Rebecca Gratz

Rebecca Gratz (born March 4, 1781 – died August 27, 1869) was an American educator, philanthropist, promoter of religious, educational and charitable institutions. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she was well educated and was the first Jewish female college student in the United States, at Franklin College (now Franklin and Marshall College )

Gratz founded many organizations including The Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances in 1801 with her mother and older sister. Gratz was among those instrumental in founding the Philadelphia Orphan Asylum in 1815, and was later was elected as Secretary of the board.

After the death of her sister in 1817, Gratz became exceedingly more religious, spending many hours volunteering around the local Jewish Community. Gratz believed women had a responsibility to educate their children with their faith, so she advocated to create Hebrew Sunday School. In 1819 Gratz helped create The Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, which became a center for Jewish activities throughout their community. In 1850, Gratz’s support in magazine, The Occident, was credited in the establishing of The Jewish Foster Home in 1855. At age 74, Gratz was elected secretary. Gratz died on August 27, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is buried at Mikveh Israel Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Gratz’s enduring legacy is still alive in the success of the many institutions she founded. The Female Hebrew Benevolent Society and Hebrew Sunday school continued to prosper for almost 150 years, while the Philadelphia Orphan Society and The Jewish Foster Home merged with similar institutions to form the Philadelphia Association for Jewish Children.

Biography

Early years

Rebecca Gratz was born in Lancaster, Pensylvannia, the seventh of twelve children of Miriam Simon and Michael Gratz. Her mother was the daughter of Joseph Simon (1712-1804), a respected Jewish tradesman, while her father was from a long line of rabbis. Gratz’s parents were active members of Philadelphia’s first synagogue, Mikveh Israel.

Gratz was well educated, and had attended women’s high school, becoming the first Jewish female college student in the United States, at Franklin College (now Franklin and Marshall College) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She was well versed in Jewish literature, reading almost all books written by Jewish authors translated in English. She also corresponded regularly with famous people of her day, including British educator Maria Edgeworth, American author Catherine Sedgwick, British actress Fanny Kemble, and Jewish-British theologian Grace Aguilar.

Charity worker

Over the years, Gratz became focused on charity work and educational activities. With her mother and older sister, she founded in 1801 a charitable society for women, the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances, and was elected its secretary.

She soon saw the need for an institution for orphans in Philadelphia and was among those instrumental in founding the Philadelphia Orphan Asylum in 1815. Four years later, she was elected secretary to its Board. She continued to hold this office for forty years.

After the death of her sister in 1817, Gratz became increasingly religious. She spent more time in studying Judaism and dedicated hours of volunteering work among women and children of the local Jewish community. She led a small Hebrew Sunday School for her family members, modeled on the Christian Sunday School.

Educator

Gratz believed that women, because of their duty to take care for children, had special responsibility to educate their children in the spirit of their faith. She realized that Christian Sunday Schools help mothers provide such education, and that Jewish community did not have anything similar in place. She thus advocated the need to establish Hebrew Sunday Schools.

Wanting to protect Jewish community from the increasing proselytizing from the side of Christians, in 1819 Gratz helped establish the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, which became a center of Jewish activities in the local community.

In 1835, Gratz started to advocate among the members of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society the need to establish a Hebrew Sunday School with a Jewish educational program that would be consistently taught to the children. Three years later, the Society established a Sunday school under the direction of the board. Gratz became the school’s superintendent and served it for more than twenty-five years. Similar schools soon started to open in Charleston, Savannah, and Baltimore. Gratz often traveled to those cities to advise its members.

Later life

In 1850, Gratz advocated in The Occident, a magazine widely read in the Jewish community, over the signature A Daughter of Israel, for the foundation of a Jewish foster home. Her advocacy was largely instrumental in the establishment of such a home in 1855 – The Jewish Foster Home. The home received children from all over the United States and Canada. At the age of 74, Gratz was elected its secretary.

Other organizations that came about due to her efforts were the Fuel Society and the Sewing Society.

Though Gratz was considered to be among the more beautiful and educated women in her community, she was never married. Among the marriage offers she received was from a non-Jewish lawyer, whom she loved, but ultimately chose not to marry, on the account of her faith.

Gratz died on August 27, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is buried at Mikveh Israel Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Legacy

Gratz enduring legacy is substantiated in the success of many institutions she founded. The Female Hebrew Benevolent Society and Hebrew Sunday School continued to work for almost 150 years, while the Philadelphia Orphan Society and The Jewish Foster Home housed thousands of children. The foster home eventually merged with other similar institutions to form the Philadelphia Association for Jewish Children.

It is said that Sir Walter Scott modeled his heroine Rebecca, from his Ivanhoe, after Gratz. Although there is no direct evidence linking Gratz to the novel, many parallels between the two can be found. Similar to Scott’s Rebecca, Gratz was also independent, beautiful and talented, and chose to remain single in times when women’s primary goal was to marry and have children. Even though the direct evidence that Gratz was Rebecca does not exist, Washington Irving, a friend of Gratz's, and Walter Scott corresponded frequently and it is very likely that the link between the two is real.

Publications

• Gratz, Rebecca. 1975. Letters of Rebecca Gratz. Ayer Co Pub. ISBN 0405067143

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Ashton, Dianne. 1997. Rebecca Gratz: Women and Judaism in Antebellum America. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814326668
• Biskin, Miriam. 1967. Pattern for a heroine; The life-story of Rebecca Gratz. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
• Levine, Yitzchok. 2006. Rebecca Gratz: Champion of the Unfortunate. Jewish Press <http://www.jewishpress.com>, Retrieved on June 16, 2007, <http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/20057/Glimpses_Into_American_Jewish_History_%28Part_21%29.html>
• Osterweis, Rollin G. 2007. Rebecca Gratz: A study in charm. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1432554832
• Rebecca Gratz. Jewish Women's Archive, <http://www.jwa.org>. Retrieved on June 16, 2007, <http://www.jwa.org/exhibits/wov/gratz/rgbio.html>
• Rosenbloom, Joseph R. 1958. Rebecca Gratz and the Jewish Sunday School movement in Philadelphia. Philadelphia: American Jewish Historical Society.
• Slater, Elinor, and Robert Slater. 2006. Great Jewish women. Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers. ISBN 0824603702

External links

• Jewish Women's Archive - Women of Valor – Biography of Rebecca Gratz
• Jewish Woman’s Benevolence: A Road to Middle Class America – An article by Deborah S. Einhorn on the history of Jewish women’s societies in America
• Pictures of Rebecca Gratz – Two Gratz’s portraits by Thomas Sully
• Rebecca Gratz – Biography
• Rebecca Gratz: Women and Judaism in Antebellum America – Biography and review of the book by Dianne Ashton

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