Jewish "Junior League"

From its founding in 1901 through the second half of the twentieth century, the Fort Worth section of the National Council of Jewish Women fostered the integration of its members into the social and cultural fabric of the greater community. Along the way, it championed important social causes, including an Americanization school for immigrants and literacy initiatives. But by 1999, facing declining membership and—according to some—decreased relevance to the lives of Jewish women, the Council’s national and local leaders found themselves confronting the end of the group’s existence.

Hollace Ava Weiner has mined the records of this organization at both the local and national levels, interviewed surviving members, and examined Fort Worth newspapers and other local historical documents. Her lively and careful study reveals that the Fort Worth Council of Jewish Women was, in fact, so successful that it prepared the way for its own obsolescence. By century’s end, the members and the times had changed more rapidly than the Council.

While Jewish “Junior League” focuses on a particular organization in a particular city, it simultaneously serves as a case study for the exploration of important themes of women’s and Jewish history throughout the twentieth century.