Jewish immigration

In the wake of pogroms and of social, economic, and political persecution during the early 1880s, thousands of Jews living in the Russian empire emigrated to North America. Included among the several hundred who settled in Winnipeg in 1882 were Benjamin Zimmerman and his family. Zimmerman was one of the founders of the earliest Jewish charitable organization in Winnipeg. The Hebrew Benevolent Society, established in 1884, provided financial assistance to Jewish families and to general community causes as well as job-placement services for Jewish immigrants.