As part of a nationwide effort to streamline B’nai B’rith, the organization’s three San Francisco lodges have merged into one.
San Francisco California Lodge 21, Golden Gate Lodge and Skyline Unity Lodge are, as of Jan. 1, known as Greater San Francisco Unit 21 B’nai B’rith. The combined unit, whose membership stands at about 500, will mark its new status with an inaugural membership dinner Saturday, Feb. 22 at San Francisco’s Concordia Argonaut Club.
Cantor Julius Blackman — who earlier this month was elected president of the new unit, said members of his former lodge, San Francisco California Lodge 21 — saw the consolidation as predominantly positive.
“The vote for the merger was overwhelming; we had only one negative vote,” he said.
“More and more people realize the necessity [of merging] and in a sense the almost silliness of having three lodges in the same general area,” Blackman added. “We will be more effective with combined membership, combined efforts, combined finances.”
B’nai B’rith, the world’s largest Jewish organization, is over 150 years old and has 500,000 members in 51 countries. It founded and still supports a number of prominent institutions, including the Anti-Defamation League, campus Hillels and the B’nai B’rith Youth Organizations (BBYO).
Locally, B’nai B’rith members also immerse themselves in a range of community service activities — clothing drives for the homeless, for example, and kosher meal delivery to the needy and elderly.
B’nai B’rith’s ranks have ebbed in recent years, mainly because its members are aging and interest in community involvement has declined. As dues supply much of B’nai B’rith’s revenue, the organization has experienced financial troubles.
As a result of those difficulties, the national organization began to reassess its strategies over the past several years. “They were functioning, but not as well as they would like to,” said Bernard Reiner, a past district president of B’nai B’rith who has been involved in the organization for more than 30 years.
Lodges around the country began to experiment with joint programming, which resulted in rising membership and enthusiasm. That led to the local merger, which B’nai B’rith leaders hope will attract new and younger members who can reinvigorate the organization’s ranks.
Reiner said he sees only one hurdle to the consolidation: “nostalgia,” he said. “People love their old lodges and many still like to be identified with them. That’s about the only drawback — and it’s easy to overcome.”