s King
Hassan for the evacuation of his country’s huge Jewish community to
France and, then, Israel.

In 1965, HIAS was instrumental in the passage of an immigration law,
which finally replaced the National Origins Quota, liberalizing decades
of restrictive admissions policies. In 1968, HIAS came to the aid of
Czechoslovakia’s Jews after the suppression of “Prague Spring” and
Poland’s Jews after pogroms racked that country.

By the early ’70s, the first Jews were coming out of the Soviet
Union and HIAS was there to help. In 1975, following the fall of
Saigon, HIAS began to work with refugees from Southeast Asia. In 1977,
HIAS began working to help evacuate the Jews of Ethiopia, which
culminated in several dramatic airlifts to Israel. In 1979, the
overthrow of the Shah precipitated a slow but steady trickle of Jews
escaping the oppressive theocracy of Iran.

In two modern waves, the Jews of the former Soviet Union have found
their way to freedom with the help of HIAS. The first wave peaked in
1979. The second wave, which began in the late ’80s, has so far brought
more than 300,000 people to these shores for reunification with their
relatives.

In the 1990s, HIAS has continued its work, helping Jewish and
non-Jewish refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan, Africa, Bosnia,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Hungary, Iran, Kosovo,
Morocco, Poland, Romania, Tunisia, Vietnam, and the successor states to
the former Soviet Union.

HIAS Today

While HIAS’ work is principally focused on Jewish migrants, explains
Aronoff, HIAS and the Jewish community know well from the Torah,
as well as from the collective Jewish historical experience, that “we
must provide the stranger with welcome and protection.”

Because of the unpredictable nature of world events HIAS’ programs
have always been dynamic and flexible enough to respond to Jews in need
at any time. To do that effectively, HIAS maintains its presence in
trouble spots around the world, including Europe, the Middle East,
Latin America and the FSU. 

HIAS also serves as a powerful Jewish force for good on refugee and
immigrant protection issues for many non-Jews who have fled persecution
and deprivation in Darfur, Iran, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Colombia, Mexico and elsewhere.

Most recently, HIAS has been an integral part of the American Jewish
community’s dialogue about immigration as it relates to security,
economics and humanitarian values.  “We are encouraged by this healthy
debate,” says Aronoff, “because we believe that in the end smart
immigration policies will not only allow America to continue to be the
shining beacon of freedom it has always been, but will also keep our
borders secure and our citizens safe.”

In Washington, HIAS is the Jewish community’s advocate with the
White House, Congress, the Departments of State, Homeland Security,
Health and Human Services, Justice and other federal agencies
representing the concerns of Jewish migrants. 

For example, HIAS has taken the lead role in advocacy efforts to
restore Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to elderly and
disabled Jewish refugees and other humanitarian migrants. HIAS serves
as the national resource center for Jewish organizations across the
country that utilize its expertise in the migration field to develop
policy and advocacy campaigns and community relations programs on
refugee and immigration issues. These issues include Comprehensive
Immigration Reform, refugee resettlement, political asylum, child
migrants, and human trafficking.
All over the United States, HIAS’
domestic programs, through its partnerships with local federations and
other community-based organizations, have proven successful.  Those
include a growing HIAS-sponsored organization, LOREO (Local Russian
Émigré Organizations), which has made impressive inroads into helping
Russian-speaking Americans acculturate faster, move through the
naturalization maze with more success, become part of the political
process and support grass-roots social issues, such as care for the
elderly and infirm.

Ensuring the Legacy

The
rich HIAS archive of arrival records and other documents, as well as
photographs spanning each of the past 12 decades, makes it a natural
resource for historians, film-makers, genealogists and others, says
Aronoff.  Through its Location and Family History Service HIAS has long
assisted people around the world who want to locate their relatives and
friends and learn more about their Jewish heritage.  

Growing demands in recent years for access to the materials in its
archives have led HIAS to plan for possible expansion in this area.
Aronoff would like to maximize the potential of HIAS’ materials for
the sake of history, education and outreach.  “I believe we can
preserve the archives, assist family members and researchers, produce
materials on Jewish immigration and HIAS history, and build connections
between individuals, Jews and HIAS’ mission of rescue, resettlement and
reunion,” says Aronoff.

“HIAS has been on such a long and amazing journey already, that it
seems like looking back at our past 125 years is a sufficient way to
commemorate our birthday,” says Aronoff.  “But that would only be half
of the story.  It is what lies ahead for this organization that excites us the most.”