"I'll Never Forget It!"

"My parents were very active in their branch in New York," says Fishback, 89, and one of the founding members of a Washington, D.C., branch of the organization, which is being honored at Sunday's Yiddish of Greater Washington concert.

That was during World War II, when she and her husband, Sam, came to the area. A social and a political organization, the chapter numbered some 60 families at its peak in the 1950s.

"As the needs arose, we developed programs for our children," says the Silver Spring resident, including a preschool and a Yiddish Sunday school.

The best thing, though, were the friendships. "The group became our family," Fisback says. "We were very close."

The Workmen's Circle, socialist in orientation, was politically active, as well. "We were a very liberal organization that cared about people and wanted people to be treated equally," Fishback says.

Members worked for civil rights in the 1950s and '60s, she says, recalling efforts to integrate the segregated National Theater. They were active in the Soviet Jewry movement, as well.

And, of course, they promoted the Yiddish language and culture. "We helped found Yiddish of Greater Washington," Fishback remembers.

Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, headquartered in New York, was founded in 1900. Its mission has been "Jewish community, the promotion of an enlightened Jewish culture, and social justice," according to its Web site (www.circle.org). It has 121 branches in cities throughout North America.

The local Workmen's Circle branch 494 is being dissolved -- there are only four members left, Fishback explains -- but a younger version still exists.

More than 10 years ago, the members of the existing group encouraged younger members of the national Workmen's Circle, some of whom attended their meetings, to form a new branch, notes Shelby Shapiro of Bethesda.

"The theory was that younger people would be attracted to a group with younger people, not with old fogies," he explains.

Branch 1100 has about 10 English-speakers, ranging in age from the early 50s to about 75, who are "into Yiddish language and culture." Members meet every Tuesday at Morty's (formerly Krupin's) in the District to hone their Yiddish-speaking skills.

That group, Workmen's Circle branch 1100, will be one of the beneficiaries of the original chapter's funds, Fishback says. In addition, the money will be divided among Yiddish of Greater Washington, the Jacob Zuckerman Fund of the Workmen's Circle in New York and the Jewish Labor Committee.