Why is the Workers Circle important to us
“I just wanted to write you in full support of your mission and your approach over the past few months. Rationale and decent conversation has been drowned out by extremists on all sides, but your continued mission of promoting better lives for all is heartening. ”
“Just a thanks for being careful and being nonpartisan in reality as well as in name. And for having democratic goals in the name of workers. In my view, as humans we now have the knowledge and means to make life better for other beings, so choosing to make life worse is evil. I guess that’s a statement, but I am drawn to an organization whose leader is “not a huge fan of statements.”
“I am 77. For several weeks, I have been looking for a suitable organization with which to express my somewhat useless solidarity. As you have noticed in your own struggle, this can be tricky. Nonetheless, my admiration, my affection even, for all you have done, all you have striven for these many years, and for your proper, human approach to what we are all looking at.”
“I saw the article in the New York Times on your organization. I’m not Jewish and could care less if someone is Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or anything else. The horrific events in the Middle East are another example of the world teetering on the edge of insanity. I just wanted to thank you for trying to be a voice of sanity in a world where such voices are often shouted down. We can only try, but history is not encouraging. ”
David Keeper (third from right in the back) and Paul Keeper (second from right in the front) with the 1957 Houston branch shule class and their teachers and parents.
Sarah Tabak
I’ve been with the Workers Circle since 2017, joining the Manhattan Jewish Cultural School during my B’nei Mitsve year. This past summer, I was the Workers Circle Youth Stand Up for Justice Summer Intern, engaging and mobilizing high school students to demand democracy and justice for all. Coming from a family with many different immigration stories, the values I learned at the Workers Circle have very much informed my views on activism. There is a rich history of youth activism in the Workers Circle, from the uprising of the 20,000 to the dozens of Workers Circle youth who participated in the March on Washington in 1963 to the youth who marched in the Queer Liberation March in June. I am inspired by these young activists, along with the older activists I met during the Workers Circle’s in-person and virtual civil rights trips, all of whom started their lifetime activism journeys in their youth, and I continue to advocate for justice, attend marches, and make signs for marches I can’t attend.
Charlotte Biederman and Bertha Apter.
Irene Glasser
“My parents, Gerald and Charlotte Biederman, embraced the values of the Workers Circle’s politics and culture. They were born in the US in 1910 and 1911 to parents who had just arrived from Russia (mom) and Poland (dad). Their parents were Yiddish speakers, but really wanted their kids to speak English and assimilate. My mother's family was left-leaning and my dad's family was more traditionally observant. My maternal grandmother regaled me with stories of growing up in her large Yiddish-speaking family in Russia and of learning Russian and French when she went to work as a seamstress in the houses of wealthy people.
I love Yiddish culture, and play violin in a little synagogue ensemble (paused right now due to COVID). We play songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino. The Yiddish songs are my favorite. My youngest son leads a Jewish music (Judiska Musik) group in Stockholm, Sweden, where there are a fair number of Yiddish speakers.
I can definitely say that my parents would have heartily approved of my donations to the Workers Circle!”
Solomon and Sophie Gottlieb.
Geoffrey Gonsher
“When my grandparents came to the United States over 110 years ago, they, like so many immigrants of that era, were poor, undereducated, had no definable skills, and could not speak English. The Workers Circle helped them find a community of support to start a new life in the Lower East Side. Learning English from the Workers Circle was of particular importance to both of them, so they could teach their children, my mother and her brothers and sisters, how to become Americans.
The circle of life continues over a century later as I look at my university students and see enthusiastic faces from Mexico and other Latin America countries, the Eastern Europe of today. These students are the core of the 21st century first-generation Americans, as were my parents. My students and their families also have traveled a difficult journey to a new land without knowing how they would feed, house, or educate their families. The Workers Circle continues to educate and protect the rights of newcomers, and it is for that reason I feel privileged to support the mission of the organization and be a founding member of its Legacy Society for Yiddishkayt.”
Belsky Family
We are a family of four - Dan (dad) is a professor at Columbia and Laura (mom) works for the Department of Health; we have two daughters: Ida (11) and Noa (8). Our family joined the Workers Circle Manhattan School in Fall of 2019, after we moved to NYC from North Carolina over the summer. We actually first heard about the Workers Circle from someone in North Carolina, who thought that MWCS' secular, social justice focused orientation might be a good fit for our family. They were correct — until finding the Workers Circle, we had struggled to find a Jewish space aligned with our family's values and culture. The Workers Circle has been exactly the Jewish home we needed: it connects our children to their history of Jewish immigration and culture, and supports their development of a secular, Jewish activist identity. We love the ways the Manhattan School creates hands-on opportunities for children to learn, whether that is marching with the Workers Circle in a May Day parade, or talking with artists at The Clemente. An added bonus for us is the Manhattan School’s relationship to the ever-evolving LES where it is located and where our own family is rooted, as Dan's father was born just north of Grand Street. Seeing our kids learn Yiddish while playing in Seward Park brings our family's history full circle.
Belsky Family, Workers Circle and Manhattan School Family
Kathy Chiron, Workers Circle Member and activist, Washington, DC
Kathy Chiron
I discovered the Workers Circle when my husband and I stumbled on a virtual program about Yiddish poetry and the civil rights movement publicized by the organization. After living in Hong Kong for sixteen years, little did I know the Arbeter Ring was still active and thriving! My Romanian immigrant grandparents were ardent Arbeter Ring members and are buried in its cemetery in Newburgh, New York. My father didn’t speak English until he went to school and grew up in a secular Jewish home filled with Yiddishkayt. But like many of that generation, they felt pressure to “not be too Jewish”, so neither my brother nor I learned more than a few words of Yiddish in our youth. I really love that my family’s roots and the Workers Circle’s voting rights and social justice work intersect with my “full-time retirement job” as president of the League of Women Voters DC, and I’m proud that the LWV often partners with the Workers Circle in activism.
Judy Hoffman
I always wanted to learn Yiddish. My grandparents and parents spoke it but never taught me. I took a Yiddish class at Florida Atlantic University years ago, however most of my classmates were native speakers seeking an opportunity for conversation. Then I found the Workers Circle. I had known about it but didn’t think there were online classes. I happened to read about Kolya’s coming from Birobidzhan, where I had previously visited, and took my first Beginners Conversation class online just pre-Covid. I’ve since taken Workers Circle Yiddish, Nigun, and Klezmer classes continuously, am part of a Yiddish study group with women from my classes and attended Trip to Yiddishland for the first time this year. I feel connected to my roots, and to people across the world who share my passion for the Yiddish language and culture, including Klezmer music. I am proud to be a part of the Workers Circle, thanks to all this intertwined with its commitment to social justice issues and creation of a shenere un besere velt far ale/ a better world for all.
Judy Hoffman, member and Klezmer and Yiddish student, MA
Robert and Marcia Kaplan, Workers Circle Life Member, Donor, and Board Member
Bob Kaplan
I was born into the Workers Circle. My parents met at the organization’s youth activity and became activists from the start. My grandparents on both sides were active in Yiddish-speaking branches; my parents were founders of the first English-speaking branch, Branch 1001, which grew to over a thousand members and was the source of leadership following the original immigrant generation. My children and grandchildren all are alums of the Workers Circle’s Camp Kinder Ring (KR), so I am the middle of a five-generation Workers Circle family.
Growing up in Woodhaven, Queens in the 1940s, I was the only Jewish kid in my entire elementary school, so most of my childhood friends were the children of the Workers Circle activists who were my parents’ friends. We celebrated both Workers Circle events (marches, conventions, and outings) and social events together — it was one large family. My summers at KR were formative. As a 10-year-old in 1945, I still remember the entire camp jumping for joy when it was announced that the Labour Party won the election in Britain. I’m quite sure I really didn’t understand it, but I jumped with everyone. It was the beginning of a recognition of the ideals espoused by the Workers Circle that continue today.
As a teen in KR, we formed Young Circle League clubs which met during the winter to socialize, discuss, march and protest. It was an introduction to organizational life. Most of the kids went to city colleges so getting together was easy. But by the time I went to college in the early 1950s, we were attending colleges around the country, but the organization had no presence on campuses and the formation of formal clubs ceased. It is an absolute joy today to see the regeneration of youth activity via the Workers Circle College Network and the Teen advocacy program, Youth Stand Up for Justice; it bodes well for the future and for a renewed generation of activists.
I met my wife Marcia when we were both counsellors in KR. She also came from a family with a Workers Circle connection, so it led to an instant match; we recently celebrated our 66th Wedding Anniversary.
My life has been dominated by three themes: first, my family, which is so dear to me; second, my work, as a physicist/scientist; and third, my political and social identity formed by the Workers Circle. For over 30 years, I designed and built industrial and medical laser devices; at the same time, I was active in lay positions at the Worker Circle. Then I accepted the position of Executive Director. The organization had changed over the years, focusing largely on members’ benefits and it was time to again emphasize the core values: social justice and cultural Jewish life. I believe I played a role in helping the Workers Circle to make this transition. Today the Workers Circle is a leading Jewish organization fostering progressive values. And it is truly the leading organization furthering Yiddish language and culture.
Because of this, Marcia and I have been consistent donors as well as activists. We believe in the ideals of social and economic justice and expressing our Jewish identity via culture more than religion. We are eager to financially support and stay involved in the Workers Circle activities so as to assure its future. We established the first charitable trust benefiting the organization and now encourage others to do the same or to donate to the Workers Circle in whatever meaningful ways they choose.
Sarah Tabak, 17, Workers Circle Manhattan School alumnus, Youth Stand Up for Justice member and intern, activist
“I read that folks are giving elsewhere because of the conflict. I wanted to help you continue the work you do here. ”
“I can only say that you continue to reflect my own commitments and congratulate Ann Toback and the current board for outstanding work to continue growing the organization and standing for what is important in our very challenging and complex world. Thank you. ”
“I have just made a small contribution. My Grandfather had been a member well over a century ago, and I had no idea you still existed. I applaud your focus on social welfare.”
Paul Keeper
“I know my family’s story is similar to many members and supporters of the Workers Circle — an organization near and dear to my heart and one that I choose to send my donations. My grandfather Yosl Kriper came to America in 1905 at age 16 with his younger brother, Yankl, after multiple pogroms in their hometown of Kishinev, Moldova.
In America, the brothers cleaned the Forverts (The Forward) office in exchange for being able to sleep on the floor. Yussl traveled the country, changed his last name to Keeper, and settled in Houston, Texas, where he married my grandmother, Rose, around 1910. They raised three kids, including my father, David, and in 1915 were among the founding members of the Houston branch of the Workers Circle. The branch provided most of their social and cultural life from its founding until World War II, with regular plays, lectures, klezmer performances, and galas. The kids went to the shule after school five days a week.
I was enrolled in the Yiddish shule in 1955, which was at this point only two days a week. Although I continued learning Yiddish after the shule closed, it wasn’t until 2017 when I attended a week-long program at the Yiddish Book Center and was taught by Kolya Borodulin that I rediscovered the Workers Circle. I continued taking Yiddish classes with Kolya at the Workers Circle, became a member, a donor, and a participant in the 2019 and 2021 Trips to Yiddishland, where it was a thrill to be among my fellow Yiddishists again!
I give to the Workers Circle to support their Yiddish program and to support their efforts to bring Yiddish language learning worldwide.”