The Hebrew Free Loan Association of San Antonio was founded in 1924 to provide members of a community being marginalized out of the mainstream with a financial resource unavailable to them. For nearly 100 years, HFLA-SA has been changing lives and building the San Antonio community, one free-loan at a time. Join us throughout the next year as we celebrate our heritage, history, and contributions to South Texas. Our Past 1924: A global epidemic had killed millions, cut through society, and left a rocky economy. A lengthy, distant war had ended ambiguously. Mass immigration was breeding resentment, and intolerance was codified in law. Antisemitism grew in a tide of bigotry. Our Rabbi had seen it all before … and understood! The Tale of the Rabbi and the Businessman, pt. I Born in Grodne in 1855, Rabbi Shlomo Solomon emigrated after suffering in the pogroms of the 1880s. Violent attacks on Jews swept the western provinces of the Russian Empire (including Grodne) in 1881–1884, after the assassination of Alexander II. Moving to San Antonio in 1900, Rabbi Solomon led the Agudas Achim Congregation for 18 years and Rodfei Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation for eight more. Now, as America slammed the doors on immigration, the need for action was imminent. The Rabbi joined forces with Abraham Kamrass, a turn -of-the-century émigré, now a pillar of the business community, to aid fellow San Antonio Jews being marginalized out of the mainstream.
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