Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies Internship class, Spring 2020 Sukkah for Social Change event at Congregation Agudas Achim. Courtesy: Neena Husid

From grandfather to granddaughter, engaging in tzedakah, Hebrew Free Loan style, sparks a renewable tradition of giving within and beyond the Jewish community. Dovetailing with Hebrew Free Loan of Austin’s central premise regarding the recycling nature of their interest-free loans, this tale illustrates that HFLA funds do more than regenerate into new opportunities. They also possess regenerational, properties as well. 

For proof of Hebrew Free Loan Association work as a familial contagion, travel no further than San Antonio where the paternal grandfather of Austin Jewish community member, Dr. Suzanne (Suzy) Seriff, will soon be celebrated as one of the founders and major players of HFL-SA during their upcoming 100th anniversary. Readying for this milestone event, local historians, according to Seriff, ‘have dug up some interesting primary documents about the early days of San Antonio’s HFLA, as well as about my grandfather, the graphic designer of their initial logo, and the creator of a monumental ‘Book of Reminiscences’ for the Association’s 13th year Bar Mitzvah anniversary. Though Dr. Seriff only knew her grandfather through family lore, tales of Abraham Seriff’s artistic and poetic nature abound; from Russia to Eagle Pass, where he was employed as a window dresser, and finally to San Antonio. There, he and his wife, Sarah, raised their brood, which included Suzy’s father, Dr. Aaron Seriff, and Jack Seriff, a beloved and active member of Austin’s Jewish community. The family thrived in San Antonio and Seriff became an integral part of the Jewish community, helping to found HFL-SA in 1924. 

And what a time 1924 was. Seriff, an Associate Professor of Instruction in The University of Texas at Austin’ s Department of Anthropology, as well as the Schusterman Center’s Director of its Arts and Social Justice Internship Program, provided a chilling backdrop to the 100 year ago founding of the association. After World War I antisemitism was increasing. A newly constituted KKK was targeting Jews and Catholics, along with African and Mexican Americans, and the US passed the Immigration Act of 1924, legislation severely limiting the numbers of eastern and southern Europeans who could take refuge in America. “It was a time of racial and anti-Semitic unrest, Seriff continued, “and my guess is that HFL-SA was founded when it was because Jews needed each other for support and economic help.” 

Thirteen years after its founding Seriff’s grandfather painstakingly designed, and presented the ‘Book of Reminiscences’ to HFL-SA in commemoration of the organization’s Bar Mitzvah year. This recently discovered 50 pound tome, is chocked-full of tributes to those who, like the book’s author, played a major role in building, and then nurturing, HFL-SA. David Schulz, the Centennial Celebration consultant for HFLA-SA, uncovered much of the Association’s early history, as well as photographic proof of Abraham Seriff’s vast contribution. Poignantly remarking on this Bar Mitzvah year he wrote to Suzy, “I cannot help but imagine what those 13 years were like for the Jewish community here and abroad. Little doubt, many of the loans of the 30’s were made in light of the Great Depression, and likely shifted toward helping families relocate. Obviously, your grandfather played a major role in these developments.” 

Dr. Seriff mused about the fact that many immigrant groups had aid societies but the idea of interest-free loans was a hallmark of aid provided within the Jewish community. To further explore this feature of Hebrew Free Loan Associations, she directed attention back to the ‘Book of Reminiscences’ her grandfather generated. Gazing at a photo of the book, she pointed to the phrase imprinted front and center in English and Hebrew: ’Gmiluth Chasodim (Kindness) over charity.’ This, the Hebrew Free Loan Association ideal, adapted from Maimonides, who considered giving without encumbrance to be one of the highest, and kindest forms of aid in that it respects the dignity of the borrower, is a principle Professor Seriff believes in, and promulgates. 

In her social justice internship program, Seriff draws on Maimonides’ Ladder of Tzedakah, as a foundational lesson in her class. To introduce her students to this graduated concept of giving she often calls on HFLA board members to speak about their work, encouraging these guests to describe their personal journeys as Jewish change makers: journeys that have led them to promote the tzedakah and Hebrew Free Loan models in their approach. Students especially appreciate the HFLA notion of ‘giving a hand up rather than a hand out’ as exemplifying Maimonides’ highest level of tzedakah. 

Abraham Seriff pledged his support to HFL-SA as a board member 100 years ago, contributing design work that included a handsome logo, and later the gift of a Bar Mitzvah anniversary tribute book that chronicles the many ways HFL-SA helped build a community through its unencumbered investment in people. Today, his granddaughter continues his legacy of giving in the classroom and beyond.