landsmanshaft
- noun
- /ˈlændzˌmænˌʃɑft/
- Archaic
:
landsmanshaft
- The most common sort of organization, the landsmanshaft, was organized for mutual aid and socializing among people from the same village or region of Eastern Europe.
Examples
-
The local landsmanshaft arranged for members to have access to burial plots in the community cemetery.
-
Like the landsmanshaft synagogue, it was committed to meeting the socio-religious wants of that first generation who initially knew only of past European traditions.
Academic text (1990) -
The landsmanshaft quality of congregations was more consciously articulated as the new Americans sought out friends from their hometown with whom they might pray and socialize.
Academic text (1990) -
As members of a proto-American synagogue, they would be by definition considerably more attuned to this country than landsmanshaft Jews and somewhat less than the Endeavorers, the Young Israel, and other later fully Americanized congregations.
Academic text (1990) -
The landsmanshaft provided essential support to immigrants by organizing social events and offering help during difficult times.
-
Many Jewish families joined a landsmanshaft to connect with others from their hometown and share cultural traditions.
Synonyms
A group of people from the same town, region, or country who help each other
How Supportive
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word landsmanshaft comes from Yiddish and German parts: land 'land', man 'person', and -shaft 'group', similar to the ending in friendship. So a landsmanshaft is a group of people from the same town who moved to a new country and help each other with things like funerals, work, and housing.