HAA marks its 25th year

PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Traditionally, every Jewish community has an agency that fulfils the mitzvah to provide interest-free loans to needy people. Even before a new community erected a synagogue or a school, the formation of a free loan society would often take precedence.

Early Vancouver history was no exception, according to Shirley Barnett, founding member of the Hebrew Assistance Association. From the late 1800s, through the Great Depression and on into the 1960s, small organizations provided seed money for Jewish individuals who were buying sewing machines to start tailor shops, automobiles to get to work or emergency bridge finances to meet urgent needs like rent or food. But by 1966, according to Barnett, the last such agency had disappeared in Vancouver.

More than a decade later, when Barnett was head of the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA), she saw the gaps caused by the absence of this traditional lending agency and rallied other leaders in the community around the idea of restoring it. With the support of Canadian Jewish Congress and others, Barnett set up the Hebrew Assistance Association (HAA) officially in 1979. Since then, it has provided 1,258 loans totalling $3,425,000. The loans represent a constant recycling of the same base capital of about $850,000. Last year, $208,000 was lent to 64 individuals.

Some of the borrowers are in need of cash to get their feet on the ground after arriving in Canada from another country, being released from prison or undergoing a marital breakdown. Barnett noted that immigrants are almost sure bets for fully repaying their debts.

"Immigrants who borrow money are always on their way up," she said. "Canadians who come to us for money are often on their way down.... It's a last resort for them."

The maximum loan available is $4,000. Barnett said usual reasons for borrowing include the purchase of computers, payment of tuition, retraining and shipping immigrants' belongings to their new homes. Though there is no interest, there are what might be called some gentle strings attached. The money is intended as a "hand up, not a hand out," said Barnett.

The HAA raises money through small events or private donations. Mostly, though, the agency relies on word of mouth and referrals from community agencies. Money also comes from the repayments of outstanding loans.

HAA family history

In 1915, the Vancouver Hebrew Free Loan Society was founded by 37 donors, mostly established, West Side Jews of central European origin aiming to help the newer immigrants among the Ostjuden of East Vancouver. The society provided $50 loans to "worthy Israelites over the age of 21."

The sense of charity and noblesse oblige inherent in the Vancouver Hebrew Free Loan Society irked a man named Abrasha Wosk. In 1927, the East Ender started a new free loan society, the Vancouver Achduth Co-operative Society, which operated more along the lines of a traditional Jewish workers circle, being founded on principles of membership and mutual aid. Operating with a pool of $10,000, the Achduth Society ran parallel with the free loan society until 1936, when the latter voted itself out of existence, handing over its residual cash to the Jewish Family Welfare Bureau (the precursor of today's JFSA).

Wosk, who was an uncle of Barnett's, ran Achduth until 1966, when it seems to have faded from view. Barnett can find no reference to her uncle's agency after that date, but the need for such a body was clear to her when she served as director of the JFSA in the 1970s.

At the time, the family service agency was a source of emergency loans for members of the Jewish community, but its resources were limited. So Barnett met with representatives of free loan groups in Toronto, Montreal and the United States.

"Then I went to Joe Segal," said Barnett. "I knew – and I was right – that he intuitively understood the need for it."

Segal, a Vancouver businessman and philanthropist, chipped in $25,000 and got the late Morris J. Wosk to do the same.

The HAA has never had an office; it is run by volunteers and only a part-time bookkeeper receives a salary.

"Our expenses are very low," said Barnett.

So is the organization's profile, she added. But that will change this month. A celebration of the HAA's 25 years takes place Nov. 21, with a musical presentation at Temple Sholom. For more information, call Linda Tenenbaum at 604-263-7652.

Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.

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