How Jewish women have led the way in America

Join us at the Book Festival on March 30 as Pamela Nadell weaves together the stories of a diverse group of extraordinary women. In the meantime, enjoy this review of America’s Jewish Women.

By Carole J Greene, JBF Committee Member

In the late 18th century, the Jewish community in America was tiny — about 2,500 souls — and diverse. In her book, America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, author Pamela S. Nadell tells us that they came from western Europe, the West Indies and the British Colonies. They gravitated to the major seaports of the time: New York, Newport, Philadelphia, Savannah, and Charleston, where they enjoyed a “remarkable degree of toleration and diversity.”

During that time, upper class Jewesses — as Jewish women were called — had servants, hosted debutante balls, worked in business, founded women’s clubs, wrote influential newspaper columns, and made Jewish homes in a predominantly Christian culture.

The lives of these women were consumed with the same chores as their Christian neighbors: they spun wool, wove, sewed, knitted, made candles and soap, churned butter and made cheese, cooked, cleaned, and laundered. But on Shabbat, the differences were apparent as Jewish women brought out their best tablecloths and dishes, lit candles in treasured candlesticks lovingly brought from their native homes, and prepared traditional Shabbat meals.

Nadell introduces Grace Nathan (1752-1831), the great-grandmother of Emma Lazarus, whose famous poem graces the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor . . .” While Nathan represents the past, Lazarus, who is two generations later, exemplifies the 150,000 Jews who emigrated from Central Europe between 1820 and 1880 and found success in the New World.

Lazarus also saw the wave of millions of Jews fleeing to the U.S. from Tsarist Russia. These new immigrants often lived in poverty, many working in the needle crafts. Nadell details the labor reforms spearheaded by Jewish women to raise the pay and provide greater safety for workers

in the garment industry, 95% of whom were women.

According to Nadell, American Jewesses “pushed open new byways into charity and philanthropy, synagogues, and Zionism.” An army of Jewish women battled with the 3 Ds — dirt, discomfort, disease. They founded women’s groups, some of which, namely National Council of Jewish Women and Hadassah, still thrive today.

Nadell’s examination of American Jewish women touches on all elements of life. She chronicles the evolution of synagogue dicta to allow a girl to become a bat mitzvah and even choose a career as a cantor or rabbi; she explains changes in marriage and divorce statistics, and the rise of interfaith marriage.

As contraception became available and, much later, legal, Jewish women had fewer children and focused on matters outside the home. In the decades since World War II, America’s Jewish women have increasingly combined family life with professional careers.

Nadell traces the trajectory of early pioneers like Grace Nathan; Bessie Hillman, activist and suffragette; Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel; and Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, to the fame of such 20th- and 21st-century luminaries as Bess Myerson, first Jewish Miss America; Gloria Steinem, founder of Ms magazine; Carole King, singer and songwriter; Dr. Joyce Brothers, quiz show prize winner, author, and columnist; Betty Friedan, journalist, activist, and author of the groundbreaking The Feminine Mystique; Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel Toy Company and inventor of the Barbie and Ken dolls; Bella Abzug, activist and Congresswoman; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, law professor, litigator, and Supreme Court Justice.

Nadell’s impressive research is apparent on every page as she winds her way through four centuries of Jewish women in America whose activism has been writ large upon the scroll of this nation’s history.

Tuesday, March 30, 7:30 p.m.

America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today By Pamela S. Nadell

Sponsor: Women’s Cultural Alliance

Pamela S. Nadell is a renowned scholar and professor as well as the recipient of American University’s highest faculty award, Scholar/Teacher of the Year. Her research focuses on American Jewish history. America’s Jewish Women is the winner of the National Jewish Book Award – Jewish Book of the Year.