Lorraine Baron
Lorraine Irma (Cohen) Baron (1927–2011) was a librarian, educator, community volunteer, and Jewish communal leader. Born in 1927 and raised in Cambridge and Arlington, Massachusetts, Baron grew up during the Great Depression. She attended Northeastern University, where she pursued coursework in library science and English as a second language, building a professional career as a librarian and educator. Active in Jewish communal life from an early age, she taught Sunday school at the Arlington-Lexington-Bedford Jewish Community Center, participated in Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and became a longtime leader in Hadassah, supporting fundraising and hospital-building initiatives in Israel. She was married for 57 years to Burnett Baron and was the mother of three children and grandmother of six.
In this interview, Lorraine Baron reflects on her family background, Jewish upbringing, and lifelong commitments to faith, family, and social responsibility. Raised in Cambridge and Arlington during the Great Depression by parents whose families immigrated from Vilna, Baron describes the influence of her mother’s religious observance and her father’s ethic of generosity and care for others, particularly through his grocery business. She discusses growing up in a predominantly non-Jewish neighborhood, her formal Jewish education at Temple B'nai Brith, and how Jewish identity shaped her choices, including marriage, child-rearing, and maintaining a kosher home.
Baron recounts her early leadership roles in Jewish youth and philanthropic organizations, including involvement with Combined Jewish Philanthropies and later long-term leadership in Hadassah. She discusses teaching Sunday school at the Arlington-Lexington-Bedford Jewish Community Center. The interview also addresses her experiences as a librarian and educator, her views on feminism and women’s independence, and her responses to segregation and the Civil Rights Movement, including memories of encountering racial segregation while traveling in the American South in the 1950s. Baron reflects on major historical events, including the Great Depression, World War II, the Holocaust, and the founding of Israel.
The views expressed in these interviews are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect the positions of JWA or its affiliates.
