Immigrant Jewish women met in 1923 to decide to found a charitable association to help other immigrant Jewish women who continually arrived in Rio de Janeiro. The First Ladies, prob. 1925
Cover of the magazine to the 100th anniversary of the Jewish ladies Society of Rio de Janeiro – Froien Farain
Women in solidarity: a network woven by many hands
Froien Farain’s 100 years tell several stories. Recording these stories in a commemorative publication is also recording the memory of the Jewish community in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. The bilingual publication (Portuguese and English), launched on August 25, 2024, shows that Froien Farain activists are today, individually and collectively, an important link in the Jewish heritage and tradition of solidarity and women’s participation.
Brazil had just celebrated its 100 years of independence and the young Republic, free from slavery, reorganized its society, with more integration and religious freedom. In the federal capital, new public and private buildings transformed Rio into the Marvelous City and the migratory flow intensified, with the arrival of ships bringing immigrants from all over the world, including a considerable number of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. In this context, immigrant Jewish women, gathered for the first time in 1923, organized themselves into a society and founded, in 1924, the Froien Farain (Society of Jewish Ladies). Their efforts were initially aimed at helping vulnerable Jewish girls and, later, ensuring the subsistence and integration of new generations of immigrants and Brazilians.
The editorial concept, developed with Froien Farain activists, goes beyond a report on the history of the institution. The publication presents how the work of helping others carried out within the Jewish community at the beginning of the 20th century is inseparable from the Memory of the City of Rio de Janeiro and the female presence in Brazilian institutions. The many individual and collective stories, which weave the solidarity network of the Jewish community in Rio, reveal how many other Jewish assistance institutions were idealized, if not founded, by the Damas Israelitas.