Jewish Women in Early America

Images courtesy of the Jewish Women's Archive.     

∾ Jewish Women's Congress ∾

Women’s clubs became a popular way for women to organize and exercise autonomy in the late 1800s.1

Jewish middle-class women began arranging clubs to address issues affecting specifically the Jewish community.2
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The Jewish Women’s Congress in 1893 was organized as part of the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago when the Jewish Congress failed to include women in any meaningful way.3

This was the first meeting of Jewish women for purposes other than charity fundraisers.4
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It concluded with the founding of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). The NCJW still exists, participating in advocacy, organizing text studies, and creating new roles for Jewish American women within Judaism. Today, it uses religion to inform social justice work.5

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∾ ​Case Studies ∾

Emma Lazarus
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​Emma Lazarus grew up in the late 1800s, when anti-semitism was on the rise, especially against Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.6

Her family had lived in America since before the revolution, and was able to blend in with the elite Christian communities.7
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She became one of the first prominent Jewish American authors.8
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She admired and studied Ancient Greek, secular American, and traditional Jewish arts and texts.9
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How Long?

How long, and yet how long,
Our leaders will we hail from over seas,
Master and kings from feudal monarchies,
And mock their ancient song
With echoes weak of foreign melodies?
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-Emma Lazarus 

Emma Lazarus

She stood up for the rights of immigrants, using poetry as a form of protest, and suggested new visions for the U.S.’s role in the world.10

Words of her most famous poem, The New Colossus, are inscribed at the foot of the Statue of Liberty:  “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”11
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Another famous quote from Lazarus is, “Until we are all free, we are none of us free. ”

Images courtesy of the Library of Congress and the Jewish Women's Archive.

The New Colossus

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”​
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-Emma Lazarus 

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Ray Frank

​Ray Frank was born in 1861 in California.12
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Her background was as an educator, teaching education, secular studies and later more in a religious school.13

She began preaching to bring together various sects and restore a depth she felt had been lost in Judaism.14

On Yom Kippur, she brought a community together that had previously failed to negotiate between  Orthodox and Reform members. Jews from all sects, as well as Christians,  came to hear her d'var Torah (Jewish Sermon).15

"My position this evening is a novel one....
To be at any time asked to give counsel to my people
would be a mark of esteem; but on this night of nights,
on Yom Kippur eve, to be requested to talk to you,
to advise you, to think that perhaps I am to-night
the one Jewish woman in the world,
mayhap the first since the time of the prophets to be called on
to speak to such an audience as I now see before me,
is indeed a great honor..."
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​- Ray Frank

Ray Frank

Frank was a complex figure. She was against female suffrage, believing married women should not make their own living.16

Once she married, she gave up her career and stayed at home. 17
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She sometimes expressed support for the idea of female rabbis, while at other times saying the role was “thoroughly masculine.”18

Images courtesy of the Jewish Women's Archive.

"Drop all dissension about whether
you should take off your hats during
the service and other unimportant ceremonials
and join hands in one glorious cause."
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-Ray Frank

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∾ Reflection Questions ∾

1. The NCJW was careful to reject the title of “ladies” and opt for being called “women.” What do you think are some of the differences between these words? Does language matter and why?
2. There were Jewish clubs and women’s clubs, and yet Jewish women still felt they needed a Jewish women’s club. How did these two identities intersect to form a group with a unique set of needs? 
3. How was Lazarus’s vision for America influenced by her Jewish identity?
4. Why was Lazarus uniquely positioned to advocate for the “tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free?”
5. Do any lines of the poem stand out to you as interesting, confusing, or powerful? Explain.
6. How do you make sense of the ironies of Ray Frank’s beliefs about a woman’s role?
7. What does the quote tell you about the impact she hoped to have on Judaism?

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Work Cited

1. “Ray Frank - Jewish Women's Congress - American Jewish Women in the 1890s.” Jewish Women's Archive, n.d. https://jwa.org/womenofvalor/frank/jewish-womens-congress/american-jewish-women-in-1890s.
2. Ibid.
3. “Unprecedented Jewish Women's Congress Meets in Chicago.” Jewish Women's Archive, September 4, 1893. https://jwa.org/thisweek/sep/04/1893/jewish-womens-congress.
4. Ibid
5. “About Us - The National Council of Jewish Women.” National Council of Jewish Women, May 10, 2018. https://www.ncjw.org/about/.
6. Cavitch, M. “Emma Lazarus and the Golem of Liberty.” American Literary History 18, no. 1 (2006): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1093/alh/ajj001.
7. “Emma Lazarus.” Jewish Women's Archive, n.d. https://jwa.org/womenofvalor/lazarus.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Cavitch, “Emma Lazarus and the Golem of Liberty.”
12. “Ray Frank.” Jewish Women's Archive, n.d. https://jwa.org/womenofvalor/frank.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. ​Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. “Ray Frank.” Jewish Virtual Library, n.d. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ray-frank