Alpha Omega (fraternity)
Professional Jewish dental fraternity
Alpha Omega (ΑΩ, sometimes AO), is an international professional Jewish dental fraternity. It was founded in 1907 in Baltimore, Maryland, by Jewish dental students. In 1932, it merged with Alpha Zeta Gamma, a similar organization. It is a former member of the Professional Fraternity Association.
History
Ramach
In 1907, a group of Jewish students at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania created a professional organization called Ramach.Its name referred to the 248 parts of the human body. After the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery closed in June 1909, Ramach moved to Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia in October 1909.
Alpha Omega
In the fall of 1908, Jewish students from three dental schools in Baltimore, Maryland established Alpha Omega, a professional dental fraternity.Under the leadership of Max W. Belzer, the students formed the fraternity because, as Jews, they were not offered admission to other campus fraternities. Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity was chartered in the State of Maryland with sixteen founding members in 1908 or 1909.
Alpha Omega's founders were Max W. Belzer, N. M. Bercovitz, Charles Cohen, S. Feldstein, Abraham Goberman, J. M. Gordon, Max Kahn, D. Levin, L. Levy, Maurice D. Liftig, M. Meyerson, Samuel M. Neistadt, David S. Robinson, William H. Rosenfeld, M. Sholkin, Jacob Solomon, and P. Steiner. Belzer was the fraternity's first president.
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