Heroine of the Day

Today's Jewish heroine is Rebecca Gratz. She was born in 1781, in Pennsylvania, to a prominent Orthodox Rabbinic family, and went on to dedicate her life to helping those less fortunate than her. She started the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children of Reduced Circumstances in Philadelphia when she was only 20 years old. She also went on to found the Philadelphia Orphan Asylum, chartered in 1815, the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1819, and the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum in 1855. She was on the leadership boards of all of these organizations throughout her life. When her sister Rachel, died in 1823, Rebecca took her six children in to her home and raised them as her own.

As Christian missionaries became more active in America, Rebecca began to fear that the less educated Jews in her community were becoming a target for them. She believed one way to counter this was to provide a religious education for as many Jews as possible. Using the very successful Christian Sunday School model, she created the Hebrew Sunday School Society of Philadelphia in 1818. The school was open, free of charge, to all Jewish children from the Philadelphia area. She then counseled women in many other Jewish communities on creating similar schools there.

Rebecca was extremely educated and literate, especially for an Orthodox Jewish woman of her era. She was a member of an elite circle of writers, that included Washington Irving and James Kirk Paulding. She was always involved in American politics.

Many of the institutions that she founded operated well into the 20th century. Look here or here for more information on Rebecca Gratz, this paradigm of charitable deeds who was truly ahead of her times.