This Lodge was established in 1951, by President Joseph Reich, becoming Lyons first Lodge.
It was named Robert Lehman-Itshak Rabin Lodge in 1996.
A number of community leaders have come out of this Lodge, including Marc Aron, President of the UFABB (French union of B’nai B’rith associations) and then President of B’nai B’rith France, member of the Executive of District 19 in charge of the ADL.
After the 6-Day War, Marc was a founding member of the Coordinating Committee for Jewish Associations in Lyons, which later became CRIF-Rhône Alpes. He was President for more than 10 years and also led the FSJU (Front Social Juif Unifié) until his death in 1998.
Marc Aron was a brilliant free thinker. At the same time deeply Jewish and marked by the Holocaust, devoting his life to defending his people, he was also very tolerant, a leading architect of Judeo-Christian dialogue.
However, his main focus was on Remembrance.
He worked hard and successfully during the Barbie and Papon trials and worked to transform the Maison des enfants d’Izieu into a Memorial for exterminated Jewish children.
There is a plaque in his honour at Yad Layeled, a museum in Israel devoted to children in the Holocaust.
Marc Aron was an officer in the Legion d’Honneur and a leading figure in B’nai B’rith.