BAYL was established as a mutual aid society by relatives who moved to Baltimore from several communities in Lithuania in the late 1890s. The founders contributed funds weekly which were used to purchase passage for other relatives to emigrate and to help those relatives make a start in their new homes. Although most relatives came to Baltimore, some went to South Africa or Palestine.
The founders came from towns and
villages which today are in the northeastern part of the Republic of Lithuania
(see map page). During the period of 1842-1915, that area was in the Kovno
Gubernya (Kovno Province) of the Russian Empire, see:
http://feefhs.org/maps/ruse/re-balt.html.
Prior to 1795, the area was part of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania.
In a sense, the descendants of the BAYL founders may owe their very existence to the society. During the three decades prior to World War I, Jews living in Lithuania and elsewhere in the Pale of Settlement could obtain permission to leave the Russian Empire -- but most did not leave. Because of the efforts of the BAYL, funds were made available for transportation and financial guarantees were provided to secure entry into the U.S.
Most Jews who had not left Lithuania by May 1915 were deported to Siberia by the Russians, and it is estimated that only half returned when that war ended. Those that remained in Russia were caught up in the difficulties posed by the Russian Civil War, Stalinism, and World War II. For those who returned to Lithuania after 1918, emigration to the U.S. was generally not an available option and few other countries were willing to accept Jewish immigrants. In June 1941, the Germans overran Lithuania and by the fall most Lithuanian Jews had been murdered.
Over the course of more than a century, the objectives of the society have evolved. Prior to World War I, the principal work of the society, which was known by the Yiddish term "farayn," was to sponsor relatives to immigrate to the US. After World War I, when US immigration was limited, the society helped relatives emigrate to South Africa, sent assistance to those who remained in Lithuania, and continued to help relatives get established in the US. The society also became a social hub for the immigrants and their children and grandchildren. During the inter-war period, several Baltimore-based families jointly bought a home on a river in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, known as "Greenhaven," that served as a summer retreat. In the years following World War II, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the founders have maintained their ties to the society even though they are increasingly dispersed. Some descendants have fulfilled the ancient dream of settling in the Land of Israel.